The beautiful spring weather is well used on a excursion out of town.

Enthusiasts of walks in the forest should visit the Zielonka Forest, which lies right outside the borders of Poznań.
The Zielonka Forest is a large woodland area to the northeast of Poznań, right outside the city borders. Therefore it is quite easy to get to this forest complex. One can get there not only by car, but also by city bus, train or even by bike. The distance from the center of Poznań to the heart of the forest is only a dozen or so kilometers.

Over 11 thousand hectares of forest include the scenery park created over ten years ago. The Park was created to protect the largest and closest to natural woodland complex of central Wielkopolska, with high natural, scenery and scientific-educational value.
Due to the unique character of the Zielonka forest it is best to visit it on foot or on bicycle. The network of bicycle trails in the forest looks like a bicycle wheel: a large roundabout around and shorter trail leading into the heart of the forest. A total of over 220 kilometers of bicycle trails await bikers. So everyone can find something for themselves. One can go on a two hour ride or on a two day excursion, taking advantage of the local tourist base.

The interesting formation of the land in Zielona forest is a result of its origin, in the latest ice age. Apart from the magnificent woodland areas it also includes small, for these parts of Poland, hills and mountains. The highest hill in the forest is Maiden Hill, several kilometers from the center of the Czerwonak village, rising 143 meters above sea level. This is the highest “mountain” in the proximity of Poznań. A dozen or so months ago a 40 meter observation tower was erected there, with a marvelous panoramic view of northern Poznań.
In the early spring it is worth wile to travel a little bit further, to the area of Murowana Goślina, about 25 kilometers north of Poznań. There, in Śnieżycowy Jar, on the banks of a stream cutting into the edge of the Warta valley – close to the village of Starczanowo, one can admire a sight unique on the scale of the country. The large stretches of the deep valley are covered with blossoms of spring snowflake, creating a very picturesque landscape indeed.

And in the town of Owińska, several kilometers north of Czerwonak and approximately 20 kilometers from the center of Poznań it is worth wile to see the post-Cistercian baroque monastery, the church of saint Joseph and the classicist palace of the von Tresk family. The von Tresk family owned the surrounding area since the early XIX century until the second world war. Currently, the palace is largely in ruin and may only be admired from the outside.   


Photographs: Poviat authority, Czerwonak and Murowana Goślina village councils