Pepper Mountains (Góry Pieprzowe) in Sandomierz

The rocks beneath your feet here settled on the floor of a Cambrian sea about 500 million years ago. The Pepper Mountains (Góry Pieprzowe), known locally as "Pieprzówki", form a steep escarpment above the Vistula about 2.5 km from Sandomierz Old Town and are considered the oldest mountains in Poland. They take their name from the shale, which weathers into small dark fragments that look like peppercorns.

Geology: layers standing on end

The range is made mainly of brownish-grey shales – mudstones and claystones – with occasional beds of quartzite, sandstone and conglomerate from the Middle Cambrian. Ancient mountain-building movements folded the layers so strongly that today they stand vertically and in places are even overturned. This is the reference section (stratotype) for the so-called Pepper Mountains Shale Formation. Fossils are extremely rare, but trilobites and brachiopods have been found in the area. The outcrops form the high edge of the Vistula valley: the range stays below 200 m above sea level but rises 40–60 m above the riverbed and is cut by deep gullies and loess ravines, which locals call "rozdoły".

Steppe reserve and wild roses

Since 1979 part of the range has been protected as a nature reserve of about 18 ha. The sunny slopes are covered with xerothermic grassland and scrub – vegetation of warm, dry habitats. Protected species include dwarf cherry, feather grass, snowdrop anemone and cross gentian; bluestem grass and a rare yarrow (Achillea setacea) grow here too. The Pepper Mountains are especially known for their 15 species of wild roses. The reserve is also famous for its rich fauna of warmth-loving insects, snails and spiders.

What to see

• Outcrops of dark shale and screes of "peppercorn" fragments on the slopes.
• The view from the edge of the escarpment over the Vistula and its oxbow lakes, and from some hills over the Sandomierz skyline.
• Flowering roses and grassland – especially in the flowering season.
• Gullies and ravines cutting into the valley edge.

Tripto tip

The red trail from Gołoszyce to Piotrowice runs across the Pepper Mountains – the simplest way to cross the reserve without leaving the path. The range lies partly within Sandomierz and partly in the municipality of Dwikozy, so you can easily start on foot from the Old Town. Do not pick plants and stay on the trail: the slopes are steep and the loose rock fragments can be slippery. In summer the bare slopes get very hot, so bring water and a hat. Allow 1–2 hours for a walk with the viewpoints.