Blue Velo - Stage VII [Dębno - Kostrzyn nad Odrą]

Stage VII: Dębno - Kostrzyn nad Odrą [30 km]

The section runs mainly along local roads with low traffic. Increased car traffic occurs on the Kaleńsko - Kostrzyn section.

With a population of less than 14,000, Dębno is called the capital of the Polish marathon. Although the marathon run organized here since 1966 is certainly not one of the largest events of this type in the country, it is said to be the oldest. The first, so-called Little Marathon was held on the occasion of the millennium of the Polish State, and today it has the rank of a championship. In 2000, the largest crude oil and natural gas mine "Dębno" in the Barnówko-Mostno-Buszewo field was opened in the vicinity of Dębno. About 80% of the domestic oil production on land comes from here.

Less than 9 km away lies Chwarszczany, today a tiny village, but centuries ago - the seat of the Knights Templar. Here you will find a church like no other in the world. At first glance, the scale of tall, gothic building seems inconsistent with the surrounding area. It hides a mystery no one has yet discovered. In the 13th century The Order of the Temple of Solomon (the name of the Knights Templar comes from the temple in Jerusalem, and the full title is: Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon) built a monumental chapel on the ruins of an old one, constructed only a few dozen years earlier. What for? The two towers at the façade, resembling defensive towers, are quite unusual. Researchers have been unable to find a second such object in the world. Disgustingly rich monks after the fall of Jerusalem moved their goods to Europe and locked the memory of the lost temple in architecture. The church in Chwarszczany resembles simplified representations of Jerusalem from medieval miniatures. This is not the end, however. The northern tower does not have stairs, and the windows are located quite randomly. Why construct a tower that is troublesome to build and has no function? Maybe the builders were driven by a desire to hide something in a tower without stairs? There is a theory that the brick temple was to be a reliquary for objects brought from the Holy Land, just as the Sainte-Chapelle chapel in Paris protected the relics of the crown of thorns. Unfortunately, there is no evidence to support this thesis, but who knows, maybe one day we will hear again about a small village on the Blue Velo trail?

We follow local roads towards the Oder River, to Kaleńsk, behind which the West Pomeranian stage of the planned route ends. Only 10 km is left to Kostrzyn. We will depart from here by train towards Poznań, Szczecin or Wrocław. Of course, the youngest national park in Poland - Warta Mouth National Park, located just below the city, cannot be overlooked.