Thursday, April 22, 2010
Magda
My friends have already written about their cities so maybe it's time for me to boast;) There are so many different things I could tell about my city that actually I don't know where to start...
I'm not going to write about history, rather about some interesting things about Wrocław or places due to which you will love the city;)
Town Hall...Wrocław Town Hall is one of the oldest town halls in Poland. Additionally, on the high tower you can find the oldest in Poland bell clock,as well as the oldest tower clock since 1368. In the basement of the building is the oldest (of the fourteenth century) restaurant in Europe - Piwnica Świdnicka.
Town Hall
Rynek...
Rynek (market square) is the main meeting place in Wrocław. Everyone should see it because of the brilliantly painted buildings around and the eye-catching Gothic Town Hall from the fourteenth century Town Hall that I mentioned about before.
Wrocław is some kind of students' city so eat any time during the day and night you will meet many people there. All around the market square there are many bars, pubs, restaurants and clubs, all really close to each other so always you will find something that you like!
Rynek Ostrów Tumski...Ostrów Tumski ("Cathedral Island") is the oldest part of Wrocław. Built on what used to be an island ("ostrów", in old Polish), it was an early crossing point on the Oder River.
The Cathedral that is located there is one of the largests icon of Wroclaw seen from almost any corner of the city. This Gothic basilica with a height 91 m and length 68 m for a long time was the tallest building in Wroclaw. The beautiful building keeps a number of traces of the history.
What is also really interested about Ostrów Tumski is that there are 90 gas lantern that every day are switched on and off by the Lamplighter:)
Ostrów Tumski with the Cathedral Venice...Wroclaw is the fourth city in Europe in terms of number of bridges (and footbridges), ranking just behind Amsterdam and Venice, and St. Petersburg. That's why some people call the city the Polish Venice.
Grunwaldzki Bridge Wrocław - tale...Maybe someone doesn't believe but in Wrocław there are dwarfs, just like from the tale. But they are real!
The dwarf is about one foot in height, has a beard, pointed hat and pointed shoes.You can meet them on the street, sometimes you can even stumble because of them. What is so magnificent? That they are not the same, every dwarf has its name and own style that depends on how it is called:)
Two dwarfs on the Świdnicka Street
And much more!! You have to some and get to know Wrocław:)
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Pablo
Łódź is my home city. I born there and spend almost all my life.
Łódź is the third-largest city in Poland
. Located in the central part of the country, it had a population of 744,541 in June 2009. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is approximately 135 kilometres (84 mi) south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canting: depicting a boat, it alludes to the city's name which translates literally as "boat".
Łódź in literature and cinemaThree major novels depict the development of industrial Łódź.
Władysław Reymont's
Ziemia Obiecana (
The Promised Land) (1898),
Joseph Roth's
Hotel Savoy (1924) and
Israel Joshua Singer's
Di Brider Ashkenazi (
The Brothers Ashkenazi) (1937). Roth's novel depicts the city on the eve of a workers' riot in 1919. Reymont's novel was made into a film by
Andrzej Wajda in 1975: see
The Promised Land. In the 1990 film
Europa Europa,
Solomon Perel's family flees pre-WWII Berlin and settles in Łódź. Scenes of
David Lynch's 2006 film
Inland Empire were shot in Łódź.
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Pablo
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of my country -
Poland. It is located on the
Vistula River roughly 360 kilometers (224 mi) from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometers (186 mi) from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of June 2009 was estimated at 1,711,466, and the Warsaw metropolitan area at approximately 2,785,000.
Warsaw is the 9th largest city in the European Union by population.
Overview Warsaw's mixture of architectural styles reflects the turbulent history of the city and country. During WWII, Warsaw was razed to the ground by bombing raids and planned destruction. After liberation, rebuilding began as in other cities of the communist-ruled PRL. Most of the historical buildings were thoroughly reconstructed. However, some of the buildings from the 19th century that had been preserved in reasonably reconstructible form were nonetheless eradicated in the 1950s and 1960s.Mass residential blocks were erected, with basic design typical of Eastern bloc countries.
Public spaces attract heavy investment, so that the city has gained entirely new squares, parks and monuments. Warsaw's current urban landscape is one of modern and contemporary architecture.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
kachetan
Today I will write about one of the most beautiful (in my opinion) mountains in Poland - Karkonosze.

Karkonosze (in Czech:
Krkonoše, in German:
Riesengebirge, in English:
Giant Mountains) are mountain range located south-west of Poland and northern Czech Republic and they are part of the Sudetes mountain system. Large part of the mountain is part of National Park, both on the Czech and Polish side and is biosphere reserve under the UNESCO
Man and the Biosphere Programme.
In this post I will focus on the Polish part of Karkonosze. In Poland there are two major cities in Karkonosze:
Karpacz i
Szklarska Poręba and they are the best places to start adventure in these mountains. In my opinion the best option is a 2-day or 3-day trip Karpacz - Szklarska Poręba (or Szklarska Poręba - Karpacz) along the ridge of Karkonosze where you can see the most beautiful places of this part of Poland:
- Śnieżka - the highest peak of Karkonosze, 1602 meters above sea level (a visibility in favourable conditions surpasses 200 km!). On Śnieżka is also Meteorological Observatory.
- Szklarka Waterfall (520meters above sea level) - the most popular waterfall in Karkonosze, not as tall as a waterfall Kamieńczyk, but equally beautiful ( or even more beautiful).
- Kamienczyk Waterfall (846 meters above sea level) - the highest waterfall in Polsih part of Sudety, water falls from 27 meters.
- Small Pond Cauldron - glacial kettle at the foot of the Równia pod Śnieżką and Smogornia Peak
- A lot of peaks, passes and rock formations on the trail, but there are too many to describe them in one post ;-)


Small Pond Cauldron
All photos in this post I took during trip in september 2008.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
kachetan
Today I will write about city where I study (and I live near). :)
Wyświetl większą mapęPoznań is a city in western Poland on the Warta river and is the main city of Wielkpolska ("Greater Poland") province.
Poznań has over 0.5 million inhabitants and is one of the largest cities in Poland. It is also one of the oldiest city in the early Polish state (X and XI centuries) and first rulers of Poland were buried in Poznań's archcathedral.
Now Poznań is large economic, academic (8 state and 17 private universities, approximately 130 thousands students), scientific and cultural center. You can find here many interesting places:
Archcathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul is the one of the oldest churces in Poland and the oldest polish cathedral. It is supposedly place of the baptism of Mieszko I (the first ruler of Poland).- Royal-Imperial route leads from The Church of St. John Jerusalem behind the Wall to the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St. Florian. Many of historic buildings and sights lie on this route.
- Old Market you can find here a pearl of Renaissance architecture, the Poznań's town hall.
- Imperial Castle is a palace constructed in 1910 for William II (German Emperor) and was built in Neo-Romanesque style. The courtyard of trhe castle is often a place of concerts and outdoor movie performances during summer.
Logo and slogan of Poznań
If you want to visit Poznań you can fly to Poznań from e.g. Barcelona (
Ryanair).
See you in Poznań! :)