[An alternative archaic name, used interchangeably in the Middle Ages, is Lechia from, either Lech, a legendary ruler of the Lechites, or from the Lendians, a different West Slavic tribe in SE Poland from Old Polish lęda which interestingly also means plain. (Lech is still used as a root in the exonyms for Poland in several languages; Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian, e.g.)
With older medieval old towns, less tourists and more affordable than many European countries, Poland is an incredible mix of rich history, stunning architecture
@ a glance essentials:
.
Language:
Polish
-
Many Locals can speak English
Polish.Złoty (zł)
Water safety
Generally Safe to Drink, taste varies by region.
Currency:
PLN
Local Transport
Metro, Bus, Tram & Trains are sufficient for the cities. Remote areas require a car
People have inhabited Poland since the Lower Paleolithic, and lived there continuously since the end of the last ice age, (like the Lusatian culture in the Bronze & Early Iron Age.) Over the centuries it's been home to Celts, Germanic tribes, Sarmatian, and Baltic🔍 tribes, with evidence of Roman Legions sent to protect the Empire's🔍 local amber trade interests.
Unique Polish tribes emerged from the West Slavs🔍 that migrated ~ 6c AD and of these, by the early 10c, the Polans had become dominate, forming a tribal federation🔍. In 966 AD their King accepted Christianity and became the first to unify a Polish monarchical state🔍.
a bit of background...
CHECK OUT THE:
...................It's illegal to drink 🍸 alcohol in public places (like parks) in Poland, even for celebrations like New Years. (Outdoor resteraunts/cafés terraces, e.g. are of course exceptions)
FUN FACT:
The 🔎Kingdom of Poland was frequently fragmented and unstable however until the 14c when it experianced a Polish Golden Age followed by the union with Lithuania in 1569 creating 1st Polish Republic🔍 better known as the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.†
When the Commonwealth🔍 dissolved in the 18c Poland was partitioned by Prussia, Russia and the Habsburgs in Austria. And after the Napoleonic Wars a semi autonomous Congress Poland / Kingdom of Poland was organized under the Russian Empire which then became the Regency Kingdom under German control during WWI and led to Polish deportations, pogroms and even less autonomy.
At the armistice in 1918, Poland regained independence as the 2nd Polish Republic, until it was invaded by Nazi's in 1939, kicking off WWII and a long occupation.†† After the war, despite widespread Polish objections, it became a satellite state of the Soviet Union as the Polish People's Republic
Resistance continued and in the 1980's the Solidarność (Solidarity) Movement were able to rebuff Soviet influence winning the Presidency in 1989/90, and creating the current, 3rd Republic of Poland, (1st of the Eastern Bloc communist countries to re-established a liberal democracy, the 1st "domino" to fall in the Revolutions of 1989, which inspired the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of communism across Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union itself dissolving in 1991.)
† At the time, the Commonwealth was one of the great powers of Europe, adopting Europe's first modern constitution in 1791.
†† Poland lost the highest % of its citizens of any country in the war: ~6 million, more than one-sixth of it's pre-war population, half of them Polish Jews, and about 90% of deaths were non-military in nature.
Must Try Local Cuisine:
Kielbasas (sausages) like the thin dry Kabanosy & white Biała ∞ Pierogi - half-moon shaped dumplings
Zapiekanka - baguette Polish Pizza🍕 ∞ Żurek -sour rye soup
Borscht - beetroot soup, warm or cold, w/ Uszka (“little ears”) - pasta stuffed w/ meat or cabbage & mushrooms
Zrazy - rolled, fried & braised beef, veal or game meat stuffed w/ breadcrumbs, mushrooms & cucumber
Śledzie po Kaszubsku† - pickled herring w/ sour cream, onions, apples & egg ∞ Bigos (Hunter’s Stew) w/ sauerkraut
Placek - grated & fried potatoes cakes coated w/ sour cream or sugar & Placek po Zbojnicku w/ meat, sauce
Makowiec††- yeast poppy seed cake roll w/ a poppy seed, honey, raison & walnut filling
Pączki - deep-fried doughnuts ∞ Sernik - traditional curd cheesecake w/ dried fruits & chocolate coating
Szarlotka - cinnamon pastry ∞ Seinų, aka Miód - honey from a polyfloral nectar in a specific Polish District
Sękacz - tree cake [a thick batter repeatedly poured over a rotating horizontal spit creating the shape of a tree]
a softer, more delicate version than it's German/ Belerussian cousins
Kostka Kokosowa - cubed sponge cake dipped in chocolate + coconut ∞ Hamantaschen - traditional Jewish, ▽ pastry
➿➰➿
† Dating to the 13th century †† A traditional Christmas desert
SEE
DO TRY
&
VISIT
What to Where to Why . . .
Surprising Finds:
📍 Wieliczka Salt 🧂 Mine - cavernous chambers, statues, chapels & chandeliers carved out of salt, reaching depths of
over 300 meters, (continuously mined from the 13c to 2007, becoming one of Krakow’s main industries)
And...
Bochnia Salt 🧂 Mine - slightly less deep, but the oldest salt mine in Poland (c1248) now used as a health sanatorium
in its own unique micro climate, (thought to help with respiratory diseases) in a 150m chamber with 140 bunks,
a chapel carved of the salt, a gymnasium, and a spa | both near Krakow
📍 Pieces of St. Valentine's 💀 Skull | Chełmno - are claimed to be held in a parish church, the focal point of the city's
annual celebrations on February 14
📍 The Stone Circles @ Odry - 40-acre site of Iron Age megaliths deep in the forest dating to the time of the Goths (1st/
2nd century A.D), Europe’s 2nd largest collection of circles nearly intact; 12 stone circles, each with a large stone at
the center, between and around the circles are 600+ small burial mounds called barrows
📍 Underground Sites like the secret tunnels of Sierpnica; Podziemne Miasto Osówka; an extensive network created for the
Nazi project "Riese," the Szczecin concrete tunnels used as a bomb shelter in the 1940s & a Cold War fallout shelter
(now with WWII exhibitions) or The Exploseum | Bydgoszcz; an abandoned Nazi explosives plant, founded by the
inventor of dynamite, now an underground museum (Bydgoszcz's also has the "Museum of Soap & History of Dirt")
📍 Błędne Skały (Errant Rocks) | Kłodzki - naturally formed rock city near the Table Mountains; a popular hiking &
climbing site, the rock passageways have been an important passage for years; used by smugglers in the 17c to sneak
from the Czech Kingdom into what's now Poland. (carved on the smooth sandstone rocks is a list of dates
memorializing the capture of smugglers.)
📍 Varso Tower - tallest building in the EU; modern & sleek @ 310m plus the Keret House; world’s narrowest house 📸,
30 feet tall but only 28" wide at its narrowest and just 4 feet at its widest. A total of 46 sq feet of floor space manages
to fit a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a two-beverage refrigerator in the span of three floors.† | both in Warsaw
📍 Christ the King Internet | Świebodzin - a towering statue of Jesus that also provides internet to the surrounding
area (via antennas)
📍 The Wagrowiec Bifurcation | in Paluki, (nicknamed “the land of 130 lakes.") One of only two places in the world where
two rivers, (the Welna & Niebla,) cross without the waters mixing; due to a 19c weir built under the crossing point
the streams go into a whirlpool motion that keeps them separate despit no physical barrier isolating them††
📍 Rapa 🛕 Pyramid - a family mausoleum in the shape of a mini Egyptian pyramid where
headless mummified corpses were once on display.
(Built ~1800 by German/ Prussian nobleman, Friedrich Heinrich Fahrenheit, who was
obsessed with mummification & pharaonic beliefs of the afterlife.†††)
📍 Wikipedia Monument | Słubice - 1st,perhaps only, monument dedicated to Wikipedia.
† Legally classified as an “art installation” but, in practice, it still serves as a residence. Constructed as a memorial to the designers family killed in the
Holocaust, & named after Etgar Keret, the Israeli filmmaker / author who was the house's 1st tenant; after living there for a number of weeks, the
Keret House became open to traveling writers for the night's stay and is open to all visitors to Warsaw.
†† Only 10 - 15% of the waters mix. Further west, they cross paths again and join on the way to Legowskie Lake
††† During WWII, the Red Army opened the graves & cut off the heads leaving them in the open, but in 2008 the Polish government restored the
tomb and put the bodies back in coffins.
My Favorite Spots:
Historic Churches🔍 including:
📍 Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland - 15+16c intricately painted &
carved by hand; Medieval Gothic, Rococo, Baroque, + occasional onion dome
📍 Medieval St. Bridget's 📸 | Gdańsk - one of the world's largest amber altarpieces 📸
& skull filled catacomb 📸
📍 Churches of ☮︎ Peace | near Wrocław - 17c timber-framed churches part of an elaborate peace
project after the Thirty Years' War, 1st Lutheran churches in Catholic Poland.† The Świdnica
Peace Church is one of Europe's largest timber-framed churches
📍 St Francis of Assisi Basilica 📸*** (& Friary of the Conventual Friars Minor) | Kraków - 13c Gothic residence of
of Pope John Paul II, renowned for frescoes in bright psychedelic colors
📍 Kaplica Czaszek (Chapel of 💀 Skulls) | Kudowa-Zdrój - walls & ceiling decorated with 1,000s of skulls, (+ 21k skeletons)
📍 Carthusian Church Monastery | Kartuzy - a coffin-shaped church, once home to monks who slept in ⚰️ coffins
📍 Vang Stave Church | Karpacz - an early 13c Norwegian church imported to Poland in the 19c OR
📍 The Fara Church with a 'secret' Polish Eagle symbol hidden in plain sight that survived the Nazi occupation campaign
destroying Polish heritage art work.
Castles like
📍 13c Gothic brick Malbork Castle; largest in the world by surface area
📍 Gothic Książ Castle | Walbrzych, in the Owl Mountains and steeped in Nazi treasure conspiracy theories
📍 15c Kornik Castle & Museum & 18c Baroque Raczyński (Rogalin) Palace | Arciszewskiego (both near Poznań) with
adjacent Landscape Park & art gallery OR
📍 Łapalice Castle - a 20c castle abandoned before completed
~
📍 The Crooked Forest | Gryfino - with mysterious J-shaped trees
📍 Muzeum Zabawek (Toy Museum) - largest toy museum in Poland showcases Europe's history of childhood
📍 Toruń - with Copernicus House + Gingerbread Museum; once a giant gingerbread factory, now hosting workshops
† Since the churches were not Catholic, they were only allowed to be built from wood and could not have steeples or bells
Most Known For:
♦️ Krakow - with Wawel Castle & Cathedral 📸*** plus Oskar Schindler Factory
🔸 Auschwitz-Birkenau - former concentration camp where 1.1 million were killed
♦️ Medieval towns of Gdańsk;† site where WWII began, plus Wrocław, Poznań, & Gniezno
🔸 Warsaw - Poland's largest city with Palace of Culture & Science & Warsaw Rising Museum 📸
♦️ 23 National Parks like: Tatra NP in one of Europe's smallest mountain ranges, (part of the Carpathians 🔍,)
Ojcowski NP; with caves & castles, Słowiński NP; with moving sand dunes which have swallowed an entire village,
Biebrzanski; with Europe’s only wild bison & last of a primeval forest that once covered most of the continent
& the Biosphere Reserve (oldest in Poland) OR Narwianski & Poleski NP with bird watching
🔸 Lublin - known for its own architectural style, Lublin Renaissance, developed in the 16c by Italian architects expanding
the city. It has a castle, monastery, State Museum focusing on WWII death camps & old town (called “Little Krakow”)
♦️ The Wolf's Lair | Ketrzyn, Poland - Nazi ruin; the site where Hitler was almost blown up by a suitcase bomb
† Part of the Coastal Tricities along with Sopot w/ the Krzywy Domek (Crooked House) & Gdynia w/ a haunted deserted hotel, Hotel Zdrowie & Torpedownia; an abandoned WWII torpedo launch station,
👀 NOTABLE POLES:
🔭 Nicolaus Copernicus | Astronomer 🧪 Marie Curie | Physicist 🎼 Fredrick Chopin - Composer
✏️ Joseph Conrad | Writer 🌡️ Daniel Fahrenheit | Physicist & Inventor ✏️ Stanisław Lem - Writer†
♱ Karol Józef Wojtyła | Pope John Paul II 🎬 Roman Polanski - Film Director & Perv
† Sci-Fi author of Solaris e.g.
👣
🌀 Almatrieb - Cattle 🐂 Procession (Fall) - after summering in the Alps🔍, cattle parade back to town in flower
garlands & cowbells (to ward off demons) celebrating their productive season with fairs, music & dancing
🌀 Samsonumzug/ Samson Parades | Salzburgerland (June - Aug) 5-7 meter tall Samson figures have been paraded
through villages with marching bands and civil guards in historic uniforms since at least 1690. Symbolizing
strength (of the Biblical Samson.) Recognize as an Intangible Cultural Heritage practice
🌀 Lajkonik | Kraków (June) - parade commemorating a legendary victory over a 13c Tatar invasion;† led by a
character called Lajkonik; a man dressed as a Tatar (Mongol); a tall pointed hat, long black beard, riding a
wooden hobby horse followed by flisacy (traditional Vistula River raftsmen) & standard-bearer with white
eagle flag (that dates back to the 14c or earlier)
Lajkonik “blesses” people by tapping them on the head with his wooden mace / baton for good luck &
collecting symbolic “tribute” (small gifts, coins, or sometimes vodka) from shops and spectators
🌀 Great Dragon Parade \Wielka Parada Smoków | Kraków (June)- giant dragon 🐉 puppet parade, fireworks, &
performances connected to the legend of Krak & the Wawel Dragon
🌀 Krampus/ Perchten (end of Dec) - ominous half-goat, half-demon, Krampus 👹 (creepy companion of Santa Claus)
roams the streets to punish misbehaving folk, while the well-behaved receive their treats from Santa.
(It is customary to offer the Krampus a schnapps to get on his good side)
🌀 Narzissenfest/ Daffodil Festival (Spring) – the community gather hundreds of thousands of white flowers by
hand for floats paraded on Lake Altausseersee. The locals dress up in lovely local traditional costumes
🌀 Midsummer (Wianki = wreaths, Noc Świętojańska / St. John’s Night or Kupalnocka / Noc Kupały) - celebrated with
bonfires; young women make wildflowers, herbs & ribbons wreaths, place a lit candle in the middle & float
them on the river, if it floats far & stays lit = good luck; a marriage/ bright future, if it sinks it's a bad omen.
† Tatar invaders reached the Zwierzyniec district near Kraków but were fought off by local raftsmen (or sometimes monks) who killed the Tatar leader.
One of the raftsmen then dressed in the Tatar leader’s clothes and rode triumphantly into the city.
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