Find a region on the map
Find a region on the map
At the same time, it is wilderness at your fingertips – 3 hours by car from Kraków and 7 hours from Vienna. Even many Poles do not quite know what this place is and who its Lemko inhabitants are. The crowds are not here at any time during the season, and organized bus tours avoid the local valleys by a wide margin. Thankfully!
As you wander the region’s desolate trails, you will feel their ancient nature firsthand, admiring the fantastically twisted roots, bulges and knots that sometimes resemble the features of human faces. If you are lucky, you will also encounter wildlife: lynx, deer, salamanders, kingfishers, and even wolves and lesser spotted eagles
A keen eye will also spot isolated traces of house foundations, sites of Orthodox churches or overgrown gravestones. There is some sadness for the people who have passed away, but also admiration for the power of nature, transforming the picturesque landscape as it pleases. The Beskid valleys are equally wonderful to traverse by bicycle – the gentle hills and varied trails will win your heart whether you prefer to explore the terrain on a mountain bike or speed along on a road bike.
In the painted interiors the noble, smeared with old age faces of Eastern saints gaze at the visitors. Wooden Orthodox churches from the Polish and Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains are masterpieces of carpentry craftsmanship. Sixteen of them, including the Kwiatoń Orthodox Church described here, have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. There are also several hundred Austrian war cemeteries in the area, a reminder of a little-known episode of World War I. Some of them, such as the cemetery on Małastowska Pass or the cemetery on the top of Rotunda Mountain in Regietów Wyżny, are peculiar works of art. While traversing the mountains on bicycle or cross-country skis, you are bound to come across one of these stirring testimonies to the futility of war.
But she always knew that the city was not the place for her. “Here in Ropki I know every stream, every meadow, I know where hazelnuts, blueberries, and strawberries grow. This gives me a great sense of security,” she says.
Michał, a native of Warsaw, used to come to the Low Beskids region with friends from a scout group. The roar of big cities was also out of his way. “You could say that we met here, in Ropki, on a country road, ” says Grażyna.
Note: if you travel by public transportation and indicate this when booking your accommodation, many hosts can pick you up from the final station. It is always worth asking!
Swystowy Sad – a vegetarian agritourism in the heart of the Low Beskids region run in a historic wooden house by Grażyna and Michał, the heroes of our story. Website in Polish
Hańczowa 28 – an intimate guesthouse in an original Lemko cottage on the edge of the village of Hańczowa.
Dom przy Winnicy – a cottage for rent in Nowica, one of the most popular villages with initiated tourists in the Low Beskids. Just next door, there is a vineyard and dozens of acres of peace
Dom w Beskidzie – an original Lemko cottage in the heart of the Magura National Park adapted into a modern, cozy guesthouse
Beskid Masala – a guesthouse in the middle of the atmospheric village of Ropki. A suggestion for lovers of silence, Buddhism and Eastern philosophy. Be sure to take your yoga mats with you!
Polish Tourism Organization
Fleschgasse 34/2a
1130 Wien
wien@pot.gov.pl
+43 6767828258
