★ Nature · The Holy Cross MountainsNowa SłupiaGreat treeless slopes of frost-shattered quartzite in the middle of the fir forest: they look like rivers of stone.
The storyThe Holy Cross Mountains are among the oldest in Europe: their rocks formed more than four hundred million years ago, and the mountains have been worn down to barely six hundred metres. During the last Ice Age, frost shattered the summits and the blocks slid down the slopes, forming the “gołoborza”, stone fields where nothing grows even today. The national park protects them: on Łysica and Łysa Góra you can see them from boardwalks and viewing terraces.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Nature · Sandomierz and the VistulaSandomierzA narrow, deep gorge cut into the loess, with walls up to ten metres high and tree roots exposed, a few steps from the centre.
The storyLoess, a fine soil carried by the wind during the Ice Ages, is easily cut by water: around Sandomierz, streams and carts have carved dozens of ravines over the centuries. The one named after Queen Jadwiga, the 14th-century saint-queen, is the most famous: a path of about five hundred metres between vertical walls covered in roots, in shade even at midday. Nearby are the Pieprzowe Mountains, hills of very ancient shale, and a reserve of steppe plants.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · The south: PonidzieWiślicaA village with a Gothic collegiate church built by Casimir the Great, beneath which a 12th-century floor engraved with praying figures was found.
The storyWiślica was one of the main centres of the Vistulans, before Poland was born, and perhaps the site of an early baptism. During excavations in the collegiate church's crypt, the “Plate of the Orants” was found: a gypsum floor engraved in the 12th century with figures at prayer, among the oldest works of art in Poland. Next to the church are the foundations of a rotunda and the archaeological museum.
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