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ZYWIEC |
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About 50km west of Zawoja by road - though less than half that as
the crow flies - is ZYWIEC , which is also readily accessible by train
from any of the major cities in this corner of Poland. The town enjoys a
certain international fame courtesy of its brewery , which annually
produces over thirty million litres of what's generally agreed to be the
best beer in Poland. Until the end of the communist era, you were far
more likely to find Zywiec beer on the shelves of a British or American
supermarket than you were anywhere in Poland, most of it being exported
in order to obtain desperately needed hard currency. Nowadays their
lager-style brew is served in cafés and bars all over Poland. If you can
find it their porter - a darker, stronger beer less commonly available -
is also well worth trying. Beer aside, Zywiec is an attractive place to
break your journey - you'll get good views of the surrounding mountains
from the shore of the often dried-up reservoir at the northern end of
town.
The town
Zywiec's castle (Tues-Fri 9am-3pm, Sat & Sun 10am-2pm; 3zl) was founded
by the dukes of Oswiecim in the fifteenth century, gaining a handsome
arcaded courtyard in the Renaissance period. In the nineteenth century,
it was heavily restored by the Habsburgs, who also built the pristine
white palace opposite, the object of a slow-moving restoration programme.
There's a generally tranquil café, the Zamkowa , in the castle courtyard,
while the huge park to the south is well worth a stroll, even if it's
just to see the whimsical eighteenth-century Chinese tea house .
Just to the east of the palace is the Kosciól Mariacki (St Mary's Church),
which would be an unremarkable Gothic building with standard Baroque
furnishings were it not for the imperious galleried Renaissance tower,
which provides a landmark from all over town. On the main street, ul.
Kosciuszki, immediately north of the church, is the local museum (Tues-Fri
9am-4pm, Sat 10am-3pm, Sun 10am-2pm; 5zl), housed in a Baroque mansion,
and boasting a fine collection of górale folk crafts and costumes. The
only other sight worth mentioning is the rustic wooden Kosciól sw.
Krzyza (Church of the Holy Cross) on ul. Swietokrzyska, just off the
western end of ul. Kosciuszki.
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