Tom`s travels: Ogrodzieniec (09/04/2018)

After having lunch in Krakow, Ania and I decided to do a half day trip somewhere nearby to take advantage of the nice weather which was beginning to show itself in this period. We thus decided to head to a town called Ogrodzieniec, about one hour away by bus, and famous for its ruined castle. After reached the small town, we had to walk for about 30-40 minutes before eventually reached the site of the castle. Standing atop a 515m high mountain in the middle of the Polish Jura mountains, the castle was built during the 14th century and rebuilt several times, including its last time during the 17th century in the Baroque style. However just seven years later, like many other castles and buildings throughout Poland, it was sacked and set on fire by Swedish troops during the invasion and never rebuilt, thus resulting in its ruined form which can be seen today. The castle is also part of the so-called Trail of the Eagle´s Nests, a series of castles from the middle ages which used to be built in a successive line from Krakow to Czestochowa on the uplands. This is why, the castle is built in the typical white rock of the area and is surrounded by large and tall boulders scattered all around. After paying the modest entry ticket, we entered the large complex and walked uphill a large grassland which probably served as the main inhabited place between the walls and the castle itself. Then we entered the keep and toured the ruined interior comprising the typical rooms a castle was made up of. Each was described clearly with info panel boards and was interesting to imagine how the halls used to look like. When the finished the tour of the interior with a climb of the main tower which granted us a great view of the whole complex and the surrounding landscape dotted with the typical rock formations and hills of the area. Once back down from the tower we exited the keep and entered a small building built inside the rock which featured a tiny museum dedicated to medieval torture instruments. Our visit was then finally over and we decided to head back to the town where we took the next bus headed towards Krakow.