Cieszyn is probably not the first place one would think of as a destination, I only ended up here for personal reasons but what I discovered made me stay quite a long time. Located astride the Olza river, it is a border town with two thirds being in Poland and one third in the Czech Republic but today the bridges are open and one can criss cross them at will on a bicycle although of course it was not always that easy!
There is a campsite on the Polish side only called Olza, my photographs are from a car park quite close as the site was exceptionally closed to vehicles when I arrived
Part of the attraction deals with the location. It is located within the western Silesian Foothills north of the Silesian Beskids and the resort town of Ustron, situated within the mountains, is only 12km distant This makes for great cycling for those feeling up to it!
As the Czech Republlic is only a couple of hundred metres away from the campsite across the Olza river, there is the benefit of two cultures which of course also means two currencies, two languages and two cuisines! The old part is in the Polish part but clearly a new 'town centre' grew up on the Czech side during the many years of separation. There is a park on both sides of the Olza river on what had formerly been a border area and closed to the public. However it may be free for people to cross at will, but I heard from someone that this is not the case for animals and that dogs may need to have their 'passport' showing innoculations. I found this out after having taken my friend's dog across the river several times. (This may be a rumour but better be safe than sorry!)
The architecture is very reminiscent of the Austro Hungarian Empire, I thought it was very similar to Przemyśl which likewise was part of Austria for hundreds of years.
We can still see the remains of the Piast dynasty castle which date largely to the fourteenth century and from where there are views over the Czech part of the town and the mountains beyond. Next to the castle is the castle brewery from 1848. The Old Town square boasts merchants houses which date to the fifteenth century and the town hall which is from the early 19th century. Cieszyn also has three Jewish cemeteries, the Old Cemetery in Cieszyn has headstones which are several hundred years old.
