Western Lake Districts Route - Szczecin Link - Stage I [Dobra - Stargard]

Stage IA: Dobra Szczecińska - Szczecin - Stargard [62 km]

The majority of the stage runs along bicycle paths. The sections Dobra - Szczecin Głębokie and Szczecin, Dąbska st. - Szczecin Jezierzyce are marked.

We start exactly on the border with Germany, near Buk. The first section of the bicycle path was built in the border strip - it's hard to believe that not so long ago it was not allowed to even come close to the border here. We cycle through Szczecin along the route coinciding with The Szczecin Lagoon Cycling Route and Blue Velo, then turn south in Dąbie towards the Bukowa Forest Landscape Park. We cycle mainly along dirt roads. After leaving the forest, we ride a bicycle path to Stargard. On the way, we pass Morzyczyn on Lake Miedwie. The reservoir is notable not only because of the ruins of the German torpedo house (accessible only from the waterside). The bottom of the lake is the deepest cryptodepression and the lowest point in Poland - as much as 29.8 meters below sea level!

Stargard received city rights in the same year as Szczecin -1243. Although the war did not spare Stargard, the most powerful city fortifications in Pomerania survived, with the largest city towers in Poland and the Mill Gate - one of the two in the world stretched between two banks of the river. Other gates are also worth a visit, just like the penitential cross, the water tower, the bastion, or the Gothic Church of St. John with one of the highest towers in Western Pomerania (99 m). We also cross the 15th meridian, which since 1884 marks the center of the Central European time zone. However, this is only a prelude to the most valuable monument in the city: the Collegiate Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the World. It is the highest vaulted church in Poland (32.5 m) and the most valuable monument in Western and Central Pomerania. Its construction began at the end of the 13th century, but over 100 years later it underwent a thorough reconstruction, as a result of which the temple obtained a present appearance. Stargard, as a member of the Hanseatic League - the medieval union of European trading cities, had to show its richness. That is why the city councilors hired the best architect who operated in Pomerania and the neighboring regions at that time - Henryk Brunsberg. The collegiate church and defensive walls were declared a national historical monument in 2010. The last phase of the Gothic style can be seen in the architecture of the town hall, decorated with an imposing gable with an even more impressive tangle of tracery.