Trips
Ruins of the Old Town and the Kostrzyn Fortress
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A must see for any visitor in the town. A walk around the town. Drivers can leave their vehicles in the large car park at the Town Hall, located in close proximity of the border crossing. Before entering the walls of Fortress Kostrzyn to assess its size, you can take a walk out on the bridge over the Oder River, and even along the opposite bank. Return and walk to the narby Berlin Gate. It hosts a small museum chamber and a tourist information center, where you can get detailed information about the Fortress or hire a professional guide.
Visiting the Fortress and the Old Town, make sure you take a stroll across the bridge over the moat and go through the Chyżańska Gate, which is located on the opposite side of the fortress. Then go down to the casemates of the Bastion Philip, which contain impressive museum exhibitions (opening hours and rules are available on the website of the museum). Then, climb the Bastion – the scenic views of the Oder are worth it – and take a walk along the Katte Promenade. Next, you can walk around the Bastion Brandenburg and, heading for the Bastion King and the nearby Berlin Gate, stop at the ruins of the castle and church.

For more information visit: www.muzeum.kostrzyn.pl 

You can continue your tour of the stronghold of the lower Warta visiting the various fortifications in any order. Below, we propose one of the variants, taking into account the logistics and the technical condition of the fortifications.

Fort Żabice. The best preserved fort on the Polish side of the border. We recommend you bring a flashlight to fully explore it. To get there from the fortress, take the road 31 towards Górzyca (Słubice) and after about 7 km exit at the left, in the direction of Żabice (at the crossroads you will see a signpost with the inscription “Schronisko”). The narrow road running down the slope of the glacial valley reaches to its edge, to the intersection with the road Górzyca–Żabice. In front of the intersection there is a rain shelter, information boards and a staging point where you can start your tour. The paved road will take you down into the dry moat. You can follow it all the way round the fort, however, this is more comfortable in the cold months where the moat is less overgrown. The road ahead leads to a dark underground corridor (postern), where after about 200 m you can safely get into the inner courtyard. From there, go to the upper level and assess the size of the whole complex. Return the same way.

Gunpowder warehouse. From the fort, make your way in the direction of the village Żabice and through Czarnów get to Czarnowska Górka. Stop about 100 meters before the junction with the main road 22, on a slight bend to the right. From the outside of the curve of the road, on the left (north) side, a small path leaves into the forest. After almost 100 meters it reaches a former ammunition depot (gunpowder warehouse). Inside, you will see stalactites and stalagmites, resulting from the precipitation of calcium, the large amounts of which are found in the concrete ceiling. Return the same way. On the hill Czarnowska Górka, in addition to the gunpowder depot, there are also two large, heavily eroded infantry shelters. They are located about 800 m east of the munitions warehouse, but there are not paths leading towards them, hence their exploration may be challenging. However, for those interested in the topic, they will be an amazing discovery. An additional incentive could be the fact that the forest in which they are located is small and surrounded by roads and fields of Czarnów, therefore, there is no risk of getting lost.

Fort Gorgast. From Czarnowska Górka, take the road via Kostrzyn, go through the border crossing and follow road 1 (Berlin direction) to reach the village of Manschnow 5 km from Kostrzyn. From there, follow the directions from the signpost placed at the main intersection near the fort. Because of the good condition of the facility, exhibitions are shown in its interiors and along with various printed materials that you can purchase. The site is highly interesting, and at the same good as a final spot on the tour. Admission to the fort is paid: 2 EUR for adults and 1 EUR for children.

Those interested in military history and technology may be interested in two nearby places: Zhukov’s bunkers at the Reitwein Tip (about 5 km from Fort Gorgast) and the Seelow Heights Museum. The museum includes an exhibition pavilion and an extensive outdoor exhibition, created at the site of the battle of Seelow Heights, which were a part of the German defense system against the Soviet offensive of 1945. Road access from Gorgast is easy: go to Reitwein by road 112 to Lebus, and further to the museum by road 1 to the center of Seelow (do not turn into the bypass road of the town). Driving along the entire route and seeing all its historical attractions will take you 5–7 hours.

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