Auschwitz and Historic Centre of Kraków starting at Oświęcim

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Auschwitz

   This is a stop to make in silence. Auschwitz was the largest of the Nazi German concentration and extermination camps, built in occupied Poland on the edge of the town of Oświęcim, and between 1940 and 1945 around 1.1 million people were murdered here, the vast majority of them Jews from across Europe, along with Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and others. The memorial and museum, which includes the original camp, Auschwitz I, and the vast camp at Birkenau, Auschwitz II, about three kilometres away, was listed by UNESCO in 1979 as a reminder of the cruelty of humanity.

   Read the complete Auschwitz write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Auschwitz is where the day begins. Next is Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi.

2. 2. Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi

   In 1600, Mikołaj Zebrzydowski, a Polish nobleman, began to build a chapel on a hill south-west of Kraków, modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Over the following decades, he and his descendants added dozens of chapels and churches spread over the hills, laid out to recreate the Passion of Christ and the life of the Virgin, with the landscape itself standing in for Jerusalem. The result, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Poland and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1999.

   Read the complete Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi comes up about 48 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic Centre of Kraków.

3. 3. Historic Centre of Kraków

   Every hour, a trumpeter plays a short melody from the taller tower of St Mary's Basilica on Kraków's market square, and every time the tune breaks off abruptly mid-phrase. Legend says it commemorates a watchman shot by a Tatar arrow in the throat as he sounded the alarm in the thirteenth century, and the hejnał has been played that way ever since, broadcast daily on Polish radio at noon. It is a fitting introduction to a city that wears its history so openly. The Rynek Główny, the main square, is one of the largest medieval squares in Europe, with the Renaissance Cloth Hall in the middle, and the historic centre, including Wawel Hill and the Jewish quarter of Kazimierz, was among the first sites ever placed on the UNESCO list in 1978.

   Read the complete Historic Centre of Kraków write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 84 km into the recorded legs you reach Historic Centre of Kraków. Next is back through Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi.

4. 4. back through Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi, late in the day. Next is Auschwitz.

5. 5. Auschwitz

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Auschwitz write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Auschwitz. That is the ride.