What to do and what to see in Poland? Poland lies in the heart of Europe - the geometric centre of the continent is right here. Warsaw is not far from other European cities: Paris and London are 2 hours away by plane, Vienna and Berlin not much more than an hour. You can get here quickly by international roads and railway connections. Half a million places to stay, thousands of restaurants, hundreds of forms of leisure and entertainment - they're all waiting for visitors. Poland is a country that is safe and friendly for visitors from abroad, a statement confirmed by official international statistics. In figures concerning access to cash machines, for instance, Poland is 8th in Europe. Mobile phone networks cover 94% of the country. You can find more or less everything in Poland: alpine mountains, wide beaches, clean lakes, deep forests, world-class historic monuments, and friendly people. The climate is temperate, and the people warm and hospitable. Polish cities with a thousand-year history invite their visitors to encounters with culture, and Poland's villages and small-time towns offer the opportunity to get away from the bustle of modern life. And all this comes with a backdrop of breathtaking natural landscapes, because Poland's greatest attraction is nature. Wild, untouched, more diverse than in most countries either in Europe or the world and, what's more, easily accessible. Tourists value this greatly and their number is constantly increasing.
Welcome to Krakow – magic city A city wrapped in legend, where time flows differently, and where every moment becomes a moment of history. For centuries Krakow was the capital of Poland, the seat of kings, drawing great scholars and artists from the whole world. It is their talents and imagination we must thank for the city's rich legacy of unique historical relics, which reflect the most important trends in European culture. The renaissance Royal Castle at Wawel, the gothic St Mary's Basilica, the historical trade pavilions of the Cloth Hall, the former separate Jewish city of Kazimierz, and even the Nowa Huta district, absorbed by Krakow together with its socialist-realist, industrial architecture, are all places which make a visit to Krakow extremely worthwhile.
Although the city no longer plays such an important administrative role, for many people, thanks to its rich history, Krakow nevertheless represents a synthesis of all things Polish, connecting tradition with modernity. In the special atmosphere of the beautiful and mysterious streets of the Old Town and Kazimierz you will find everything you need to allow you to escape from everyday life. Galleries full of exhibitions, cafes, pubs and restaurants: all of this is an integral part of any visit to Krakow. And all this is merely a modest part of what we can offer travellers seeking exciting destinations on the world map. You are entering a world filled with ghosts and phantoms, but also with people who are most definitely flesh and blood. Krakow is an extraordinary place which once visited, can never be forgotten. It is one of the few places in the world where you can feel history intermingle with the present.
And it all started, as legend tells, with Krakus, the first lord of a settlement located somewhere between the Danube and the Rhein, in a land referred to by the ancient Romans as Barbaricum. Although little is known about the founder of the city on the Vistula, one thing is beyond question: it was he who slew the terrible dragon of which legend speaks. And it is for this reason the so-called Wawel Dragon became the symbol of the city of Krakow, for centuries the seat of kings and a centre of cultural and academic life. It should surprise no-one that it was precisely here that, as the parish records show, the most renowned of all scholars, Doctor Faust, pursued his secret sciences.
Throughout its entire history the city has attracted, and continues to attract, extraordinary people. From architects, artists and scholars to honest merchants, who left behind them an exceptional legacy of historical relics and cultural and material achievements on a par with anything in the world. Today, thanks to our attachment to history and regard for our ancestors, we are able to combine our history with the demands of a modern metropolis. The development of the transport and tourist infrastructures, together with a huge number of hotels and restaurants, make Krakow as pleasant for its inhabitants as it is for visitors searching for interesting places on their map of Poland. *source http://www.krakow.pl Warsaw - The heart of Poland In Warsaw, you can see the most clearly how the city is taking full advantage of the tremendous and unique opportunities arising from the emergence of free market and the development of democracy. Poland's capital is one of the fastest growing cities in Europe. The investment boom is visible everywhere you look. The city has become one big construction and renovation site. As in every other European capital, Warsaw has many tourist attractions which make it easier to get to know the city better and which are worth taking advantage of, particularly in the summer. If you are visiting Warsaw for the first time, you will be surprised how much the city has to offer and how many places there are to see and things to do. Warsaw is an extraordinary city. Its history and climate impress the visitors, while its uniqueness interests them. In Warsaw, influences of Western and Eastern Europe culture cross. Here historic buildings, palaces, churches and architectural complexes, destroyed during the War, have been reconstructed with great care. UNESCO appreciated Warsaw Monuments and its relics, and honoured the City by putting the Historic Centre of Warsaw on the World Heritage List. *source http://e-warsaw.pl
Auschwitz – Birkenau Camps The grounds and buildings of the Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau camps are open to visitors in their entirety, with the exception of several blocks in Auschwitz I that house the administration, Museum departments, and storage. There is generally access to all barracks at Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The duration of a visit is determined solely by the individual interests and needs of the visitors. As a minimum, however, at least one-and-a-half hours each should be reserved for the grounds and exhibitions of Auschwitz I and for the Birkenau site. It is necessary to visit both parts of the camp, Birkenau and Auschwitz, in order to acquire a proper sense of the place that has become the symbol of the Holocaust. Auschwitz I is where the Nazis opened the first Auschwitz camps for men and women, where they carried out the first experiments at using Zyklon B to put people to death, where they murdered the first mass transports of Jews, where they conducted the first criminal experiments on prisoners, where they carried out most of the executions by shooting, where the central jail for prisoners from all over the camp complex was located in Block No. 11, and where the camp commandant's office and most of the SS offices were located. From here, the camp administration directed the further expansion of the camp complex. In the Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp, everything happened on a magnified scale. This is where the Nazis erected most of the machinery of mass extermination in which they murdered approximately one million European Jews. At the same time, Birkenau was the largest concentration camp (with nearly 300 primitive barracks, most of them wooden). Over a hundred thousand prisoners at a time were here: Jews, Poles, Roma, and others. The site of this camp contains places that are still full of human ashes; the greatest portion of what remains of the Auschwitz complex is here. The vastness of the space, the primitive barracks for the prisoners, the ruins or remains of other structures, and the miles of camp fence and roads give a full sense of what cannot be conveyed in words: infinite baseness, cruelty, and human criminality, and the specific camp architecture that served one purpose alone: the destruction of human beings. From January 2005, the so-called Judenrampe has been commemorated. This is the siding located between Auschwitz and Birkenau and it was here that in 1942-1944 deported Jews, Poles, Roma, and others arrived. Up until May 1944 newly arrived Jews were selected by SS doctors there. The first gas chamber, located beyond the borders of the Museum and started by the Germans in spring 1942, is also commemorated. It is located not far from Birkenau and is known as the Little Red House. *source http://www.auschwitz.org.pl
Zakopane in Tatras Mountains Zakopane district is considered the most attractive tourist region in Poland. The Tatras, the hills of Podhale as well as the town itself are ideal places for walks or longer or shorter hikes. A walk around the town can be combined with visiting its monuments and other interesting places. Here are some of them that we would like to recommend:
* Northern part of the town:
the centre of Zakopane - Krupówki St - The Tatra Museum - market at the foot of Gubałówka - taking a tram up Gubałówka (panorama of the Tatras and Zakopane!) - walking downhill along the yellow trail - Droga na Szymoszkową - Kościeliska St (the old church and cemetery) - the centre. About 5 hours.
* Southern part of the town:
the centre of Zakopane - Krupówki St - Zamoyskiego St - Bulwary Słowackiego St - Antałówka hill - Koziniec (Dom pod Jedlami, art. Gallery) - Bystre - Kuźnickie roundabout (Natural Museum TPN) - COS Sports Centre complex (ski jumps etc.) - Dolina Białego - Grunwaldzka St - the centre. About 4,30 hours.
* Along the ridges of Gubałówka:
Chochołów (by bus, visiting the village and the Chochołów Uprising museum) - Ostrysz - Butorowy Wierch - taking the cable car downhill. About 4 hours.
* The Tatra walk at the foot of The Tatras:
the centre of Zakopane - Orkana St - Kasprusie St ("Atma", Karol Szymanowski Museum) - Strążyska St - Czerwona Przełęcz - Przełęcz Białego - Kalatówki (Albert Sisters' convent) - Kuźnice. About 5 hours.
* Through the valleys of The Western Tatras:
Gronik (by bus) - Dolina Małej Łąki - Przysłop Miętusi - Dolina Kościeliska - Hala Pisana - visiting Zimna cave - Kościelisko-Kiry. About 5 hours.
* The Tatra lakes:
Kuźnice - Kasprowy Wierch (by cable car) - Dolina Stawów Gąsienicowych - Karb - Czarny Staw Gąsienicowy - Murowaniec chalet - Kuźnice. About 5,30 hours.
* To Morskie Oko lake:
Wierch Poroniec (by bus) - Rusinowa Polana - Gęsia Szyja - Wodogrzmoty Mickiewicza - Morskie Oko - back to Łysa Polana (by bus to Zakopane).
Advanced tourists can take trails along the ridges of The Zachodnie (Western) Tatras (e.g. from Kasprowy Wierch reached by cable car to the west, climb up Czerwone Wierchy, around Dolina Chochołowska) or trails in The High Tatras (from Kasprowy to Świnica, from Zakopane through Zawrat and Szpiglasowa Przełęcz to Morskie Oko, difficult trails of "Orla Perć", climb up Rysy). The trails in The Tatras are marked well with plates and colour stripes. In difficult areas there are special buckles, chains and even ladders. However, to use them you must not be afraid of heights, need to be fit and have good health.
In the Tatras you can also do some winter hiking. However, it requires high tourist qualifications, good equipment (clothes, boots, alpenstock and crampons) and good skills in using them. You should take your first steps under supervision of some qualified Tatra guides.
The Tatra National Park has made some trails available for cyclists. These are Droga Pod Reglami, Dolina Chochołowska and Suchej Wody Gąsienicowej, trail to Kalatówki.
The Tatras are high mountains and can be dangerous. You must always remember about the changeability of the weather - even in midsummer there may be some snowfall, beautiful sunny weather may turn to thick confusing fog. Another serious danger is storms; when you see there is going to be a storm you must take the nearest trail down from the ridge to the lower areas. When planning climbs in the higher parts of the mountains you should ask some experienced people for advice or hire a guide. In case of an accident you should call for help by using the international signal - light or voice signals six times a minute. The injured or lost in the Tatras are rescued by TOPR which uses a helicopter if necessary.
Zakopane can be a starting point for longer trips - to the Gorce Mountains, to Babia Góra and to the Pieniny Mountains. On such trips you can find unique monuments in the nearby villages: Chochołów, Dębno, Orawka and Zubrzyca (heritage park). Another attraction is rafting along the gorge of the Dunajec River in the Pieniny Mountains, which has been popular for 150 years. Polish cuisine Polish cuisine has elements taken from the cooking traditions of the many national groups that lived in the country side by side for centuries, notably the Jews, Ukrainians, Belarussians and Lithuanians. There are also some Russian, German, Czech and Austrian influences as well as dishes from more distant regions: Italy, France and the Middle East. One Polish speciality is a profusion of excellent smoked meats, especially sausage (kiełbasa), very popular throughout the world, made after traditional recipes and smoked over juniper or fruit-tree twigs. Try kiełbasa myśliwska with juniper berries and kiełbasa lisiecka with a number of spices including garlic. You'll be delighted by the cured and smoked hams, poultry, pork and beef fillets, and bacons. Equally delectable are Polish pâtés made from a variety of meats including game. Poland is renowned for its multifarious types of delicious bread: white, brown, wholemeal, with raisins, prunes, sesame seeds, poppyseed... An essential part of the main Polish meal of the day - which, incidentally, is eaten much earlier than in the West - is soup. One of the most popular soups in the country is barszcz (fermented beetroot soup), often served with beans or uszka, ravioli-type pastries stuffed with meat or mushrooms. Another tasty fermented soup is żurek - made of rye-flour and cooked with mushrooms, and served with potatoes, diced sausages and hard-boiled eggs. A true gourmet treat is wild mushroom soup thickened with sour cream and served with tiny uszka. Other popular soups are kapuśniak (made of brined cabbage), krupnik (barley soup on rich chicken stock with vegetables and chunks of meat), potato soup, and tomato soup. And there is also rosół - poultry or beef bouillon served with noodles and sprinkled liberally with parsley. Meat is prepared in a variety of ways: roasted, stewed, fried, grilled. It's served both hot, with savoury gravies, and cold, accompanied by mustard, grated horseradish, pickled mushrooms or cucumbers. Perhaps the best-known Polish culinary classic is kotlet schabowy - fried pork loin chop coated in breadcrumbs and served with potatoes and cabbage. Pieczony schab (roast pork loin) stuffed with prunes is simply mouthwatering. Other popular pork dishes include roasted or boiled golonka (pork knuckle) and kaszanka (a kind of black pudding), once staple peasant food, today served in the best restaurants. The same applies to smalec (dripping), melted with pork scratchings, chunks of meat and onion, seasoned with salt, pepper and often aromatic herbs.
One of the best beef dishes is zrazy zawijane - stewed rolls stuffed with a pickled cucumber, a piece of sausage and mushrooms, and served with buckwheat groats. Groats also go well with the stewed Cracow-style duck with mushrooms (kaczka po krakowsku). A relative rarity which you can try only on special occasions is a roast suckling pig stuffed with spicy buckwheat groats. The Polish cuisine is noted for superb dumplings, especially pierogi, which are made from noodle dough, stuffed with minced meat, chopped brined cabbage mixed with mushrooms, cottage cheese, or fruit, and boiled. One favourite variety is pierogi ruskie, with a stuffing of cheese, potatoes and fried onion. Other popular vegetarian dishes include naleśniki (pancakes), pyzy (steamed dumplings made from potato flour) and knedle (dumplings stuffed with fruit). The Polish national dish is bigos, made of brined cabbage with a variety of meats, smoked meats and mushrooms. Another speciality worth trying is gołąbki - cabbage leaves stuffed with minced meat and rice or groats, served with tomato or mushroom sauce.
Popular starters include herring prepared in a numbner of ways, for example with onions, apples and cream. Pastries and cakes are a traditional type of dessert in Poland. Most often they are made from yeast dough (baba, drożdżowe) but there are also Swiss-roll types with poppyseed (makowiec), dried fruit and nut fillings (rolada), mazurek, apple Charlottes (szarlotka), cheesecakes (sernik) and gingerbreads (piernik). Doughnuts (pączki) with rose conserve are another favourite.
As for drinks, the Polish speciality is clear vodka, but there are also many popular flavoured brands. These include Żubrówka ("bison vodka") with a grass blade from the Białowieża Forest, and Goldwasser from Gdańsk, which contains specks of 22-carat gold. Beer lovers won't be disappointed either: Polish beer is as good as German or Czech, and many breweries, notably in Żywiec, Warka and Elbląg, have been well-known for centuries. On cold days, a drink of mulled beer or wine with honey and spices makes a popular pick-me-up. Stronger spirits worth recommending include a stunning number of fruit and herbal drinks consumed for their medical or warming-up properties, or simply because of their excellent taste. Try some Polish liqueurs: meads or sweet cremes made from alcohol, egg yolks, vanilla or chocolate and often used in desserts. Regional delicacies The Silesian cuisine favours all kinds of potato dishes. The best-known are dark dumplings (pyzy śląskie) made from potato-flour and grated potatoes. Another popular ingredient is white and red cabbage (the latter often served with fried bacon). Desserts include makówki - ground poppy seeds mixed with honey, raisins and nuts and put on thin slices of sweet bread on which milk is poured. You serve it cold. Greater Poland has a cuisine similar to Silesia's. One dish particularly appreciated by gourmets is kartacze - dumplings stuffed with meat, mushrooms or cabbage mixed with mushrooms. The Beskid Mountains are best-known for knuckle of pork stewed in beer with plenty of vegetables. There are also two popular soups: the local variety of żur, rye-flour soup with whey, and kwaśnica, a soup of brined cabbage with plenty of pork meat (some of it smoked).
The kitchen of the Tatran and Podhalanian highlanders would be difficult to imagine without the famous ewe's-milk cheeses: bundz and oscypek. Another staple is roast lamb. Smoked meats from this region have a unique taste whose mystery lies in a special method of corning meat. The Podhale is another place where you can taste kwaśnica, made from a stock of pork snout and served with potatoes. The Galician cuisine shows strong influences of Austrian dishes, especially from Vienna. A good example is one cold starter: fatless pork brawn served with cold mustard sauce. A traditional Easter dish from Galicia is white barszcz with white sausage, made with smoked-bacon stock and thickened with sour cream. Popular desserts include cheesecake, topped with vanilla creme or chocolate and known as Viennese cheesecake (sernik wiedeński). The Masurian kitchen is a combination of German, Russian and Polish influences. A true delicacy is a soup made of several types of fish and crayfish, simmered with forest herbs on a slow fire, ideally in a cast iron cauldron. When it's almost ready, you should put burning birch logs inside, which is a great aroma enhancer.
The cuisine of Eastern Poland originated in Lwów. A typical dish is kulebiak made from yeast dough stuffed with cabbage, boiled rice, eggs and fish. It is served with Ukrainian-style borsch with plenty of vegetables and thickened with sour cream. RECIPES FOR SEVEN DAYS Barszcz with uszka
Soup: 1 1/2 l water, 0.4kg beetroot, 0.3kg boned meat, 0.2kg bones, 0.2kg mixed vegetables, 10g dried boletus mushrooms, 50g onions, a beetroot souring agent, 1 bay leaf, 1 clove of garlic, pepper, salt, sugar
Put the meat, bones and soaked mushrooms into a pot, add the water, salt and cook on a slow heat.
When the stock is almost ready, add the vegetables, lightly browned onions and spices. Bake or boil the beetroots separately, then peel them, grate and add to the drained stock. Add garlic mixed with salt and sugar, and beetroot souring agent. You can make your own fermented beetroot juice by standing slices of raw beets in a pot of boiled water in a warm, dark place for a few days, with a slice of rye bread to aid fermentation. The soup can also be made using ham, bacon or sausage stock, or with vegetable stock for a veggie variety. Uszka: filling: 0.1kg dried mushrooms, 30g stale roll, 20g breadcrumbs, 50g onion, 20g fat, pepper, salt; pastry: 0.15 kg flour, 1 egg, about 1/8 l water
Soak the mushrooms for a few hours and boil to evaporate most of the water. Fry diced onion to make it golden. Soak the roll and squeeze it dry. Drain and mince the mushrooms, adding breadcrumbs, salt and pepper; mix all the ingredients well. Make the pastry from the flour, egg, and water, knead and roll it out and cut into 3-4 cm squares. Put a spoonful of filling on every square, fold over diagonally and press edges firmly together. Stick the two longer corners to form a kind of rounded handle. Boil in plenty of water.
Żur with bacon or sausage 0.25kg mixed vegetables, 0.15-0.20 kg bacon or sausage, 1 1/2 l water, 1/4-1/2 l żur, 0.80kg potatoes, 20-30g flour
Boil the vegetables and bacon to make stock. Drain it, add żur, mix in flour, bring the mixture to the boil and add salt. Put in diced bacon and crushed garlic. Serve with potatoes with bacon on top. Żur is a ferment of rye flour in water. Fermenting the żur: 0.10kg rye flour, 1/2l warm boiled water, a slice of stale rye bread
Mix flour with water, pour the mixture into a glass jar or stone pot and put away in a warm place for a few days.
Polish bigos
0.40kg brined cabbage (sauerkraut), 0.40kg sweet cabbage, 0.20kg boneless pork, 0.20kg veal, 0.25kg sausage, 0.10kg smoked bacon, 30g fat, 50g pork fat, 50g onion, 10g dried boletus mushrooms, 50g tomato puree, 20g flour, salt, pepper, sugar, a few prunes, allspice, bay leaf
Finely chop the brined cabbage, add small quantity of boiling water and boil for an hour. Shred the fresh cabbage, add boiling water and boil with chopped mushrooms for about 40 minutes. Rub the meat with salt, brown it slightly in fat on every side and put in the brined cabbage. Add bacon and stew all the ingredients for about 50 minutes until softened. Dice the pork fat and melt it; add the scratchings to the bigos. Take out the meat, mix the brined and fresh cabbage and optionally thicken it with flour browned with fat and onion. Slice the sausage and dice the pork, veal and bacon; mix all the meats with the cabbage, add tomato puree and seasoning.
Bigos may be served with a variety of meats (game, roast poultry, smoked meats etc.). The more meats there are, the better it tastes. And you can enhance the taste by adding some red wine.
Pierogi Pastry: 0.35kg flour, 1 egg, salt, about 1/8 l water
Sieve the flour, mix it with salt, water and egg to make the pastry and knead it until firm. Divide the pastry into a few portions and roll them out until about 0.25 cm (0.1 inch) thin. Cut out circles using a 5 cm (2") diameter round cutter (or glass) and put a spoonful of filling in the centre of each circle. Fold over and press edges firmly together. Make sure the pierogi are well sealed and put them into a large pan of salted boiling water. Stir them carefully and cover the pot. When they go up to the surface, remove the cover and continue boiling for another 2-3 minutes. Lift out of water with a perforated spoon, drain, lay on a warm plate and pour over with melted butter. For pierogi with a fruit filling, use cream instead. Pierogi ruskie or pierogi with mushrooms may be served with pork scratchings. Filling for pierogi ruskie: 0.80kg potatoes, 0.20kg curd cheese, 50g onion, 30g fat, salt, pepper
Cook jacket potatoes, peel and mince them, add the cheese. Add diced and lightly browned onion and mix the ingredients thoroughly, adding salt and pepper to taste. Filling for pierogi with mushrooms: 0.80kg fresh mushrooms, 0.10kg onion, 40g fat, 40g stale roll, 30g breadcrumbs, salt, pepper
Cut the mushrooms into thin slices, add 2/3 tbsp water, cover the pan and boil until all the liquid has evaporated. Soak the roll in water or milk and stir-fry onion rings until light golden. Mince the mushrooms, roll and onion together. Add salt, pepper and breadcrumbs and work the mixture into a paste. Pour some fat with browned breadcrumbs over the pierogi when cooked. Do's and don'ts of pierogi-making Get the right texture for the pastry - firm enough to hold the filling without bursting, but soft enough for the edges to seal properly - roll out the pastry to an even thickness throughout. Get the right amount of filling on each pieróg to make a puffy, cushion-like pouch, not flat and not over-full. The cooking pan should be big enough for the pierogi to freely float up to the top when ready. Don't put in too many to boil at the same time. Drain the cooked pierogi well; don't lay undrained pierogi one on top of another, or they'll stick and tear. Any cooked pierogi left after the meal may be served fried as a delicious alternative way of using leftovers.
Zrazy zawijane (stuffed beef rolls) 0.50-0.60 kg boneless beef, 30g fat, 50g pork fat, 0.10 kg pickled gherkins, 0.10 kg carrots, 0.10 kg celeriac or parsnip, 0.10 kg onion, 1/8 l cream, salt, pepper, mustard to taste
Cut the meat into wide strips and beat them thin with a tenderiser. Spread a thin layer of mustard over every piece and sprinkle with finely chopped onion. Julienne the pork fat, carrots, parsnips and gherkins, dust with pepper, place on the meat strips, wrap tightly and fix with wooden skewers or thread. Dust with salt and flour, brown in hot fat and put into a flat saucepan; pour in the frying fat and 1/8 l water. Stew slowly until soft. Then sprinkle the rest of the flour over the gravy, add pepper, bring to the boil and add cream. Place the rolls on a platter and pour over with the gravy. Serve with buckwheat or barley groats, or with potatoes, with a side-dish of mixed vegetables, or raw or cooked vegetable salad.
Herring in sour cream 0.5 kg salted herring fillets , 1 onion, 80 g apples, 1/8 l sour cream, salt, sugar, lemon, 1 tsp parsley
Divide each fillet into 3 - 4 portions and place them in a salad bowl. Grate the apple coarsely and chop the onion; mix both with sour cream, add salt, sugar and lemon juice. Pour the sauce over the herring slices.
Walnut and honey mazurek cake 0.3 kg walnuts, 0.4 kg powder sugar, 5 egg whites, 2 tbsp honey, 1 large cake wafer, vanilla, a bar of plain chocolate
Shell the nuts and chop finely. Prepare a pot with boiling water. Put the wafer in a square baking tray or a springform pan; whisk the egg whites, stirring in the sugar when almost done. Put over a bain-marie steam-bath and whisk again until hard, then take off and continue whisking until cold. Warm up the honey if it's crystallised. Mix the cold whisked egg-whites with the nuts, honey and vanilla. Spread evenly over the wafer. Garnish with nut halves, put into a medium-heat oven and bake for about 30 minutes. Take out, remove from the tray or pan with a sharp knife, put on a wooden tray and decorate with melted chocolate. Wait at least ten hours before cutting into pieces. *source http://poland.gov.pl/ |
