The Bieszczady

Regardless of the current season of the year,
the Bieszczady amaze you with their color palette,
just like women, who change their makeup with age.
In the spring, shy like girls, they discretely shadow
eyelashes of their grasses with small flowers.
In the summer, they put on
a hurried makeup of a hard–working homemaker.
In the fall they shout distinctively,
like grown up women still wanting to be attractive.
In the winter, they put just a little powder
on their faces, just like old matrons.
„The Bieszczady” by Agnieszka & Włodek Bilińscy,
translated by Dariusz Makulski

   Most certainly, it is one of the most beautiful parts of the Podkarpackie province and all the others. The Bieszczady have the status of the European nature oasis secondarily gone wild. This is an exceptional place of many qualities and valued for its natural, landscape and cultural features.
Tourists discovered the Bieszczady between the First and the Second World War, when the first hospices in Sianki, Bieniowa, Dydiowa and Sokole were established. It was then, that the Beskid red tourist route, named in honor of Józef Piłsudski, leading from Sianki to Krynica was marked up. Marshal Piłsudski visited Sianki in 1929 and hiked to the Skała Dobosza (the Army Drummer’s Rock) on Opołonek with his kids. After the Second World War, the first people to walk this route was a group of friends from Krakow, guided by the priest Karol Wojtyła, who returned to the Bieszczady frequently, and later, when he was the Metropolitan of Krakow, he to the Beskid Niski and spent his holidays in the Higher Wisłok Valley. 
     For almost five centuries many generations of the Boykos, the Poles and the Jews have lived here, in a pot of cultural diversity. The Second World War, and then the “Wisła” (“the Vistula”) displacement operation, forever changed the image of the Bieszczady land. The natives had left, breaking the cultural and settling continuity. Although the former authorities had strenuously tried to transform the Bieszczady into a model socialist plot, those efforts were in vain, because – as it quickly turned out – the local climate made a controlled economy impossible to implement. This is why the deserted, desolate and destroyed Bieszczady, with the nature ruling and taking the formerly wastefully exploited land away from man, and hiding the scarce traces of the days past, had become a Mecca for adventurers, tough guys and dreamers, for people with a past, but without future. They came from all around Poland; some gave up at the very beginning, others – in spite of all the difficulties – stayed, in some cases for good. Therefore, the Bieszczady have become a very special place, diverse with new settlers’ diversity, colorful with the color of their existence and rich with the richness of their dreams and accomplishments. 
     All kinds of forms of recreation have become popular here, because the Bieszczady are fascinating all year long, to every imaginable tourist. Although some say these are “ersatz” mountains, the Bieszczady will provide excitement, even for professional mountain hikers. Most certainly, the most demanding hiking routs, which require extraordinary fitness, like the one connecting the eight highest peaks in the Bieszczady (the highest one is the Tarnica, 1346 of elevation), were marked out especially for them. It really is worth a try, because in good weather conditions, from the Tarnica you can see the peaks of the Gorgons in Ukrainian Carpathians; from the mountain lodge on the Połonina Wetlińska, in winter, the snowcapped tops of the Tatras; and from Halicz, on cloudless days – even the lights of Lviv.
     For the less enduring, who prefer walks rather than professional hiking expeditions, there are the instructive, natural and historic routes, where you can get to know the wonderful riches of nature and material relics of history.
The Bieszczady are ideal for mountain bikers, who can use the mountain bike routes created thanks to the „Zielony rower – Greenway – Karpaty Wschodnie” project (the “Green bike – Greenway – East Carpathians” project). Well–marked mountain bike routes will take you to the most secretive and magical places in the Bieszczady. 
     The Bieszczady are the most beautiful when viewed from horseback, and maybe this is why there are more and more equestrian centers and stud farms, usually offering rides on Hutsuls (Carpathian Ponys), introduced by the first settlers. In the Bieszczady National Park in Wołosate, there is the Ośrodek Zachowawczej Hodowli Konia Hutsulskiego (the Hutsul Preservation Farm), offering equestrian tourism services. They organize horse riding lessons, and cross–country raids. The total length of the equestrian routes in the Bieszczady National Park is 142 km. Of the local curiosities, the well–marked theme equestrian routes are worth mentioning. They offer pleasures of horse riding and a chance to get to know the local history.
You can also see the Bieszczady from the air, thanks to two glider airfields in Bezmiechowa and Weremień. The first one, in Bezmiechowa, was once the most famous in Poland, because in the 1930’s, many local pilots were world and Polish champions and record holders. Tadeusz Góra was the first glider pilot in the world to receive the most prestigious glider prize, the Lilienthal Award. Both flying clubs are well equipped, staffed, and surrounded by ideal landscape. Their offer contains license courses for glider pilots, gliding, paragliding and parapenting. 
     Well, in the Bieszczady you can also sail! The best place is most certainly the largest reservoir in Poland, in Solina. In its surroundings, there is the largest holiday–recreation infrastructure in the province. There are a dozen sailing clubs and marinas, most of which offer courses for future sailors. Almost by the waterside, there is the health resort in Polańczyk–Zdrój. The spa is the largest complex of sanatoriums and holiday lodges in the Bieszczady, specialized in treating respiratory, nervous and digestive system illnesses.
     You can also visit the Bieszczady in wintertime, because the winter tourism offer is already readily available and constantly expanded, even for the most demanding tourists. There are easy and short slopes, and the difficult ones, for alpine skiing and giant slalom. The bravest tourists may try survival or winter paragliding, whereas the ski–tour and ski–ring are ideal for the not–so–sporty types and whole families. Professional, licensed ski guides will teach you to conquer the Bieszczady peaks.
The turbulent history of the Bieszczady has left many precious material relics of the past, encouraging reflective tourism. Most targets are located on the wooden architecture route, which frequently interweaves with the icon route: in the San and Osława Valleys. In Sanok, there is the largest and the most impressive European Folk Architecture Heritage Park and museum, the first museum type Heritage Park in Poland. On 15.2 acres, there are over 100 traditional folk architecture exhibits associated with the culture of Lemkos, Boykos, Pogórzans, Zamieszańcy, Dolinians and Ukrainians. In depositories, there are around 20 thousand mobile exhibits, including a large collection of icons. 
     In the Bieszczady, you can still experience the joy o traveling by narrow–gauge railroad. The trains run from May until October, connecting Majdan with Przysłupie. You can even have the Wild West style cowboys attack the train on horseback, shooting and demanding ransom!
It is hard to write about the Bieszczady, because even the most beautiful and fitting words cannot express their magnificence. The invitation is always valid; therefore please do feel welcome to include the Bieszczady in your plans of touring the most interesting places in Europe!