Tuł Hill

Tuł (621 m) looks like an ordinary wooded hump between Goleszów and Leszna Górna, but it has two remarkable stories. At the end of the Bronze Age it carried one of the largest and highest-lying Lusatian culture settlements in the Polish Carpathians, and its limestone meadows are among the most valuable orchid sites in Cieszyn Silesia. On top of that, the summit sits exactly on Poland's main watershed.

History: a settlement 2,700 years old

Traces of prehistoric settlement were found on the summit during an archaeological survey in 1997, and excavations in 2003 confirmed a Lusatian culture settlement (a Bronze and Iron Age culture of central Europe). It covered about 3 ha and was home to at least 100–150 people. Pottery fragments, grinding stones and querns, together with radiocarbon dating, show that it was used from the late Bronze Age (900–750 BC) into the early Iron Age (750–400 BC). There is no reconstruction or exhibition on site today – it is simply worth knowing as you stand in the summit clearing.

Nature: orchids and a watershed

Tuł is built of Cieszyn limestone, and its slopes are mostly meadows and scrub with lime-loving plants. After the Second World War scientists recorded 923 plant species here and in the immediate area; in the early 20th century 22 orchid species grew on the hill. Water from the eastern slopes flows into the Cisówka stream in the Vistula basin, while the rest drains via the Lesznianka and the Olza into the Oder. Since 2007 the orchid meadows have been protected as an ecological site of 6.94 ha. In early spring the wooded top is carpeted with wild garlic, and in autumn meadow saffron flowers in the grass.

What to see

• The clearing below the steep slopes of Tuł – views of Třinec in the Czech Republic with its steelworks, Cieszyn and the towns of the Ostrava–Karviná coalfield; in very clear weather as far as the Jeseníky mountains.
• Old field maples – tree-sized specimens on the eastern slopes, protected as natural monuments.
• The former "Pod Tułem" mountain hut – a villa from 1930–1931, run as a PTTK hikers' hostel from 1946 to 2006 and now a private restaurant with rooms.
• The Zadni Gaj reserve on the neighbouring Zagoj hill, with a natural stand of yew trees.

Tripto tip

No marked trail leads to the very top – the green trail from Goleszów to Czantoria Wielka traverses the slopes of Tuł. From Goleszów it takes about 1 hour 15 minutes. A good option is the loop devised by local PTTK guides from Cieszyn: start at the municipal cultural centre in Goleszów (parking available), follow the green trail below Tuł to the hamlet of Budzin (about 600 m) at the foot of Mała Czantoria, and return via Cisownica – 16 km, about 5.5 hours. Come in spring or early summer for the orchids, stay on the paths and do not pick any plants.