Limanowa

Limanowa is a small town of around 15,000 people in Lesser Poland (Małopolskie) Voivodeship, sitting at about 400 m elevation in the Beskid Wyspowy ("Island Beskids") in southern Poland. First recorded in 1496 and granted township rights in 1565 by King Sigismund II Augustus, it grew into a regional trading hub under Austrian rule, hosting dozens of markets a year. The town saw a significant military engagement in December 1914 during World War I, and suffered heavy losses in World War II, including the destruction of its Jewish community. Today Limanowa is best known regionally for the Basilica of Our Lady of Sorrows and as the finish point of the Kierat, a punishing annual mountain race through the surrounding hills.

By Bus

Limanowa is reached by bus from Kraków and Nowy Sącz.

• Basilica of Our Lady of Sorrows -- An Art Nouveau basilica minor built 1910–1918 as a Third of May Constitution centenary votive church, on the site of earlier wooden churches dating to 1513. It houses a Gothic pietà (Our Lady of Sorrows) carved around 1300–1375, twice crowned by Karol Wojtyła — first as Archbishop of Kraków in 1966, then as Pope John Paul II in 1983.

• Kraków -- Reached by bus; the regional hub and nearest major city.
• Nowy Sącz -- Reached by bus; another regional centre to the southeast.