Trail of the Eagles's Nests in Poland

Tourist route in Poland with the length of 169 km - one of the most interesting tourist routes in Poland. It runs through Lesser Poland and Silesian Province. Its name comes from the ruins of castles and strongholds lying on its route, called Eagle Nests, due to their location on rocks reaching up to 30 m of height.

The second quarter of the 14th century is the beginning of King Casimir's rule in Poland. He was nicknamed "the Great" by later generations. That was the time of fighting against Czechs, and most of all against King John of Luxembourg who claimed his right to the Polish crown, explaining it by the legacy of the former ruler, Wenceslaus II Přemyslid. Finally, Casimir the Great renounces the rights to the Silesia in 1339 in exchange for help in fighting against the Teutonic Order and waiving claims concerning the Polish crown. Then the monarch starts to build an array of defensive castles situated on calcareous hills along the Polish-Silesian borderland. This array is called the Trail of the Eagles' Nests. These castles fulfilled not only military functions, one of their objectives was also to protect merchants who travelled along the trade route running from Lviv through Cracow to Wrocław.

Traditionally, the Eagle Nests Route runs from Kraków to Częstochowa and includes castles and ruins of castles: