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WHERE TO GO |
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Poles delineate their country's attractions as "the mountains, the
sea and the lakes", their emphasis firmly slanted to the traditional,
rural heartlands. To get the most out of your time, it's perhaps best to
follow their preferences. The mountains - above all the Carpathian range
of the Tatras - are a delight, with a well-established network of hiking
trails; the lakes provide opportunities for canoeing and a host of other
outdoor pursuits; and the dozen or so national parks retain areas of
Europe's last primeval forests, inhabited still by bison, elks, wolves,
bears and eagles. Yet you will not want to miss the best of the cities -
Kraków, especially - nor a ramble down rivers like the Wisla for visits
to Teutonic castles , ancient waterside towns and grand, Polish country
mansions , redolent of a vanished aristocratic order. The ethnic regions
offer insights into cultures quite distinct from the Catholicism of the
majority, while the former centres of the Jewish community , and the
concentration camps in which the Nazis carried out their extermination,
are the most moving testimony to the complexity and tragedy of the
nation's past.
Unless you're driving to Poland, you're likely to begin your travels
with one of the three major cities : Warsaw, Kraków or Gdansk. Each
provides an immediate immersion in the fast-paced changes of the last
decade or so and a backdrop of monuments that reveal the twists and
turns of the nation's history. Warsaw , the capital, had to be rebuilt
from scratch after World War II, and much of the city conforms to the
stereotype of Eastern European greyness, but the reconstructed Baroque
palaces, churches and public buildings of the historic centre, the
burgeoning street markets and the bright shopfronts of Poland's new
enterprise culture are diverting enough. Kraków , however, the ancient
royal capital, is the real crowd puller for Poles and foreign visitors
alike, rivalling the central European elegance of Prague and Vienna.
This is the city where history hits you most powerfully, in the royal
Wawel complex, in the fabulous open space of the Rynek, in the one-time
Jewish quarter of Kazimierz, and in the chilling necropolis of nearby
Auschwitz-Birkenau, the bloodiest killing field of the Third Reich.
Gdansk , formerly Danzig, the largest of the Baltic ports and home of
the legendary shipyards, presents a dynamic brew of politics and
commerce against a townscape reminiscent of mercantile towns in the
Netherlands.
German and Prussian influences abound in the north of the country, most
notably in the austere castles and fortified settlements constructed by
the Teutonic Knights at Malbork, Chelmno and other strategic points
along the River Wisla - as the Vistula is known in Poland. Torun is one
of the most atmospheric and beautiful of the old Hanseatic towns here.
Over in the east , numerous minority communities embody the complexities
of national boundaries in central Europe. The one-time Jewish centre of
Bialystok , with its Belarusian minority, is a springboard for the
eastern borderlands, where onion-domed Orthodox churches stand close to
Tatar mosques. Further south, beyond Lublin , a famous centre of
Hassidic Jewry, and Zamosc , with its magnificent Renaissance centre,
lie the homelands of Ukrainians, Lemks and Boyks - and a chance to see
some of Poland's extraordinary wooden churches.
In the west , ethnic Germans populate regions of the divided province of
Silesia , where Wroclaw sustains the dual cultures of the former German
city of Breslau and the Ukrainian city of L'viv, whose displaced
citizens were moved here at the end of World War II. The other main city
in western Poland is the quintessentially Polish Poznan , a vibrant and
increasingly prosperous university town.
Despite its much-publicized pollution problems - problems it is now
finally making a serious attempt to address - Poland has many regions of
unspoilt natural beauty, of which none is more pristine than the
Bialowieza Forest , straddling the Belarusian border; the last virgin
forest of the European mainland, it is the habitat of the largest
surviving herd of European bison. Along the southern borders of the
country lie the wild Bieszczady mountains and the alpine Tatras and
further west, the bleak Karkonosze mountains - all of them excellent
walking country, interspersed with less demanding terrain. North of the
central Polish plain, the wooded lakelands of Mazury and Pomerania are
as tranquil as any lowland region on the continent, while the Baltic
coast can boast not just the domesticated pleasures of its beach
resorts, but also the extraordinary desert-like dunes of the Slowinski
national park - one of a dozen such parks.
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