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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Church of the Archangel Michael and Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
339 km
Riding-time estimate
7 h 11
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis

Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.

Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.

Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.

Open this ride in CurveScout

Why this ride

From Frydman it runs 339 km to Frydman; allow about 7 h 11 of riding. On the way it passes Church of St Leonard, Salt Mine in Bochnia, Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines and Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.

Scenic road chapters

Tatra Foothills Road

Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 55 km this is Tatra Foothills Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.

Chapter facts
Length
55 km
Named road
Tatra Foothills Road

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Church of the Archangel Michael

    From the outside, the church in Dębno Podhalańskie looks like a sturdy wooden barn with a steep shingled roof and a squat tower, the kind of building you might ride past without a second glance. Step inside and the walls explode with colour: every surface covered in stencilled and painted patterns, animals, plants and geometric figures, dating back to around 1500, one of the best-preserved medieval painted interiors in Poland. The church, built of larch in the late fifteenth century, is part of the UNESCO listing of Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska, a group of Gothic timber churches that show the skill of local carpenters who built without nails.

    Read the complete Church of the Archangel Michael write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Church of the Archangel Michael is where the day begins. Next is Church of St Leonard.

  2. 2. Church of St Leonard

    The hills around Limanowa in southern Poland have a nickname that suits them perfectly: the Beskid Wyspowy, the Island Beskids. Instead of forming a continuous ridge, the summits rise individually from the surrounding valleys like islands from a sea, each one wooded, rounded and separate. Driving through the area is a constant game of spotting the next hump on the horizon. The famous wooden church of St Leonard stands at Lipnica Murowana, in the hills to the north of here, and it is one of the Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland listed by UNESCO in 2003.

    Read the complete Church of St Leonard write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Church of St Leonard comes up about 55 km into the recorded legs. Next is Salt Mine in Bochnia.

  3. 3. Salt Mine in Bochnia

    People were mining salt at Bochnia by the middle of the thirteenth century, which makes it the oldest salt mine in Poland and one of the oldest in Europe still open to visitors. For centuries the salt from here and from Wieliczka, about twenty-five kilometres to the west, filled the coffers of the Polish kings; at times it accounted for a remarkable share of the royal income. Together the two mines and the royal castle at Wieliczka form a UNESCO World Heritage site.

    Read the complete Salt Mine in Bochnia write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    about 101 km into the recorded legs you reach Salt Mine in Bochnia. Next is Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines.

  4. 4. Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines

    Under the town of Wieliczka, at the southern edge of the Krakow suburbs, lies a labyrinth of tunnels, chambers and lakes cut out of salt, nine levels deep, with the lowest more than three hundred metres below the surface. Salt has been mined here since the thirteenth century, and the mine, together with the one at Bochnia some twenty kilometres east, was one of the first sites placed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, in 1978. Wieliczka has nearly nineteen thousand people, and the mine entrance is about a kilometre from the centre.

    Read the complete Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines, about halfway. Next is Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi.

  5. 5. 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 sits at 164 km, about halfway. Next is back through Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines.

  6. 6. back through Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    back through Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines comes up about 208 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Salt Mine in Bochnia.

  7. 7. back through Salt Mine in Bochnia

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Salt Mine in Bochnia write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    about 236 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Salt Mine in Bochnia. Next is back through Church of St Leonard.

  8. 8. back through Church of St Leonard

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Church of St Leonard write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    back through Church of St Leonard, late in the day. Next is Church of the Archangel Michael.

  9. 9. Church of the Archangel Michael

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Church of the Archangel Michael write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    The route ends here after 339 km.

Leg by leg

Church of the Archangel Michael to Church of St Leonard

Church of the Archangel Michael → Church of St Leonard is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Church of St Leonard to Salt Mine in Bochnia

Church of St Leonard → Salt Mine in Bochnia is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Salt Mine in Bochnia to Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines

Salt Mine in Bochnia → Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi

Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines → Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi to back through Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Archi → back through Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines to back through Salt Mine in Bochnia

back through Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines → back through Salt Mine in Bochnia is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Salt Mine in Bochnia to back through Church of St Leonard

back through Salt Mine in Bochnia → back through Church of St Leonard is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Church of St Leonard to Church of the Archangel Michael

back through Church of St Leonard → Church of the Archangel Michael is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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