5. The Bobrek walk
THE ROUTE IS MARKED IN BLACK (map no. 5):
PKS Bus Station – ul. W. Korfantego – ul. Kolejowa – ul. Katowicka – Municipal Cemetery – footpath behind the Widok restaurant – ul. H. Filasiewicza – ul. Czytelni Ludowej – ul. Dolna – footpath between the blocks of the Piastowskie Estate across ul. Polna and ul. Kamienna – ul. Węgielna – ul. Motelowa – ul. Gruntowa – ul. Hażlaska – ul. Pikiety – ul. Pszenna – ul. H. Przepilińskiego – ul. Łagodna – ul. T. Kościuszki – ul. Stawowa – ul. K. Brodzińskiego – ul. Czarny Chodnik (path by the Bobrówka) – ul. Bobrecka – ul. F. Hajduka – PKP Railway Station.
Length of walk – 7.5 km.
We begin the walk in front of the PKS Bus Station by the ul. W. Korfantego entrance. We turn left into ul. Kolejowa and then across the fly-over. The beautiful neo-Baroque convent of the Grey Nuns of St. Elizabeth (described in walk 2.) rises up in front of us. We go straight on up ul. Katowicka passing the open market which bustles with life on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Its most faithful customers are mainly Czechs and Slovaks who travel long distances to come here. The Liburnia Estate can be seen on the hill to our left. Nearer us at ul. S. Moniuszki 4 is the hotel of the Fundacja Advice and Professional Development Centre. After passing the petrol station we reach the gate of the Municipal Cemetery.
The entrance to the cemetery, which was first opened in 1891, is through an imposing domed neoclassicist gate. In the cemetery’s older sections are numerous and varied examples of „cemetery architecture” which attest to the wealth of the deceased and their families. We ought to stop a while at the semi-circular colonnade in front of which are buried; Gustaw Morcinek – writer, Franciszek Popiołek – historian; Father Józef Londzin – mayor of Cieszyn and leader of the Union of Silesian Catholics; Paweł Stalmach – nationalist activist and founder of the Macierz Szkolna Księstwa Cieszyńskiego, a Polish cultural and educational association; Karol Miarka – nationalist activist, writer and editor; Father Ignacy Świeży – founder of the Union of Silesian Catholics; Władysław Michejda – mayor of Cieszyn; Ludwik Brożek – bibliophile and museum curator and Jan Demel von Elswehr – mayor of Cieszyn. Also buried here are; Karol Buzek – geologist and Beskid Śląski Branch of the Polish Hiking Society stalwart; Józef Chlebowczyk – historian and vice-chancellor of the Cieszyn Affiliate of the University of Silesia; Hilary Serafin Filasiewicz – lawyer and nationalist activist; Jan Galicz – teacher and president of the Beskid Śląski Branch of the Polish Hiking Society; Emanuel Guziur – teacher and choirmaster; Franciszek Horak – goldsmith; Wiktor Karger – museum curator; Bruno Konczakowski – merchant and collector of militaria; Jan Michejda – mayor of Cieszyn and nationalist activist; Henryk Nitra – painter; Tadeusz Reger – trade union activist and socialist; Józefa Zyta Sarama – teacher, poet, founder of the periodical Nadolzie; Ludwik Skrzypek and Jerzy Szczurek – both teachers and leaders of the attempted rebellion against the Austrian army in 1918; Maria Wardas – writer and pilot; Wincenty Zając – teacher and active member of the Polish Hiking Society and Polish Hiking and Sightseeing Society.
In Section 18 of the cemetery we will find the common grave of 81 people executed by the Gestapo in the old Jewish cemetery on 1 and 2 May 1945. The official funerals of the dead whose remains were transferred to the municipal cemetery took place on 17 June 1945 with the worship led by Catholic and Lutheran clergy. Father Oskar Michejda gave the sermon. Sixty five Poles, fifteen Czechs and one Italian are buried in the common grave, and among the eighty one dead were eight women.
We leave the cemetery and cross ul. Katowicka. Walking along the footpath we head towards ul. H. Filasiewicza with the Widok restaurant on our left and the Piastowskie Estate on our right. After reaching ul. Filasiewicza we turn right and right again into ul. Czytelni Ludowej. We go uphill towards ul. Dolna, cross the road and climb the steps towards the high-rises of the Piastowskie Estate. We walk between blocks nos. 1 and 3 in ul. Polna, nos. 1 and 3 in ul. Kamienna and nos. 3 and 2 in ul. Węgielna. It should be mentioned that the estates are well provided for with car parks and children’s playgrounds. We turn left into ul. Motelowa and walk through a residential district until we reach the turning on the left that leads up to the car park in front of Hotel Orbis-Halny. Turning left into ul. Gruntowa we continue towards ul. Hażlaska where we meet up with signs for the red route. Here we find a footbridge over National Route 1 leading to the border crossing. After crossing the bridge we find ourselves in the district of Pastwiska, and a magnificent view of the Silesian Beskid and Silesian-Moravian Beskid Mountains unfolds before us as we look down to the right from the hillside (described in walk 2.).
We are in Pastwiska (described in walk 2.) walking along ul. Hażlaska. On the left is the Volunteer Fire Service Station with a statue of St. Florian in a niche. Next to it is a wooden wayside shrine to Our Lady of Częstochowa. We reach the junction of several roads on the top of Boża Męka Hill. There is a wayside cross. It is said to have been erected on the site of the grave of Swedish soldiers caught in a trap and treacherously murdered by Austrians forces in spite of promises that they would go free. We leave the red signs of the Periphery Walk, turn right by the cross and continue towards ul. Katowicka passing a supermarket on our right. We cross the road near the Cieszyn Pastwiska PKS coach stop.
We join ul. Pikiety. This road runs along one of the ridges of the Cieszyn Pogórze Hills. For this reason we are treated to changing panoramas of the Silesian Beskid Mountains, the Silesian-Moravian Beskid Mountains, the Cieszyn Pogórze Hills (part of the Silesian Pogórze Hills) and the Silesian-Moravian Pogórze Hills. The route continues uphill. On our right we pass an oak tree aged between one hundred and fifty to two hundred years with two imposing willows behind it. We soon reach the top of Pikiety (376 m above sea level) at the junction of three roads; ul. Pikiety, ul. Żniwna and ul. Pszenna. A stone Calvary wayside cross surrounded by trees bears the inscription, „I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jan 14.6. Founded by Maryanna Żebrok. 1887”. From this point we can enjoy a splendid panorama of Cieszyn, the border range consisting of Koňsky Les, Kojkovská horka and Mołczyn with the chimneys of Třinec behind it, the hills Cieślarówka and Banotówka, and in the distance Czantoria, Jasieniowa, Barania Góra, Równica and other peaks of the Silesian Beskid Mountains. We turn right into ul. Pszenna. The road goes downhill, then bears left and soon after bears right to join ul. H. Przepilińskiego. Here our route runs parallel with the yellow signs of the Panorama Walk, which accompany us as we turn right and in a short while reach the road bridge over ul. Graniczna (National Route 1 – E75). We can admire the view of Cieszyn and the Silesian-Moravian Pogórze Hills and Mistřovický kopec. In the foreground are the roofs of the blocks on the Bobrek Wschód Estate. We leave the yellow signs and turn left into ul. Łagodna beyond the road bridge. After a while we change direction again, turning right into ul. T. Kościuszki. We start to descend down one of the side ridges of Pikiety Hill into the Bobrówka valley. On the left is the Sarkandrowiec valley (figs. 92 and 93) and abandoned orchards. Beyond the car mechanic’s we have another marvellous view, this time of the Silesian Beskid and Silesian-Moravian Beskid Mountains from Klimczok to Lysá hora. The Czantoria and Stożek ridges are clearly visible, as are long stretches of the Wiślańskie range, as well as Javorový, one of the peaks of the Silesian-Moravian Beskid Mountains. We continue along ul. T. Kościuszki. Beyond ul. H. Kajzara we pass an architecturally interesting modern residential housing development (fig. 94). After a while we come to the Bobrek Zachód Estate which was built in the 1980s. We pass it on our left and soon reach the presbytery of the Catholic parish here. The building has the characteristic appearance of a neoclassicist Polish manor house with a portico supported by two columns. Beyond the presbytery within the boundaries of the cemetery is the parish church of Our Lady (fig. 95). It was built in 1910 as the cemetery chapel and has functioned as the parish church since 1957. The most eye-catching feature in the cemetery is the neo-Renaissance tomb of the Pell family built in 1904. It is also worth seeking out the graves of celebrated Cieszyn people, e.g.; Alojzy Milata – a teacher, hiker and active member of the Beskid Śląski branch of the Polish Hiking Society and Wanda Skrzypczak-Romik – active in the Girl Guide movement. Behind the church is a granite headstone with the inscription, „The Cieszyn Region gives grateful thanks to the heroic Red Army for liberation from the yoke of German oppression.” Here are also a number of small-leaved lime trees whose trunks are overgrown with ivy (a protected species). There is a small shrine to the Black Madonna of Częstochowa near the entrance to the cemetery. Opposite the church is the old brickworks, once well known for producing good quality bricks.
Beyond the cemetery we turn left into ul. T. Kościuszki where we have a view down onto the Bobrek Wschód Estate and the Sarkandrowiec valley below. We turn right and on the slope by the turning see two oak trees aged between a hundred and fifty and two hundred years. Soon after, the buildings of the Cieszyn Affiliate of the University of Silesia come into view on the far side of the Bobrówka. We cross ul. Stawowa (the Cieszyn Stawowa PKS coach stop is 200 metres further on by the Elektrometal office block) and, keeping the Bobrek Volunteer Fire Service Station on our right, arrive at ul. K. Brodzińskiego. The green Water Walk finishes here. The yellow signs of the Panorama Walk join us from the left. Continuing for a while in parallel with the other walks, we turn right, cross the bridge over the Bobrówka, and turn right into ul. Czarny Chodnik. Here the green signs of the Nature Reserves Walk join our route from the left. We walk along by a flower nursery between the Cieszyn-Bielsko railway line and the Bobrówka, soon reaching the flyover. On the right, under the flyover, is a wayside shrine described in walk 1. Beyond the flyover we turn left into ul. Bobrecka and then, after crossing the railway tracks, turn right into ul. F. Hajduka. From this point it is only about 100 m to the PKP railway station which marks the end of the walk.