Blue Velo - Stage II [Wolin - Goleniów]

Stage II: Wolin - Modrzewie (Goleniów) [48 km]

Wolin is known today mainly for the Center of Slavs and Vikings Jomsborg - Vineta Wolin. It is an open-air archaeological museum of the times when it was one of the most powerful forts in Europe, inhabited by Slavs and Vikings. After long battles with Mieszko I, it was incorporated into Poland in 967, becoming the first Polish port on the Baltic Sea. Every summer, one of the largest historical reenactments in Europe takes place here - the Slavs and Vikings Festival, with thousands of participants and tens of thousands of tourists. Other events based on the Slavic calendar also occur in the open-air museum. 

From Wolin we travel south along a local road, then a bicycle path and gravel path along the Lagoon. This is one of the most beautiful sections, leading along the flood embankments of the Lagoon. As if that was not enough, we are cycling through the Nature Park of the Szczecin Lagoon. This is the model area for the practical implementation of the principles of the European Ecological Network Nature 2000, established in 2005. Its main goal is to combine effective land management with good agricultural practices, nature education, and recreation. Here you can see wild Polish Konik and hairy Scottish Highland cows. Sometimes a wild boar will run its way and you can hear birds singing all around.

In the distance, you can see at least one of the two newest Polish islands - Brysna and Śmięcka. Brysna immediately became a bird sanctuary. Presence of gulls, terns, plovers and even the endangered oystercatcher has already been found there. Island Śmięcka will be supplemented with the excavated material resulting from the dredging of the fairway for the next 30 years.

After Czarnocin, we enter a local asphalt road with little traffic. Soon we reach Stepnica, known for its sandy beach and the Panorama tavern. A beautiful, renovated building from 1840 serves as a restaurant and hotel.

2.5 km south of the town, you can find one of the most valuable natural areas in the country. The Olszanka Nature Reserve has the highest density of white-tailed eagle nests in Europe, as well as one of the largest populations of royal longweed in Poland. Olszanka is a huge raised bog, heavily transformed by man. The Szczecin Lagoon is an ideal environment for white-tailed eagles and if we show the right dose of determination and patience, seeing one of these majestic birds should not be a problem.