INFO on Poland
Poland
Poland Poland is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres (120,726 sq mi), making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. Poland has a population of over 38 million people, which makes it the 34th most populous country in the world and the sixth most populous member of the European Union, being its most populous post-communist member. Poland is a unitary state made up of sixteen voivodeships. Poland is a member of the European Union, NATO, the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). On 1 July 2011, Poland replaced Hungary as the holder of the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Cities
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Warsaw — Poland's capital and one of the EU's thriving new business centres; the old town, nearly completely destroyed during World War II, has been rebuilt in a style inspired by classicist paintings of Canalletto
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Gdan'sk — one of the old, beautiful European cities, rebuilt after World War II and a good departure point to the many sea resorts along the Baltic coast
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?ódz' — once renowned for its textile industries, the "Polish Manchester" has the longest walking street in Europe, the Piotrkowska Street, full of picturesque 19th-century architecture
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Katowice — most important city in Silesia, being both an important commercial hub and a centre of culture
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Kraków — the "cultural capital" of Poland and its historical capital in the Middle Ages; its center is filled with old churches, monuments, pubs and the largest European medieval market-place
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Lublin — the biggest city in Eastern Poland, it has a well-preserved old town with typical Polish and unusual Renaissance architecture, the socalled Lublin Renaissance
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Poznan — the merchant city, considered to be the birthplace of the Polish nation and church (along with Gniezno); presents a mixture of architecture from all epoques
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Szczecin — most important city of Pomerania with an enormous harbour, monuments, old parks and museums
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Wroc?aw — the old Silesian city that was successfully rebuilt; placed on 12 islands, it has more bridges than any other European town except Venice, Amsterdam and Hamburg
Tourist attractions
Our Lady's Assumption and St. Adalbert's Arch-Cathedral Basilica
Gniezno
Our Lady’s Assumption and St. Adalbert’s Arch-Cathedral Basilica in Gniezno is located on the historical Lech’s Hill at Jelonek Lake. It is a monument of architecture, with great significance for Polish culture.
Auschwitz-Birkenau - former Nazi concentration camp
Brzezinka
Former concentration and extermination camp, the largest in the Third Reich.
Medieval Town of Torun'
Torun'
In the Old and New Town, the many imposing public and private buildings from the 14th and 15th centuries (among them the house of Copernicus) are striking evidence of Torun's importance.
Wawel Cathedral
Kraków
The sound of “Sigismund Bell” carries far and wide!
St Mary’s Church and altar
Kraków
The tall outline of St Mary’s Church and the asymmetry of its two towers crowned with spires draws attention to itself.
City Zoological Garden
Wroc?aw
The Zoological Garden in Wroclaw was founded in 1865, but it didn’t exist until the end of the 19th century when appropriate areas were built to meet the requirements of exotic animals.
The Bison Show Reserve of the Bia?owiez.a National Park
Bia?owiez.a
Animals shown: Polish horses of Tarpan Type, European bison, hybrids of bison and domestic cattle called z.ubron', deer, roedeer, wild boars, etc.
Wild beehives in Wigry National Park
Wysoki Most
Wild beehive that beehive in hole scooped out of logs or trees adapted to bees breeding and honey production. There are three wild beehives in the Wigry National Park, two on the educational trail “Forest” and one on the “Primeval Forest”.
The Biebrza route
Bagno
This route is extraordinarily interesting because of its history and culture. Biebrza’s Marshes are known thanks to Poles, as well as, their neighbors; Prussian Lithuanians and Russians.
The Czarna Han'cza River
Bia?owiez.a
The Czarna Han'cza is the longest river of the Suwa?ki Land (142 km). It flows through the Han'cza and Wigry Lakes and, in its lower reaches, joins the Augustów Canal system. The section beyond Lake Wigry makes an attractive kayaking route.
Krakow
Why go: Krakow might not be the first place you think of when you're planning a European vacation, but you might do well considering it. Although it's set in a landscape of historic architecture -- Wawel Cathedral and Old Town's Rynek Glowny -- Krakow is a modern city with a vast nightlife of live-music bars and nightclubs and a cultured, cosmopolitan local populace.
INFO on Poland
