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Twenty kilometres east of Kielce is the Lysogory (Bald Mountain) range - more glorified hills than mountains in reality - a fifteen-kilometre-long stretch of scenic hilltop forest interspersed with twisted outcrops of broken quartzite that's a popular destination with day-trippers and hikers alike. The whole range is encompassed within the limits of the national park, which explains the abundant wildlife in evidence in the forests. The place to head for is SWIETY KRZYZ , one hour by bus from the main Kielce station (5 daily, from 7am). The journey takes you along the edge of the range and eventually up a scenic mountainside road to the edge of the Swietokrzyskie national park , stopping at a car park near the foot of Lysa Gora (595m). Immediately beyond the car park is the Jodlowy Dwor hotel (tel 041/302 5028, jodlowy_dwor@pro.onet.pl ; 90-120zl/GBP16-22/US$22.50-30), a reasonable overnighter with en-suite rooms and its own restaurant. The bus continues through the park (the only vehicle allowed to do so), but you're better off walking from here, through the protected woodland habitat of a range of birds and animals, including a colony of eagles. The marked path leads to a clearing - from where you can pick up the road again - then past a huge TV mast to the abbey (30min), established up here by Italian Benedictines in the early twelfth century. The buildings have changed beyond recognition, about the only remnant of the original foundation being the abbey church's Romanesque doorway. The isolated mountain site, however, maintains an ancient feel; the abbey itself replaced an earlier pagan temple, traces of which were discovered nearby some years ago. On a more sombre note, the abbey buildings were turned into a prison following the enforced dissolution of the Benedictine order in 1825, and it remained so up until 1945, having been used by the Nazis as a concentration camp for Soviet POWs. Just how appalling conditions were then is indicated by photographs in the old monastery building of camp signs (in Russian and German) forbidding cannibalism. The abbey museum (daily: May-Aug 10am-5pm; April, Sept & Oct 10am-4pm; Nov-March 9am-3pm; 4zl) houses one of the country's best natural history collections, covering every aspect of the area's wildlife, with exhibits ranging from butterflies and snakes to huge deer and elk. There's a good view down into the valley below the edge of the abbey, and you can also see some of the large tracts of broken stones that are a distinctive glaciated feature of the hilltops. The trail continues due east down the mountain, passing after about 400m another path off to the left, which takes you in about five minutes to an overgrown Soviet war cemetery; last resting place of many inmates of the Swiety Krzyz abbey. Back on the main trail, another 2km walk brings you to the village of NOWA SLUPIA . The principal point of interest here is the Muzeum Starozytnego Hutnictwa (Museum of Ancient Metallurgy; Tues-Sun 9am-4pm; 5zl), located on the site of iron-ore mines and smelting furnaces developed here as early as the second century AD, as evidenced by the impressive array of primitive ironworks unearthed around here during the past few decades: for nearly a thousand years, it seems, this was the site of one of Europe's biggest ironworks. From Nowa Slupia you can take a bus back to Kielce, or climb back up and catch one from Swiety Krzyz. For accommodation in Nowa Slupia there's a year-round youth hostel , near the museum at ul. Swietokrzyska 64 (tel 041/317 7016); and a nearby campsite (May-Sept; tel 041/317 7085) that has a few cheap cabins on offer as well as a restaurant. The highest point of the Lysogory is a summit known as Lysica (611m) at the western end of the range, a legendary witches' meeting place with an excellent viewpoint. If you set out for Nowa Slupia by bus from Kielce early enough in the day you'll have time to take in the village museums before hiking the marked path up to Swiety Krzyz and along the ridge to Lysica, continuing 2km down the woodland, past memorials to resistance fighters hunted down by the Nazis, to the village of SWIETA KATARZYNA - a total hike of 18km. From here you can catch the bus back to Kielce before the end of the day. In Swieta Katarzyna itself, there's a convent that's been home to an enclosed order of Bernardine nuns since the fifteenth century. If you turn up during daylight hours you can usually peer in at the church. In summer there's a PTTK-run information kiosk on the village's main street. If you want to stay over it's a choice between the Baba Jaga , ul. Kielecka 18 (tel 041/311 2226; en-suites 90-120zl/GBP16-22/US$22.50-30, rooms with shared facilities under 60zl/GBP11/US$15), a basic hotel with its own restaurant; the roomier and slightly more comfortable Jodelka , ul. Kielecka 3 (tel 041/311 2111; en-suites 60-90zl/GBP11-16/US$15-22.50, rooms with shared facilities 90-120zl/GBP16-22/US$22.50-30); and a year-round youth hostel (tel 041/311 2206).
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