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Sniezka, Wang and Ksiaz
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After my longest stretch of work without a break, I was glad when the May day holiday finally came around. It was a year earlier that I took advantage of the sunny skies to do some hiking in the Tatra mountains, although it was to be a different mountain range this time around. For the first time, I was to head south west into the heart of the Karkonosz mountains, a range made up of predominantly spruce forest, with dwarf mountain pines and alpine vegetation fading away above 1250m to leave only mosses on the highest peaks. The highest of these, Mt Sniezka (1602m), was to be our primary destination for the short weekend trip.
We spent a night in Opole before heading off around 9am back up the A4, leaving it at Wroclaw soon after 10am. With some heavy Saturday morning traffic of the single laned road, we decided to stop off in Swidnica for a morning coffee. Ania actually suggested we stop in a "shitty town" and Swidnica seemed to fit that description quite aptly. The skies had clouded over, and the town was virtually empty, giving it a strange feel. The rynek was nice enough, like any Polish town, although the cappuccinos we had in one of the restaurants certainly weren't. It was quite possibly the worst I'd had in my entire time in Europe, and with some shady characters making their way inside we decided to make a move. Swidnica was actually home to a UNESCO world heritage listed wooden church, and supposedly the birthplace of the German WWI flying ace known as the 'Red Baron'. However, the trip was all about the Karkonosz, and we decided not to waste any more time here.
We arrived in Karpacz, one of the most popular mountain resorts in Poland, soon after 1pm and made our way slowly up the winding main road amidst literally thousands of tourists. We certainly weren't the only people who'd planned a weekend here over the holiday, and after checking into our small guesthouse we quickly made our way away from the crowds in the centre of the town. It was a short 2km hike up the side of the road to a chairlift which was to carry us 528m up the range to Mt Kopa (1375m). It wouldn't have been difficult to hike all the way up, but with only a couple of hours we decided to make the most of our time higher up.
There was a lot of snow at the top, and despite the threat of the clouds gathering above us we decided to press on to the summit of Mt Sniezka, which looked a lot more imposing from closer up. The trail ran alongside the Czech border and we were rewarded with terrific views on both sides, particularly down into a valley on the Czech side near the mountain resort town of Pec Pod Snezku. By the time we reached the summit it was quite cold and the clouds had gathered so we couldn't see a thing. However, as with many Polish mountains there was a restaurant there which gave us a chance to sit down and have a bite to eat in relatively warm surroundings. Luckily enough, within 10 minutes the clouds had parted, revealing the gently sloping plateau of the Karkonosz range. It was still quite cool, so after taking some photos of the view and the nearby small wooden chapel we made our way back down.
Although we had dinner in the centre of Karpacz, we decided to return the next morning for a leisurely stroll. It was a beautiful sunny day, and given we'd done what I wanted to do the previous day, the next few hours activities were Ania's. After having some lunch and ice-cream we got back in the car and drove a few kilometres further on to the most famous site in Karpacz apart from the mountains - the Wang Chapel. This remarkable wooden chapel was built at the turn of the 12th century on the bank of Lake Wang in southern Norway, and sold to a Prussian king in 1841 because it was too small for the local congregation. It was carefully dismantled piece by piece before being shipped to Berlin, and then Karpacz (a part of Germany at the time) where it was reassembled over a period of two years. It is the highest church in the Sudetes, situated at 886m, and was well worth the visit.
We left Karpacz around 2pm, and after snaking our way through the scenic winding roads of the former Sudetenland, we decided to have a break at Ksiaz castle, near Walbrzych. This is the largest castle in Silesia, and I imagined we'd find a nice quiet place in the gardens to rest for a while and take in the view. I couldn't have been more wrong, as we stumbled upon some kind of festival once we passed through the gate, and were suddenly surrounded by thousands of people just wandering and eating. Upon discovering the entry price to the castle we decided to turn back and go for a short walk through the nearby forest. In the end, this worked out well, as it was a lot more tranquil and we even discovered a viewing point of the fine castle, which Hitler once planned to use as a shelter.
We arrived back in Opole soon after 7pm, capping off a great weekend. We certainly made the most of our time, doing a bit of hiking and siteseeing, mixing some exercise with leisure time. I'd love to make it back to these parts some day, and do the seven hour hike from Mt Sniezka to Mt Szrenica, at the western end of the park near the town of Szklarska Poreba. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be happening for a while as I only had another 6 weeks left in Poland before I was to fly to Scotland to begin a position at a summer school. Nevertheless, it was a great opportunity to see a part of the country I'd never seen.
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