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The remaining castles of the Szlak Orlich Gniazd are very ruined, but dramatic, seeming to spring straight out of the Jurassic rock formations. You really need your own vehicle to follow the whole route as, although all the castles are accessible by bus, you'll experience long waits and frequent detours, and it's unlikely you'd be able to find anywhere to stay. However, the most impressive of the other castles are also the easiest to get to. At OGRODZIENIEC , some 35km north of Pieskowa Skala on the main road to Olkusz (served by bus from Krakow), the ruin you see today was built during Kazimierz the Great's reign and remodelled into a magnificent Renaissance residence reputedly the equal of Wawel, before being ravaged by the Swedes in 1655. ZAWIERCIE preserves only the substantial shell of a frontier fortress. The most accessible castle in the trail, after Pieskowa Skala, is at OLSZTYN , just a few kilometres southeast of the city boundaries of Czestochowa, to which it's linked by several buses an hour (#58 or #67; 30min). The castle here, which dominates the surrounding landscape, is the one generally used to promote the route on tourist brochures and posters - understandably so, given its dramatic location on the limestone cliffs, a steepish eastwards climb from the village. Built in the mid-1300s by King Kazimierz III, like many others of its kind Olsztyn castle was laid to waste during the Swedish "Deluge" of the 1650s. Though impressive enough, the remains you see today only hint at past glories. Unusually, the castle was laid out in two parts, with a round watchtower crowning one outcrop of rock, and a keep on top of another; from the ruins of each there's a superb view over the whole upland region, the effect heightened by the winds buffeting the place most of the time. Down in the village there are a scattering of tourist-oriented places to eat , including the Piccolo and Pod Zamkiem restaurants, both on ul. Zamkowa, the approach to the castle, as well as a number of more basic places on and around the Rynek. The only accommodation currently on offer is the seasonal campsite off ul. Zielona, 10 minutes' walk southeast of the Rynek.
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