Dobšinská Ice Cave and Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region i
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
344 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 20
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Dobšiná it runs 344 km to Dobšiná; allow about 6 h 20 of riding. It goes by way of Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš, Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less, Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region i and back through Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Slovakia into Poland - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Dobšinská Ice Cave
Step out of a warm summer day into the Dobšinská Ice Cave and the temperature drops to just below freezing within a few metres. The cave, on the northern edge of the Slovak Paradise in eastern Slovakia, holds a vast mass of ice, tens of thousands of cubic metres, with frozen floors, walls and columns that have built up over thousands of years. It was explored in 1870 by Eugen Ruffinyi, opened to visitors soon after, and became one of the first caves in Europe to be lit by electricity. It is part of the UNESCO-listed Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst, shared with Hungary.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dobšinská Ice Cave is where the day begins. Next is Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš.
2. Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš
Master Paul of Levoča carved the tallest Gothic wooden altar in the world, and you can stand in front of it in the church of St James in the centre of this walled town in eastern Slovakia. Completed in the early sixteenth century, the altar rises almost nineteen metres, with life-size figures of the Virgin and saints in limewood, painted and gilded, under a forest of pinnacles. It is the masterpiece of a sculptor about whom little is known beyond his work, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of Levoča, Spiš Castle and the associated cultural monuments.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš comes up 40 km in. Next is Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less.
3. Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less
Hidden among the hills of the Beskid Sądecki, close to the Slovak border in southern Poland, the little wooden church at Powroźnik is one of the oldest of its kind still standing in the country. Its oldest parts date from around 1600, and it belongs to the group of wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region listed by UNESCO in 2013. A tserkva is an Eastern-rite church, and this one was built by the Lemkos, the Rusyn highlanders who farmed these valleys for centuries until most were forcibly resettled after the Second World War. Today it serves as a Catholic church, but the shape tells its origin story at once: a tower with a bulging onion-like cap, stepped shingle roofs and dark timber walls weathered almost black.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
79 km in you reach Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less. Next is Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region i.
4. Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region i
In a narrow valley in the Low Beskids, close to the Slovak border in south-eastern Poland, stands the wooden church of Saint Paraskeva in Kwiatoń, often called the most beautiful of the Lemko churches. Built in the seventeenth century by the Lemkos, an East Slavic highland people who lived in these hills for centuries, it is one of the sixteen wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine that UNESCO listed in 2013. Its silhouette is unmistakable: three towers rising in steps toward the west, each topped with onion-shaped domes and crosses, the walls covered in wooden shingles that have weathered to silver-grey.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dobšinská Ice Cave closes the day.
Leg by leg
Dobšinská Ice Cave to Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš
Dobšinská Ice Cave → Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš to Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less
Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš → Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less to Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region i
Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less → Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region i is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region i to back through Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less
Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region i → back through Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less to back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš
back through Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less → back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš to Dobšinská Ice Cave
back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš → Dobšinská Ice Cave is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.