Grojec Hill in Żywiec

The steel cross on the bare summit of Średni Grojec can be seen from many parts of Żywiec and has become one of the town's symbols. Fewer people know that the higher, wooded top of the same hill once held a castle of robber knights, and later a gallows where the highwayman Marcin Portasz was executed in 1689. Today Grojec offers the easiest walk in town to a view over Lake Żywiec and three ranges of the Beskid mountains, starting a few hundred metres from the castle park.

Three summits, one hill

Grojec is a small ridge in the Sporysz district, between the Soła and Koszarawa rivers in the Żywiec Basin. It has three tops:

• Mały Grojec (422 m) – with a small ski lift on its northern slope,
• Średni Grojec, also called Kopiec (approx. 475 m) – treeless on top, with the best panorama,
• Wielki Grojec (612 m) – overgrown, with the mast of a TV relay station.

The names are used inconsistently: some descriptions call only the highest top "Grojec".

The Papal Cross and the view

The cross on Średni Grojec commemorates Pope John Paul II's visit to Żywiec on 22 May 1995. From here you can see Żywiec, Lake Żywiec and the Soła gorge, the Koszarawa and Pewlica valleys and, on a clear day, Babia Góra, Pilsko and the main ridge of the Silesian Beskids with Barania Góra, Skrzyczne and Klimczok. Only the view to the south is blocked by the higher summit of Grojec.

History: the castle that vanished

On top of Wielki Grojec archaeologists found traces of an early medieval stronghold, followed by a castle built in the early 15th century by the Skrzyński family, notorious for robbery. The castle later passed to the Komorowski family, who sided with King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary; in the 1470s the troops of the Polish king Casimir IV Jagiellon destroyed their castles. Nothing of the building is visible today, and part of the site was destroyed when the relay station was built. Finds from the 1937 excavations, including a crossbow bolt head and a silver penny of King Władysław Jagiełło, were lost during the Second World War.

Nature on Grojec

An educational trail crosses the hill past an old lime kiln, dry calcareous grassland and a small peat bog with round-leaved sundew. The slopes are home to species that are rare in Poland, such as wolfsbane (Aconitum lycoctonum) and snowdrop anemone. A small cave lies on the southern slope of Wielki Grojec.

Tripto tip

The easiest start is in the castle park: cross the footbridge over the Koszarawa to the amphitheatre, where paths lead up to Średni Grojec. The town's Papal walking route (about 5 km) runs from the Market Square through the park to Średni Grojec and down to Sporysz, while the yellow trail crosses all three summits and ends by the Żywiec Brewery in Zabłocie. Allow 1–1.5 hours to walk up to the cross and back; the whole ridge to the brewery makes a half-day outing. Rocky sections can be slippery after rain, so wear shoes with a good grip.