Poland - Lonely Planet

© Lonely Planet Publications
891
Poland
HIGHLIGHTS
„
„
„
„
Wawel Hill Experience the beauty and history of Kraków’s magnificent castle (p902)
Wrocław Get into the bar, club and restaurant scene of this lively student city (p909)
Warsaw Rising Museum Discover Warsaw’s tragic wartime history (p898)
Off the beaten track Enjoy the skiing or hiking life in the Tatra Mountains (p909)
FAST FACTS
„ Area 312,685 sq km
„ Budget 150zł per day
„ Capital Warsaw
„ Country code
%48
„ Famous for Chopin, Copernicus, Marie
Curie, solidarity, vodka
„ Language Polish
„ Money złoty (zł); A$1 = 2.48zł; C$1 = 2.81zl;
€1 = 4.45zł; ¥100 = 3.49zł; NZ$1 = 1.94zł;
UK£1 = 5.02zł; US$1 = 3.31zł
„ Phrases dzień dobry (good day), Ile to kosz-
„ Visas no visa needed for citizens of the
tuje? (how much is it?), dziękuję (thank you)
EU, Australia, New Zealand, the US and
Canada; see p920
„ Population 38 million
TRAVEL HINTS
Hotel weekend rates are often less expensive. It’s also worth asking if a hotel has cheaper rooms
than the posted rate.
From Warsaw, head to Kraków. Take a day trip to Zakopane, before continuing to Wrocław.
Finish up at seaside Gdańsk.
If they were handing out prizes for ‘most eventful history’, Poland would be sure to get a gong.
The nation has spent centuries at the pointy end of history, grappling with war, invasion and
foreign occupation. Nothing, however, has succeeded in suppressing the Poles’ strong sense of
nationhood and cultural identity, as exemplified by the ancient royal capital of Kraków, with
its breathtaking castle, and bustling Warsaw, with the painstaking postwar reconstruction of
its devastated Old Town.
Other lively regional centres such as urbane Gdańsk, cultured Wrocław and bustling Poznań
exude a sophisticated energy that’s a heady mix of old and new. Away from the cities, Poland is
a diverse land, from its northern sandy beaches to its magnificent southern mountains.
Although prices are rising as its economy gathers strength, Poland is still good value for
travellers and has a transport system that makes it easy to get around. As the Polish people
work on combining their distinctive national identity with their place in the heart of Europe,
it’s a fascinating time to visit this beautiful country.
POLAND
ROAMING POLAND
892 P O L A N D • • H i s t o r y
lonelyplanet.com
HISTORY
the map of Europe. Finally, upon the end
of WWI the old imperial powers dissolved,
and a sovereign Polish state was restored.
On 1 September 1939, a Nazi blitzkrieg
rained down from the west; soon after, the
Soviets invaded Poland from the east. The
Germans then used Poland as a base for
invading the Soviet Union. By the time the
Nazi regime was finally ousted at the end of
WWII, 6 million Poles had died, including
the country’s 3 million Jews, who were brutally annihilated in death camps.
After WWII, Poland endured four decades
of Soviet-dominated communist rule. Finally,
in 1990 Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa became Poland’s first postwar democratically
elected president.
Poland’s history started in the early Middle
Ages with the Polanians (People of the
Plains). Mieszko I, Duke of the Polanians,
adopted Christianity in 966 and embarked
on a successful campaign of conquest.
Encroachment from Germanic peoples led
to the relocation of the royal capital from
Poznań to Kraków in 1038. The kingdom
prospered under Kazimierz III ‘the Great’
(1333–70), and in 1569 Poland and Lithuania
were united as the largest state in Europe,
stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
The 18th century was a period of disaster and decline. Russia, Prussia and Austria
repeatedly divided Polish territory between
them; by 1795 Poland had vanished from
POLAND
To Ystad; Rønne;
Copenhagen
Dar×owo
Ko×obrzeg
÷eba
L‰bork
Gdynia
S×upsk
Sopot
Ustka
Szczecinek
Szczecin
Bydgoszcz
Pi×a
Biskupin
G†sawa
Rogalin
Zielona
Góra
Ostróda
Olsztyn
Vistula
W×oc×awek
Bia×owie¤a
National Park
PODLASIE
Hajnówka
P×ock
Bia×owie¤a
BELARUS
To Minsk
WARSAW
Kutno
Terespol
Siedlce
Brest
ula
Kalisz
Hrodna
Ku§nica
Bia×ostocka
Bia×ystok
Ostro׉ka
Ciechanów
÷owicz
Cottbus
Augustów
Great Masurian
Lake District
÷om¤a
MAZOVIA
Konin
Kórnik
Gi¤ycko
Grudzi†dz
Inowroc×aw
Leszno
Suwa×ki
Lidzbark
Warmi¬ski
Elbl†gMalbork Ostróda WARMIA & MASURIA
Canal
Miko×ajki
E×k
Vis t
POLAND
Odra
Frombork
Elbl†g
Toru¬
Gniezno
Pozna¬
To Berlin
LITHUANIA
g
Bu
Warta
RUSSIA
Bezledy
Che×mno
WIELKOPOLSKA ¨nin
Gorzów
Wielkopolski
Kaliningrad
Gulf of
Gda¬sk
POMERANIA
Wolin
National Park
Frankfurt/Oder
Kaunas
Hel
Gda¬sk
Koszalin
Mi‰dzyzdroje
100 km
60 miles
To Vilnius;
St Petersburg
To Nynäshamn
S×owi¬ski
National Park
BALTIC SEA
±winouj¢cie
Ὀ
0
0
To Karlskrona
÷ód§
Sieradz
GERMANY
To Dresden
SILESIA
Su
de
Szklarska
Wroc×aw
te
Por‰ba
Jelenia n
M
Góra
ou
Brzeg
Mt Szrenica
nt
Karpacz
(1362m)
Wa×brzych a i n
s
K×odzko
Wielu¬
Piotrków
Trybunalski
Sandomierz
Gliwice
Tarnobrzeg
Katowice
Tarnów
Cieszyn
Bielsko-Bia×a
Rabka
Zakopane
Szczawnica
Tatra National Park
y
in
s
Košice
s
To
Budapest
in
SLOVAKIA
t
To Vienna;
Bratislava
To Kyiv;
Odesa
a n e s Pola¬czyk
zc
UKRAINE
ou
n M za
t
a u
n
a
M
o
Prešov
Bi
d
Poprad
Medyka
Sanok
Ca r p a t h i
Tatra Mt Rysy (2499m)
Mountains
Lviv
Przemy¢l
Nowy S†cz
K†ty
Hrebenne
÷a¬cut
Rzeszów
Kraków
O¢wi‰cim
Ostrava
CZECH
REPUBLIC
Zamo¢¦
Opole
Hradec
Králové
Olomouc
Che×m
MA÷OPOLSKA
Kielce
Cz‰stochowa
Nysa
Dorohusk
Lublin
Kazimierz
Dolny
n
Sa
PRAGUE
Pu×awy
Radom
Zgorzelec