Sanok offers quite a lot to see for such a small town. On the medieval Rynek, or Market Square, stands the Franciscan Church and monastery, built in the seventeenth century. The prominent church tower dominates the town both spiritually and architecturally. In the Hotel Jagielonski, lying on the street bearing the same name is a very good restaurant where I tasted regional specialties such as pierogi ruskie, or dumplings stuffed with minced potato, onion and wild mushroom filling, or some of the mouth watering mountain trout, accompanied by the usual vegetable and potato additions. The hotel also offers the most comfortable night rest in the town, for a very reasonable price, so it is a good idea to book ahead - call (013) 463-1208. 

The best view of the castle can be had from the riverside meadows. The castle is only partially preserved, the remaining buildings house Poland’s biggest collection of icons, somewhat irrelevantly mixed with the paintings of Zdzislaw Beksinski, a prominent local avant-garde painter. Nearby stands the orthodox cathedral of the Holy Trinity, built in 1784 originally for the Greek Catholic community. Inside are many monumental icons, mainly from the nineteenth century. Entering the church is like entering another century, the ambiance being so quiet and meditative.

Sanoks biggest attraction, however, lies outside the city, on the opposite bank of the San River. It is the biggest skansen in Poland, with hundreds of typical wooden buildings that once dominated the rural landscape here. Among them are three cerkwie, one Catholic church, old farmsteads and smithies and an assortment of local manor houses, all moved from nearby villages and meticolously reassembled here. During the summer many are open, so you can take a peek inside and be shown around by women in colorful folk costumes. 

On Kiczury Street lies the overgrown New Jewish Cemetery, where an occasional tombstone sticks out from the dense underbrush. Sanok once had a bigger and older Jewish Cemetery, which was however completely wiped out by the Nazis who used the tombstones to pave the town streets.

The townspeople never tire out from inventing new attractions, and so for the last few years a raft ride down the rather placid San River is all the rage, especially at night, where the rafts are lighted by torches. However, a day trip is quite nice as well, because then you can better appreciate the scenery of the San Gorge. 

Following the San a few miles upstream I reached the village of Zagorz, the local train hub, where all long distance trains terminate. From here two trains a day ride eastwards to Ukraine, and two southwards toward Medzilaborce in Slovakia (the latter operate only between May 1 and Oct.1) Details on Polish State Railways Timetable at www.pkp.pl. Other than the station building itself the most prominent landmark here is the huge ruin of the Carmelite monastery atop the nearby hill. Once a center of local religious life, the complex burnt down under mysterious circumstances in 1822 and was never rebuilt. A short but stiff climb gives pleasingly pastoral views over the nearby valley of the San and its tributary, the Oslawa. 

A few miles further east lies the sleepy town of Lesko. It is worth it to make a brief stop here, if only to take in the provincial atmosphere reminiscent of a far flung corner of the Habsburg Empire. There is a synagogue here that is remarkably well preserved, most of the others in the region were either torn down by the Nazis or altered beyond recognition by Communist rebuilding schemes. This one however, dating from the 16th century, survived the war as a warehouse, and was later adopted to house an artist gallery. The owners sensitively restored the interior, which preserves some original furnishings, while the outside walls are decorated by quotes from the Torah. The building is open everyday from 10AM till 4PM, admission costs 2 zl.

Beyond Lesko lies the huge Solinski Reservoir, which is backed up by the tallest dam in Poland (90 meters tall or 270 feet) , and consequently also holds the most water of any artificial reservoir in the country. The reservoir backs up along 20 km (12 mile) stretch of the San Valley, and because of the mountainous nature of the terrain its shoreline is extremely irregular, with countless coves and small wooded islands that were once hilltops. A walk across the dam reveals spectacular views toward the main range of the Bieszczady towards the south. The road to the dam is lined with hundreds of souvenir stalls, which mostly sell an assortment of kitschy folk art, but here are also a couple good eating places - calling them restaurants would be too generous a term - which nevertheless offer mouthwatering local trout with side salads and the ubiquitous French Fries. I recommend Polish bigos as well, which is a combination of sauerkraut, pork and wild mushrooms, usually eaten with a slice of bread on the side.

The large village of Polanczyk spreads out on a peninsula just to the south of Solina. This is the closest thing the entire region has to a resort, which in any case is dominated by the ugly prefabricated concrete monsters the Communists erected here for the benefit of the vacationing proletariat. Therefore I would not recommend a stay here; it is far preferable to continue driving south into the hills. Polanczyk however, is useful if you want to spend some time sunning on the beach, or renting kayaks or sailboats to explore the lake. 

Beyond the southern reaches of the Reservoir all traces of civilization quickly fade away, the valley of the upper San has the lowest population density in the whole country, with just 5 people per sq. kilometer. A “Central European” Vermont of sorts, this rather big area (1000 sq. miles) has only 5,000 permanent residents, all spread out in small villages, without a single settlement that ever had town rights. Before the last war the region was populated by ten times as many people, almost all Ukrainians and Greek Catholics, which were expelled in 1947 on the charge that they helped the Ukrainian resistance movement. Many were resettled in the new Polish territories near Stettin in Pomerania, most however were deported to the Ukraine. What they left behind, other than huge patches of beech and alder forests that overgrew their former fields and pastures, are evocative abandoned cemeteries and a big number of wooden cerkwie, many recently restored and used as Catholic shrines. Here is a part of Poland where the ghosts of not so distant past will always accompany the traveler, hopefully making him aware of the vicissitudes of fortune. 

Upon rejoining the main Bieszczady Ring road near the village of Czarna Gora I turned toward the south. Lutowiska, the next village along, is dominated by the rusty oil drilling towers. The region has yielded oil for the last 150 years, ever since local inventor Ignacy Lukasiewicz started the world’s first oil production facility near Bobrka in 1854. However, the supplies were never too large, and are now largely exhausted, accounting for only 1% of the current Polish needs. 

To the south of Lutowiska lies the diminutive hamlet of Smolnik. Upon a small hillock by the road stands the wooden St. Michaels cerkiew, dating from 1791. Nearby lies a pleasantly melancholy abandoned cemetery, with a few tombstones sticking out from dense undergrowth. The forests on the eastern horizon already belong to the Ukraine.

Just south of the village the road crosses the young San River, here only some 30 km (20 miles) from its source near the Uzhok Pass. If you follow its northern bank for a few miles you will reach the village of Chmiel, where another wooden cerkiew edifies the landscape. This one dates only from 1906, but looks just as old as the one in Smolnik - old styles dominated local architecture right up to the last war. In the cemetery next to the church lies the region’s oldest surviving tombstone - with an old Cyrillic inscription and Sas coat of arms, it dates from 1641. The meadows along the San are a good place to observe numerous beaver colonies, wolves and bears also frequent these parts in search of easy prey such as sheep or cows. 

I spent the night in Hotel Muczne, in a bedroom once used by Brezhnev, on a deserted side road east of Stuposiany. The hotel was originally a hunting lodge used by the Polish Politburo members and their illustrious guests, during its heyday in the 1970’s. Leonid Brezhnev, Nicolae Ceausescu and Valery Giscard d’ Einstaing all slept here after a hard day’s hunt. Following the collapse of the system, the place markets itself as the “only luxury hotel in these parts” although thankfully the prices are quite modest.

South of Stuposiany on the main road the wilderness begins with a vengeance, here protected by one of Poland’s biggest National Parks. The hamlet of Ustrzyki Gorne is the only place where anything edible can be found, it also serves as the junction of numerous hiking paths, which radiate from here in all directions. As befits a place on the eastern border of the EU the only building of any size, other than the Hotel Gorski, where I stayed, is the starkly post-modern border patrol station that the locals refer to as an “UFO”. In fact other than the summer tourist traffic, border police offers the only secure jobs in the area. 

Hotel Gorski is the only establishment in the hamlet that can rightfully call itself a hotel. It offers a relatively good restaurant, sauna and mountain bike rental in addition to its clean, but sparsely furnished rooms. You can reserve a place here by calling (013) 461 0604, reservations in summer are essential, preferably two weeks ahead or more. Another option is Dom Bialy, which offers comfortable beds, if nothing else - (013) 461 0641. 

As there is really nothing to see in the village, everybody comes here either to hike or to do cross-country skiing in winter. I made my way up Tarnica, Biesczadys highest outcrop at 1346 meters, a little easier by driving along horribly pot-holed asphalt road to the hamlet of Wolosate, a few miles south. Here, from a dirt parking lot it is only a 10 minute walk to the erstwhile Soviet border, once marked by the Soviet red and green striped concrete posts. The Ukrainians have repainted their border posts in rather garish combination of green and yellow stripes, while the Polish ones, painted red and white, face them across a few feet of no man’s land. The thought that the “Evil Empire” once stretched from here to the gates of Alaska alone makes this short walk worthwhile. Do not cross on any account, however, since this is not a recognized border crossing point, and although the mine fields and barbed wire on the Ukrainian side were supposedly all removed, detention of straying hikers by the Ukrainian authorities still happens with depressing frequency. 

In the village of Wolosate, which also happens to be Poland’s southernmost settlement, I took a ride atop a Hutsul horse. This ancient breed of wild horses, from which many domesticated species are thought to be derived, was once common all over Central and Eastern Europe. Hunted almost to extinction, this is one of the few places in the world where these horses may still roam relatively freely - each enclosure is a couple of acres large. 

On the eastern edge of the village lies yet another abandoned Greek Orthodox cemetery, where silence reigns supreme among rustling leaves. Next to it is “ high altitude moor” a little studied natural phenomenon that consist of an upland peat bog that is overgrown by successive layers of water loving vegetation, which in turn decays and paves the way for other layers - after a long time a sponge like hillock emerges, elevated a meter or more over the surroundings. In contrast to the more mundane lowland peat bogs, these are extremely rare, and all of them are under very strong environmental protection. 

From the bog, which covers about two acres, the blue path ascends 700 meters (2000 feet) up through the beech forests to the peak of the Tarnica. Windswept Poloniny dominate the long ridge - an ascent here in late September, when the luxuriant fall colors offer an experience not unlike the one that attracts thousands to New England every year - is especially recommended. Also during this time, summer haze is most definitely gone, leaving the atmosphere extremely crisp and offering long range views, sometimes stretching all the way to Pikuj, which at 1405 meters is the highest peak in the range, some 40 km (30 miles) to the east in the Ukraine. 

For many Poles the Bieszczady offer a somewhat nostalgic and bittersweet taste of what they had irrevocably lost - before 1939 the Polish border stretched all the way to Romania, encompassing most of the Eastern Carpathians, along with their colorful Hutsul and Bojki mountain peoples. Out of this 250 km (160 mile) range, only the 50 km (30 mile) westernmost stretch remained in Poland after the country was moved westwards in 1945. Yet the colorful, exotic image of the border marchlands (Kresy) where mostly Polish and Catholic landowners coexisted peacefully for centuries with the majority Ukrainian peasant population; still exerts a powerful influence on the Polish psyche. 

From Tarnica you can either descend the way you came back to your car, or take the much longer, but also much gentler decent along the red trail back to Ustrzyki Gorne. In any case, if you plan to do more extensive hiking in the region, a good hiking map such as Copernicus Map Co. edition of Bieszczady i Gory Sanocko- Turczanskie is indispensable - it is widely available in bookshops in Lesko, Sanok or Ustrzyki Dolne. 

More Practical Information:

Taxi companies in the region
Radio Taxi S.C.  (013) 9626
Postoj Taxi- (013) 461 41 03
Kars Taxi- (013) 422 21 46

Ambulance- 999
Fire- 998
Police-997 

All three emergency numbers free of charge, whether dialed from mobiles or stationary phones. If your cell phone (mobile) works on the GSM network it will work within Poland as well, USA cell phones will not work unless they are multi-system. However, once in Poland it is much cheaper to make domestic and international calls from the ubiquitous yellow phone booths using the TP SA chip cards - they are available at newsstands everywhere- try to buy the most expensive card - a card with 100 impulses that costs about 15 Euro or $20 should last for 20 minutes when calling internationally or 200 minutes when calling domestically. When calling from another country dial 00 48 and then local number to reach Poland, in the case of USA the international prefix is 011 48. 

Internet Cafes:

Sanok, ul. Ogrodowa 34  tel. (013) 464-4045
Sanok, ul. 2 Pulku Strzelcow Podchalanskich 14 tel. (013) 464-0574
Jaslo, ul. Staszica 12 tel. (013) 446- 2907

Money Exchange (Kantors):

Sanok, ul. Ko?ciuszki 12, tel. (013) 463-5023
Sanok, ul. Ko?ciuszki 8, tel. ( 013) 463-7485
Lesko, ul. 1000-lecia 4, tel. (013) 469-6655

Useful Bookshops That Sell Maps And Albums In English:

Ustrzyki Dolne, ul. 29 listopada 6, tel. (013) 461-2293
Ustrzyki Dolne, Rynek 11, tel. (013) 461-1445 
Lesko, ul. Parkowa 5, tel. (013) 469-6294
Sanok, ul. Lenartowicza 2, tel. ( 013) 464- 2555

To contact Bart Click Here

Return To Magazine Index