On 23-24 August 2018, the tourist trail “In the Footsteps of Austria-Hungary” welcomed a tourist hike “In the Footsteps of History”. Its participants from Rzeszów and Stropkov together discovered secrets associated with the sites on the newly created tourist trail, using one of the applications developed within the project.
First, the participants installed the game “In the Footsteps of History” on their mobile devices, designed for sightseeing of the sites included in the trail. The participants started their trip by visiting the most impressive building of Rzeszów Market Square – the City Hall. Then the group moved towards Piłsudskiego Street, where they could sightsee the Kraiński barracks, entered into the municipality’s register of historic monument, and then the railway barracks located on Batorego Street. It was there that, in 1944, the most famous action of the independence underground against the Nazis in Rzeszów occurred. Following Grottgera Street, the group reached Dworcowy Square, where the next site of the trail is located – the railway station which started operating in mid-19th century. The next stop on the trail was the building of High School No. 2 on Jałowy Street. During the Austro-Hungarian period, the building served as a classical junior high school for boys. Then the participants, following the instructions from the application, passed near Śreniawitów Square to see the next site – Lubomirski Castle. At a time when Rzeszów lay within the borders of Austria-Hungary, the castle served as a prison. After that, the application guided the participants to Dąbrowskiego Street, to the barracks complex “na Wygnańcu”. The architecture and function of these buildings have been almost entirely preserved to this day.
The visit to the barracks on Dąbrowskiego Street marked the end of the “Rzeszów section” of the hike. The Polish and Slovak participants of the event then went to visit other localities on the trail, i.e. Strzyżów, Dukla, Korczyna, Barwinek, Vyšný Komárnik, Nižný Komárnik, Bodružal, Mirol’a, Bukovce, Vel’krop, to discover the secrets of the past of other sites included in the tourist trail “In the Footsteps of Austria-Hungary”.
The second day of the hike was a meeting with the cultural and natural heritage of Stropkov. The participants of the event focused especially on the architectural monuments forming a thematic tourist trail – the oldest buildings, i.e. the Baroque church and the manor house. According to the press of the Austro-Hungarian times, the church in Stropkov was the most beautiful one in Zemplín, and its tower was then compared to the Budapest church lookout tower. In the city, the participants also discovered objects from the time of military exercises of 1911 – a reservoir and a well. Both these monuments constitute a reminder of this unique event which made Stropkov known outside the Empire.
After the hike full of attractions, the participants had a moment of rest during the Polish-Slovak feast in a picnic pavilion, one of the four elements of small recreational infrastructure constructed within the project. This was a possibility of perfect relax in the beauty of nature, away from the hustle and bustle of the world and the multitude of everyday responsibilities.