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Przegorzały and surroundings
The Przegorzały Guesthouse (Film Spring Open-Air 2011 location) lies 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) away from the center of Kraków, 7 kilometers away (about 4,5 miles) from the Balice airport and 3 kilometers (about 2 miles) away from A-4 motorway. From the center of Kraków Prince Józef Street (pol. Ul. Księcia Józefa) leads to Przegorzały starting from the Norbertine monastery (pol. Klasztor norbertanek) at Salwador. City buses stop at the foot of the hill where the university complex is located (The Przegorzały Guesthouse).
Camaldolese monastery (pol. Klasztor kamedulski) and the old sanatorium on the background of massive hills in Przegorzały
The road towards Bielany, on the right side Przegorzały and bus transportation, and to the left (not visible) Vistula River and river leeves.
The nearest (and the only one of the area) grocery store next to the bus stop.
Practical information:
Buses from the city center (ticket costs 2,5 zł) stop about 600 meters away from our campus, but you have to go uphill. Taxis from the city center cost about 30 – 35 zł. Straight forward you can go to the railway station about 8 km and to the airport about 6 km. The cost of taxis from Przegorzały to the airport is roughly the same as to the city center. There is also a city bus going to the airport. The bus from the train station takes about half an hour, a taxi about 20 minutes.
Next to the campus there is a restaurant “U Ziyda”, a Kurd, who bought the hospital from post-German aviators and a restaurant near the Zoo. There is a restaurant, “Srebrna Góra” (ang. The Silver Mountain) named from the hill on which the monastery stands, near the XIXth century waterworks, near Fort Krępak.
At the foot of the hill, near the city bus stop there is a grocery store. Other shops are located close to the Wola Justowska, near the Villa Decius, about 1.5 km away – grocery, bakery etc.
Generally, in the area there are no major shops, blocks of flats or industrial objects. The nearest petrol stations are close to the airport or at Salwator. A4 motorway runs about 3 miles away from campus, but the nearest exit is near the airport.
1. Przegorzały Guesthouse (Film Spring location) was built in the style of an American university campus from the 60’s, next to it there is a former summer residence constructed in the French style of the castles of Loire, architected by Adolf Szyszko, a Krakowian architect. In the tower, which is an old villa, there are currently two apartments and a conference room belonging to the University. Next to the tower, the Germans built a sanatorium for the Luftwaffe army, this is said to be the best Nazi architecture in the east of the Odra River. Currently, next to the restaurant, the European Institute of Jagiellonian University is located. In the foyer there is also a stone fountain in the shape of a swastika, and in the basement you can discover the old air-raid shelter.
Guardhouse at the entrance to the campus
Another guardhouse below the Hotel
The entrance to the Przegorzały Guesthouse
2. Going to the west, less than a mile, there is the Camaldolese monastery (pol. Klasztor kamedulski), partly open to the public. Built on the verge of XVIth and XVIIth century in the North-Italian style, absolutely unique in this part of Europe. The most interesting about this historical building is the ancient hermitage, but it may be quite difficult to enter with a camera, hopefully nowadays the monks would be more open-minded.
The entrance to the monastery
St. Sebastian chapel.
3. Below the Monastery there you can discover Fort Krępak. It is open for the public and well conserved. This is so-called distributed fortification. Ideally set into a difficult terrain, properly prepared to set a shooting for a war episode. From the front of the fort there are remains of the armored tradytora with beautiful views of Tyniec and Vistula River.
The head of the Fort
4. Going further through the forest by the old fortress once leading to the rampart “Gumańczy Dół” below the monastery you can go to Jagiellonian University Astronomy Observatory in the old Fort 38 “Śmierdząca Skała”. There is nothing else to be observed, only civilian and military airport, which is 2 km away that shines at night like a Christmas tree. The Fort is partially open by prior arrangement with the University authorities. It is very strange and interesting object. The summit of this hill is riddled like a Swiss cheese.
The Fort „Skała”
Corridors in the Fort „Skała”
5. Turning north after another few hundreds of meters we pass behind the ammunition bunker ruins of the former battery mortars, 305mm Skoda.
Ammunition bunker
6. Further north is Sowiniec that is Piłsudski Memorial Mound (pol. Kopiec Piłsudskiego). It is bigger than the Kościuszko Memorial Mound (pol. Kopiec Kościuszki) just completely neglected. All these objects are connected by fortress roads so despite the dense forest and steep hills, there is pretty easy to navigate.
Kościuszko Memorial Mound (pol. Kopiec Kościuszki) from Sowiniec
7. Turning in a clockwise direction to the right we get to the so-called Panienskie Rocks (pol. Panieńskie Skały). It is a wonderful plein-air for a romantic scene with high, white, limestone cliffs. Nearby there is a reconstructed XVIth century wooden church.
Panienskie Rocks (pol. Panieńskie Skały)
8. Swerving a bit from the main trail, you can get to former tradytora guarding the road to Wola Justowska, currently the most luxurious district of Krakow.
9. Returning to the edge of the forest we past the Renaissance Villa Decius, where a conference center with the same name is located.
Villa Decius
10. Continuing the clockwise direction, we go back to the Przegorzały Guesthouse passing through the so-called “Sikornik” located halfway between Sowiniec and the Kosciuszko Memorial Mound (pol. Kopiec Kościuszki).
Sikornik
The road to the right (looking from the point from which I took this photograph), a steep winding road leads to the Zoo and straight to Przegorzały. Next to the Zoo in the forest there is one more object worth mentioning, which is a restaurant build in the modernist style of the 30’s. The restaurant is open during the season and may be potentially good location to shoot. Now they renovate it.
The restaurant in the forest
11. Below you can see the Sanatorium or “Adlerschanze” which extends to the Vistula River valley. It used to be marshes, oxbow lakes, overgrown with reeds. Now it is somewhat drought but no less picturesque. The area is virtually undeveloped. Looking from the terrace of the sanatorium, and in fact today the restaurant “U Ziada”, on the left you can see the Solnik hill with the ruins of another Fort 53 “Bodzów” on the next hill, hidden in the forest, which is located next to another Fort 53a “Winnica”, a small fort in a mountain type in excellent condition. In Solnik there are caves, which serve as passive shelters and warehouses.
Vistula River valley from the Sanatorium
Fort 53 Bodzów viewBehind Bodzów in the direction of Kraków there is Zakrzówek with a gigantic, old quarry, which appeared in several films, pretending to be the Adriatic Coast.
Flooded pit in the quarry in Zakrzówek
Rocky cliffs reach about 30-40 feet high, and an artificial pond that fills the basin of the quarry is several meters deep.
12. At the base of the Silver Mountain (pol. Srebrna Góra) so called because of the monastery hill, there is a XIXth century urban waterworks in the style so favored by the Austrian neo-gothic.
Waterworks
Waterworks
13. On the right there is a Kościuszko barrage, with artificial kayak and a small power plant. Further you can see the Romanesque Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec.
Tyniec seen from Bielany.
