So first of all hello everybody who is reading this. I am happy you came to my blog and today I want to share another story from my Erasmus life in Krakow. First of all a little introduction. What is mound and why there are 3 mounds in Krakow? Mound is heaped pile of earth. And here it Krakow all the mounds are dedicated to some special people who lived here or meant something in Polish history. There are actually 4 here but I like just these 3 the most. Their names are Krakus, Pilsudski and Kościuszko. First too are free for entry and the Kościuszko one you have to pay if you want to go up. It is mostly because there is some kind of museum and things like that. But ok, lets looks closer how to get up to these mounds and how was my trip. If I recommend it or not.
Krakus mound
So I started with Krakus mound. This one is behind Kazimierz what is part of Krakow, mostly popular because of Jews. To get to this mound from city center you will need about 35 minutes or so. It is not really far. This mound as I found is really popular for photographer – every time when I go up there, many of them is photographing the panoramic view. All over this mound is a big green area where you can set up your picnic or just sit down and enjoy the view or talk with friends. If you come here in the evening you will for sure find some people grilling, especially on Friday night or during the weekend.
But one advice if you decide to go up to this mound. On the way, stop to see Benedykt fortress. It is closed but still worth to visit. You have to walk a bit around to see it better but there is a possibility. It is a bit waste of architecture I have to say. The fortress looks amazing from outside and I am sure if some people will care of it, it might be a good touristic spot.
Kościuszko mound
On my tour around mounds in Krakow, the next on the list was Kościuszko. I had to walk a bit through the city, over the Wawel castle.
And then I got up to the green trail, which should bring me right up to Kościuszko and later through the woods up to Pilsudski mound. The way up to Kościuszko is nice when you have a sunny day as I had. Many people are walking on this path with children, dogs etc.
When I got under the Kościuszko mound I had to turn left to get inside. If you do not want to pay and you just want to see the mound, you can do it. I also entered the area of mound for free, but as I already was on the top I did not see any sence to pay for it once again. Especially when I planned to go also to Pilsudski, but I will talk about this a bit later. So Kościuszko, what to say about this. This is the highest mound and as I remember it has about 36m. It looks really stunning and I am sure if it is your first time in Krakow, you should visit it. And the price for the ticket is 10 zloty for students and children and 14 zloty for adults.
Pilsudski mound
I decided to continue to Mound Pilsudki by green tourists trail. It was a bit tricky, so if you want to do the same, pay attention to your GPS as the turn from regular path into the forest trail is a bit hidden. On this trail I found some really cool rock structures and a lot of birds who were singing just for me. Green forest is something super cool in Krakow. I never expected to love forests in Krakow – but I felt in love. So, on the way up to Pilsudski mounds I visited some other rock structured, such as Panienske skaly for example.
If you walk here and you are lucky enough, you can meet some deers which are running around the forest. But back to my walk. As I exited the forest, Mound Pilsidski just appeared. I loved how it looked like. Actually I always love it when I come here. I forgot to say that I come here almost every day when I have free time, it is about 7km there and 7 back but it worth it. At least for me. To climb up to the mound it took me about 5 or 7 minutes as it was about 500m to get up. This mound is quite large I have to say but the view from the top is … pfeeeew. It is just stunning. The mound is covered by the forest, but as it is the second highest from these 3, when you are on the top you are over the trees already. If you look straight you will see Krakow with Wawel, on the left side you will see the airport and if you move to the south you will see some Slovakian mountains already. The highest one is called Babia hora. And one last tip for this mound – if you are brave enought and you are not afraid of deers and boars, stay here till the sunset and a bit later when first stars will appear. It is lovely, nobody in this place, just you, stars and noise from the ZOO. Yes, there is a ZOO not far away from here, so do not be surprise if you can hear a lion or some other animals.
So do I recommend this tour? If you are in Krakow just for one day, probably you should choose just some of these mounds of use public transport to reach all of them. But if you study in Krakow or live here and you have enough time, definitely try it. It is kinda amazing to see Krakow from 3 different mounds. I started the trip from students dormitory and whole trails was about 24km and took me about 6 hours – if I count also some stops which I did. So, if you liked this idea, I will be happy if you try it in future and if you want, let me know how was it. I would love to hear about it.
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Supertramp Diary 