Silesian is a region of high cliffs and deep mines where the industrial past meets a landscape of white rock. This area is the heart of the Silesian highlands road trip featuring a trail of castles perched on high limestone crags. You can explore the ruins of Ogrodzieniec which looks like a giant stone crown sitting on top of the highest hill in the land.
The road leads you down into the silver mines of Tarnowskie Góry where you can take a boat through the dark underground canals. These mines were once the source of great wealth and are now a quiet world of stone tunnels and dripping water. Above ground the landscape is a mix of high green hills and the busy life of the cities where the old factories have been turned into centers of art.
As you head south the mountains of the Beskids offer steep roads and views that reach all the way to the neighboring lands. You can visit the brewery in Żywiec to see how the local beer is made or hike to the top of the Czantoria peak. This region is a place of high energy where you can climb a rock wall in the morning and dive into the deep history of a mine in the afternoon.
Silesian highlights
- Ogrodzieniec Castle Ruin Walk the massive white stone walls of a fort built into the high cliffs of the limestone hills. It is the most famous stop on the trail of the eagle nest castles of the south.
- Tarnowskie Góry Mine Take a boat through the dark underground tunnels of an old silver mine deep in the rock. The air is cold and the water is clear in the narrow stone paths under the ground.
- Żywiec Brewery Museum Visit a giant brick house of beer to see how the local drink has been made for over a hundred years. You can walk through the old cellars and see the machines from the past.
- Pszczyna Castle Tour a palace that looks like it belongs in Paris with its grand rooms full of silk and gold. The park around it is huge and has a place where you can see wild bison.
- Bobolice Castle See a white stone fort that has been fully rebuilt to look exactly like it did in the time of the knights. It sits on a high rocky point and looks like a scene from a fairy tale.
- Black Trout Adit Sit in a small boat and float through a long dark tunnel that was used to drain water from the mines. It is the longest underground boat trip in the land and very quiet.
- Beskid Mountains Peaks Drive up the steep roads to find high points with views that reach over the border to the south. The hills are green and full of small wooden huts where you can buy cheese.
- Cieszyn Rotunda Visit one of the oldest stone buildings in the land which is a small round church from the tenth century. It sits on a hill in a town that is split in two by the river border.
- Nikiszowiec Worker District Walk through a neighborhood of red brick houses with red window frames built for the miners long ago. It has a very unique feel with its brick arches and quiet squares.
- Gliwice Radio Tower See the tallest wooden structure in the world which is a giant tower built without any metal nails. It played a major role in the start of the great war and is lit up at night.
The local Four
History of Silesian
Silesian is a rugged region of white stone and deep iron where the wealth of the earth built a world of fire. In the 1300s, King Casimir the Great built a chain of Eagle Nest castles, like Ogrodzieniec, to guard the crown against invaders. This trail of stone is the heart of a Silesian highlands road trip where every peak holds a ruin that looks out over the valley.
Deep under the ground, miners spent hundreds of years digging for silver and lead. In the 1700s, the Tarnowskie Góry mine became so advanced that it used the first steam engines in the region to pump out water. These mines turned the region into an industrial heart, where red brick worker districts like Nikiszowiec were built in the early 1900s.
The southern hills became a sanctuary of wood and song where the mountain people brewed famous beer in Żywiec since 1856. They lived in the shadow of the Beskids, where steep roads lead to peaks over 1,200 meters high. Between the white stone castles and the deep silver mines, this land is a story of fire, rock, and the strength of the working man.