The Carpathians

4 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Environment Reading Time:  7 minutes

Bear in Sinaia - Romania © Metastabil01

Bear in Sinaia – Romania © Metastabil01

The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly 1,500 km (932 mi) long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe. They provide the habitat for the largest European populations of brown bears, wolves, chamois and lynxes, with the highest concentration in Romania, as well as over one third of all European plant species. The Carpathians and their piedmont also concentrate many thermal and mineral waters, with Romania home to over one-third of the European total.   read more…

Katowice in Silesia

15 March 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Umkatowice/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Umkatowice/cc-by-sa-3.0

Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers (tributaries of the Oder and the Vistula respectively). Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about 50 km (31 mi) north of the Silesian Beskids (part of the Carpathian Mountains) and about 100 km (62 mi) southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.   read more…

Theme Week Warsaw – Museum of the History of Polish Jews

1 January 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  10 minutes

© Wojciech Kryński/cc-by-sa-3.0-pl

© Wojciech Kryński/cc-by-sa-3.0-pl

POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews (Polish: Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich) is a museum on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. The Hebrew word Polin in the museum’s name means, in English, either “Poland” or “rest here” and is related to a legend on the arrival of the first Jews in Poland. The cornerstone was laid in 2007, and the museum was first opened on April 19, 2013. The museum’s Core Exhibition opened in October 2014. The museum features a multimedia narrative exhibition about the vibrant Jewish community that flourished in Poland for a thousand years up to the Holocaust. By the middle of the 1930s, Poland had the largest Jewish minority in Europe, with a share of about 10% of the total population. The building, a postmodern structure in glass, copper, and concrete, was designed by Finnish architects Rainer Mahlamäki and Ilmari Lahdelma.   read more…

Gliwice in Silesia

10 May 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Castle Museum at night © Jan Mehlich/cc-by-sa-3.0

Castle Museum at night © Jan Mehlich/cc-by-sa-3.0

Gliwice is a city in Upper Silesia, southern Poland, near Katowice. Gliwice is the west district of the Silesian Metropolis – a metropolis with a population of 2 million. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder).   read more…

Wawel, former seat of the Polish monarchy

8 March 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

Wawel from the Vistula river © Sharx/cc-by-sa-2.5

Wawel from the Vistula river © Sharx/cc-by-sa-2.5

Wawel is a fortified architectural complex erected over many centuries atop a limestone outcrop on the left bank of the Vistula river in Kraków at an altitude of 228 metres above sea level. The complex consists of many buildings and fortifications; the largest and best known of these are the Royal Castle and the Wawel Cathedral which is the Basilica of St Stanisław and St Wacław). Some of Wawel’s oldest stone buildings, such as the Rotunda of the Virgin Mary can be dated to 970AD. There are also wooden parts of the complex which date to about the 9th century. The castle itself has been described as “one of the most fascinating of all European castles.” Together with the old town of Kraków, Wawel is an UNESCO world heritage site.   read more…

Bydgoszcz in the northern Central Poland

6 March 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Former headquarters of Prussian Eastern Railway © Pit1233

Former headquarters of Prussian Eastern Railway © Pit1233

Bydgoszcz is a city located in northern Poland, on the Brda and Vistula rivers. With a city population of 360,000, and an urban agglomeration with more than 470,000 inhabitants, Bydgoszcz is the 8th-largest city in Poland. It has been the seat of Bydgoszcz County and the co-capital, with Toruń, of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999.   read more…

Oświęcim in Poland

25 February 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  5 minutes

Oświęcim Castle © Beemwej/cc-by-sa-3.0-pl

Oświęcim Castle © Beemwej/cc-by-sa-3.0-pl

Oświęcim (german: Auschwitz) is a town in the Lesser Poland province of southern Poland, situated 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of Kraków, near the confluence of the rivers Vistula (Wisła) and Soła. The town is best known as being the location of the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.   read more…

Theme Week Warsaw – The Palace of Culture and Science

31 July 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Stanislav Kozlovskiy/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Stanislav Kozlovskiy/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw is the tallest building in Poland, the sixth tallest building in the European Union. The building was originally known as the Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science, but in the wake of destalinization the dedication to Stalin was revoked; Stalin’s name was removed from the interior lobby and one of the building’s sculptures. Currently it is the 187th tallest building in the world.   read more…

Szczecin in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship

31 January 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Facades of new buildings in Szczecin's Old Town © ProhibitOnions

Facades of new buildings in Szczecin’s Old Town © ProhibitOnions

Szczecin is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland with a population of 408,000. In the vicinity of the Baltic Sea, it is the country’s seventh-largest city and a major seaport in Poland. Szczecin is located on the Oder River, south of the Szczecin Lagoon and the Bay of Pomerania. The city is situated along the southwestern shore of Dąbie Lake, on both sides of the Oder and on several large islands between the western and eastern branches of the river. Szczecin borders with the town of Police. Szczecin’s architectural style is due to trends popular in the last half of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th century, Academic art and Art Nouveau. In many areas built after 1945, especially in the city centre, which had been destroyed due to Allied bombing, social realism is prevalent.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top