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Ojcow National Park

Although it's the smallest Polish national park, the Ojcow National Park can surely be counted among the most beautiful in the country. Situated in the valley of the river Pradnik (the same one that flows into the Vistula river in the heart of Krakow), it offers its visitors scenic landscapes, geological curios and some surprising architecture.

The Natural Wonders of the Ojcow National Park

The Ojcow National Park was established in 1953 to protect the fantastic Karst topography around the town of Ojcow. The park contains about 400-700 caves, some of which are available for tourists to see. The largest of them, called the Lokietek Cave (Jaskinia Lokietka) is believed to be the place where Wladyslaw Lokietek, the future king of Poland (and the first one to be crowned in the Wawel Cathedral), hid from his persecutors. Allegedly, his life and throne at Wawel Castle was saved thanks to a spider, which spun a web around the entrance to the cave, convincing the king's enemies that no one was inside. The spider-web gate and the names of the cave's chambers refer to that legend.

Another cave worth visiting is the Ciemna Jaskinia (Dark Cave), which got its name from the simple fact that no light (artificial or natural) illuminates its interior. Instead, each group (as the cave is only available for guided tours) is given candles to light their own way. The part of the Ojcow National Park where the cave is situated was once inhabited by the Neanderthals, and a reconstruction of their camp is situated at its entrance.

Shortly after the Neanderthals left the terrains of today's Ojcow National Park, it was visited by Hercules, who left his cudgel there. The great limestone rock named Maczuga Herkulesa (The Cudgel of Hercules) doesn't really look like it was totally made by nature. Some say, though, that it wasn't Hercules who made it, but Satan himself...

Ojcow Architecture Curios

Close to the Hercules Cudgel lies another wonder of the Ojcow National Park – this time certainly made by man – it's the Pieskowa Skala Castle, a pearl of Polish renaissance, one of the only preserved Eagle-Nest Castles, now housing one of the divisions of the Wawel Castle museum. The castle in Ojcow was less lucky – but some of its parts, namely the gate and the tower, still look quite astonishing.

Finally, the Ojcow National Park contains a particularly spectacular example of how the Polish evade the law, and yet still act within it. At the beginning of the 20^th century, when the Russian authorities (then governing the region) forbade to build churches on the Ojcow land – so the ingenious Poles built a chapel... on water. The Chapel is called 'Kaplica na wodzie' (or Chapel Built on the Water).

Getting from Krakow to the Ojcow National Park

To get to the Ojcow National Park from Krakow, take the road 94 (direction: Olkusz) and then turn right to Ojcow in Jerzmanowice. The 24-kilometer road takes about 30 minutes.

You can also try and take the 210 bus from the Bronowice Male stop in Krakow – en route to the town of Bedkowice it stops on the following stops: Szyce Wesoła, Wielka Wieś, Biały Kościół, Murownia and Czajowice, all of which lie in the vicinity of the Ojcow National Park.