Historic sites
ruin of a watchtower from the late 14th century on a rock, filling a gap in the system of Jura castles
a 150-metre cave in a gorge, with a large entrance and a younger part with dripstone formations
Parks and nature
overgrown area of former shifting sands near Ryczów, about one square kilometre
Mountains
cramped shelter under Kosia Skała in the forest, 200 m east of the Strażnica rock
Things to do in Ryczów: the ruined watchtower, a cave in Straszykowa Góra, a rock shelter and the overgrown Ryczów Desert in the Jura uplands.
Ryczów lies in the Ogrodzieniec municipality in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. It is a village for walkers who like rocks, caves and ruins rather than ticketed attractions.
Strażnica Ryczów is the ruin of a medieval defensive structure on a rock, probably built in the late 14th century. Fragments of walls and a rampart up to about 1.5 m high survive. Legends of the Jura castles are collected in the article Biała Dama, Czarny Pies i skarby (in Polish).
The Cave in Straszykowa Góra in the Ruskie Góry gorge is about 150 m long and 21.5 m deep, but it is private property. Smaller is the Upper Shelter, a cave shelter under the overhang of Kosia Skała: its entrance is about 2 m wide, with a low chamber behind it. It is a rock formation, not a mountain hut.
The Ryczów Desert is an area of former drifting sand of about one square kilometre. Today it is completely overgrown, so there are no open dunes.
The cave is private property, so so it is not open to visitors like a museum. It is better to enjoy the gorge and rocks from the outside.
It was probably built in the late 14th century and was still in use in the 15th century.
