A journey through the thousand-year history of the Polish Podkarpackie region

Route details

Start

• 1
  Rzeszów
  0 km
  Rzeszów

  You will start from the Rzeszów Główny train station. With your back to the building, turn left into Grottgera Street and continue on Fredry Street. Cross the junction of Piłsudskiego Avenue, entering Targowa Street. You are riding among art nouveau buildings from the 19th century, from the period when Rzeszów grew from the Market Square to the newly built railway. At Targowa Street, it is worth stopping by the old cemetery with the Tserkva of the Blessed Virgin Mary. You will find many interesting gravestones here. It's also a place to sit and reflect in the shade of the trees. Cross Narutowicza Bridge and Wierzbowa Street to reach Rejtana Avenue. Turn left at a large intersection. Drive first along Niepodległości Avenue and then along Krzyżanowskiego Avenue, passing a single-family housing estate. At the end of the latter, turn left onto Armii Krajowej Avenue and turn gently right into Paderewskiego Street. This will

  lead you to the Church of St Martin. Turn left there and continue straight on Powstańców Wielkopolskich Street and then on św. Rocha Street. Keeping to it, you will reach Chmielnik.

• 2
  Chmielnik
  12 km
  Chmielnik

  In the village, turn left at the crossroads at the curve of the road, descending towards the nearby church. Follow the road at the top of the hill through the village of Błędowa Tyczyńska to Zabratówka. There you have to turn right and after 50 m to the left to get to the trail to Stawy Tarnawka by the fire station. This is a great place for rest; 2 double ponds in the forest have the charm of wildness and inaccessibility of forest wilderness. Behind the ponds, you will find St Hubert's chapel. Immediately after, turn left. After 3 km on the road, turn right through the thicket to reach Tarnawka. It is worth stopping by the church a former tserkva, to admire its Byzantine beauty. From Tarnawka, you will reach Jawornik Polski. The attraction of the village is a renovated classicist manor house and a park arrangement. In the next village, Handle Szklarskie, stop at a monument of the industrial era: a narrow-gauge railway stop. Although essentially abandoned, it is an interesting object, as is the track itself. A kilometre further on, turn left. Through successive villages scattered picturesquely in valleys on the slopes of gentle hills, you will reach the junction with the Marian grotto in Świebodna. A few minutes later you will pass the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Consolation in Jodłówka. In the Baroque church with beautiful decoration, a miraculous image is protected. Behind the church, you will find a chapel and a spring. Turn gently to the right to stop after a while in the village. At the chapel of the Sorrowful Jesus, turn south and after 400 m turn left past the school. Behind the copses is a well-kept chapel with a cross. Turn right and after 50 m turn left. At the crossroads, turn left

• 3
  Pruchnik
  56 km
  Pruchnik

  You are in the southern part of the town of Pruchnik. It is worth turning towards the centre to admire the urban layout of the small Galician town, preserved since the town's foundation in the 15th century, built up with 18th-century wooden houses with arcades. While there, you can visit the Church of St Nicholas from the 15th century. As a result of many alterations and transformations, it has a mixed Gothic character with Renaissance and Baroque elements. Leave the village along Fr. Markiewicza Street. When you reach Kramarzówka, do not change your route. A kilometre past the village, on your right-hand side, you will find the cholera cemetery, a testimony to the plagues that ravaged and devastated mankind in the past. Continue

  along the East of Poland Cycling Trail Green Velo through Skopów with its beautiful church, a former tserkva. On the banks of the San River, turn left onto regional road no. 884, and turn right at the market square in Krzywcza. You can view, unfortunately only from the outside, the abandoned tserkva. Past a bridge over the San River, turn left. Keep following the river, it will lead you after 10 km to Olszany and the nearby Krasiczyn.

• 4
  Krasiczyn
  84 km
  Krasiczyn

  A beautiful renaissance castle looms over the San valley. It is amazing; kept in a consistent style, has 4 distinct towers and is beautifully decorated on the front facade. The total surface area of these decorations is over 7,000 m2! The intricately crafted helmets of the towers and battlements add to its almost fairytale-like charm. Head further east to Dybawka. There you will come across an advanced fort of the Przemyśl Fortress, Fort VII Prałkowce, hidden in a thick forest. You will reach it via Leśna Street. In Prałkowce, it is worth stopping by the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Zbaraska, with its interesting arcaded portico. In Przemyśl itself, there are numerous military monuments; Austro-Hungarian forts and fortresses and Soviet bunkers of the Molotov Line. They remind us of the role the city played as a fortress on the routes leading from Ruthenia to Poland and Hungary. The centre of the city consists mainly of the Kazimierzowski Castle and the Archcathedral Basilica of St John the Baptist and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The castle is a Renaissance masterpiece built on the site of a 14th-century structure and an even older 11th-century structure, built by the order of Bolesław Chrobry. The basilica is a Baroque building, both in its mass and in its rich, dripping gold decoration. It, too, stands on the site of earlier churches, including the oldest one from the early 13th century. The Greek-Catholic arch cathedral is equally impressive. Take a break in the market square. You can spend time in one of the interesting museums, such as the Museum of Bells and Pipes or the National Museum.

• 5
  Przemyśl Główny train station
  98 km
  Przemyśl Główny train station

  Your tour ends in Przemyśl at the railway station. Return to Rzeszów by train.