Poland

Visited: December 2007 – September 2009 (4 times), July 2024

Duration of visit: 14 days

Capital city: Warsaw

Population: 37 million (2024)

• Several business meetings with Polish distributors of heating and air purification products in Warsaw. (2005-07)
• Krakow – the official capital of Poland until 1596, one of Europe’s most beautiful cities, with the Old Town which was declared the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in the world. (2007)
• Traumatic examination of Auschwitz concentration camp for the mass murder of over 1.1 million European Jews. (2007)
• The Wieliczka Salt Mine – Underground salt cathedral captivated me with superb quality creations carved into the salt structure.
• Supporting Slovenian team at European Basketball Championship 2009 in Katowice.
• Properly exploring the landmarks around the capital Warsaw and the city of Gdansk in 2024.

Member of EU and industrial power of Eastern Europe, with population of almost 40 million people, extending from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordering to Russia, Belorussia and Ukraine in the East and Germany on the West, Poland can offer as much as any other country in Europe for much less money: castles, palaces, mansions, national parks, delicious food and variety of drinks.

I always compare Poland with Colombia on size, tourist potential and importance in the region. Nevertheless, it has never been high on my bucket list. Maybe because it’s so big to explore (for European standards), not the most efficient road connections in the past or just because of some historical believes. But still, even though I visited it only on particular occasions, I have seen a relevant part of it, including Katowice, Krakow, Warsaw and Gdansk.

Business trips to Warsaw, where I was looking for distributors of heating and air purifying products, brought me into contact with Poland for the first time. Most of the businessman were highly skilled and professional, but a gap between old and new school was very obvious in language skills and decision-making process.

German was spoken by old guys, while predominantly English is easier to use by new boys. Old boys were complicated, never taking any decisions and always believing that time will solve any issue. The young boys were self-confident, happy to take decisions immediately, even if they were not the best on the long term.

After my meetings, business dinners and drinking were over, I used the opportunity to walk or drive around Warsaw and explore its most important landmarks.

Included on the UNESCO World Heritage list, Warsaw’s Old Town was completely rebuilt after World War II. The Royal Castle is one of the most important landmarks of Warsaw. Between the 16^th and 18^th century it served as a residence to the Polish royalty. During World War II the castle was complement demolished by the German army and it was only reconstructed in the 1980s. Walking on the narrow streets brought me to the Old Town Market Square where I could appreciate the famous Statue of the Mermaid; the symbol of Warsaw, also found on the city’s coat of arms. The Old Town Market Place with its restaurants and cafes is the hearth of the area.

Krakow was the official capital of Poland until 1596. Cited as one of Europe's most beautiful cities, its Old Town with the Royal Castle was declared the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in the world, alongside Quito.

It has traditionally been one of the leading centers of Polish academic, economic, cultural and artistic life. The most famous person from Krakow is Karol Wojtyla, archbishop of Kraków, who was in 1978 elevated to the papacy as Pope John Paul II – the first Slavic pope ever, and the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.

I didn’t manage to walk around all iconic landmarks, numerous attractions, read about popular legends and fascinating history of Krakow. However, I visited some of the city´s highlights that earned Krakow a spot on the prestige UNESO list and positioned it as the most visited tourist destination in Poland.

The Wawel Royal Castle is s magnificent 14^th century castle, boasting on the Wawel Hill, representing the ancient nucleus of the city, perched on a limestone bluff on the banks of the Vistula river. What was for centuries the residence of the kings of Poland and the symbol of Polish statehood, is now one of the country's premier art museums.

The Wawel Cathedral, so called Poland’s Westminster Cathedral. A symbol of Polish statehood and faith, crowning place of kings and queens and architectural overseer of the famous Cracovian gothic skyline.

The first structure in Kraków designed entirely in the Baroque style, The Church of Saints Peter and Paul, was built at the beginning of 17^th century. Today is used as a concert hall for classical and baroque ensembles.

And if there is not enough of Wawel - meaning dry, elevated ground surrounded by swamps, there is also a Wawel dragon. The man-eating monster, which was being appeased with a weekly ration of cattle, until finally defeated by the king's sons using decoy cows stuffed with sulfur.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine is located 13 kilometers southeast of Krakow's city center. It was excavated from the 13^th century and produced table salt continuously until 2007, as one of the world's oldest operating salt mines.

It is now an official Polish Historic Monument and an UNESCO World Heritage Site, extending more than 300 meters into the salt rock veins below the earth. Constant year-round temperature of 14°C and pleasant lingering, natural salt taste in the air, have positive impact on respiration.

Shafts and labyrinthine passageways, displays of historic salt-mining technology, an underground lake, four chapels and numerous statues, carved by miners out of the rock salt, are probably the main cause for attracting so many visitors. If I compare it to some other salt mines that I visited in South America and Romania, I can confirm that Wieliczka is smaller in size, but artistically much more elaborated.

St. Kinga's Chapel with beautiful salt floor carved in a uniform salt mass, completed with chandeliers and devotional carvings into the salt walls, is the masterpiece of the salt mine. From a life size statue of Kraków’s ex-pope John Paul II to a salt sculpted replica of Da Vinci’s Last Supper, all details are flawless and harmonized. More recent sculptures created by contemporary artists will be probably added on in the future.

Auschwitz concentration camp was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II and the Holocaust. From 1942 until late 1944 freight trains delivered over 1.3 million people (mostly Jews) from all over occupied Europe to its gas chambers. Approximately 1.1 million were murdered.

The Auschwitz complex differed from the other Nazi killing centers because it included a concentration camp and a labor camp, as well as large gas chambers and crematoria at Birkenau, constructed for the mass murder of European Jews.

Walking around the museum complex, railways, gas chambers and buildings, where prisoners were living, is an extremely heartbreaking experience. Even more, if you have a chance to listen to one of the guides or join a group of Jewish descendants who visit this place and try to find out more about what was going on in the camp. They are very knowledgably about life in the camp, focusing on important details, daily activities, traumatic experience and inhuman conditions in which most of their ancestors died.

Even though the place today doesn’t show the real picture of how it actually was, just listening to the stories and imagine thousands of people squeezed as animals in cages, waiting to be beaten, humiliated or murdered, is traumatic.

It is impossible for me to understand how a human being can be so cruel to another human beings. There is absolutely no justification or reasonable interpretation of Nazis activities. People can be brainwashed or manipulated, but I don’t understand how anybody could live normally after causing so much damage to other people on a daily basis, continuously.

As a big sport fan and ex-basketball player I attended the final games of 2009 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2009 in Katowice, with a group of friends. At that time Slovenia had a bunch of good players and everybody was expecting to win a medal for the first time in our short history. Thousands of Slovene fans were driving to the south of Poland and the Spodek Dome, was feeling like being in Stozice arena in Slovenia.

Spodek Dome arena resembles a flying saucer or a UFO spaceship, with a capacity for hosting over 10.000 spectators. Unfortunately, the Slovenian national team lost two most important games and at the end of the tournament finished on the fourth place. The atmosphere was still great, fans dressed in traditional colors, with flags, cheerleading accessories, cheering, signing and partying late at night.

Katowice, the capital of the Silesian province of Poland, is famous for its industrial past with heavy mining industry. Visiting the most charismatic sight of Katowice was not high on priority list but still, the modernist Wyspiański Silesian Theatre, Silesian Museum, Nikiszowiec quarter with buildings and sites created during the intense industrialization of the city during the 19^th and 20^th centuries, are well worth the visit.

I visited the capital Warsaw and a port city of Gdansk on the Baltic coast, with my partner, in July 2024. It was a short but intense trip, which later continued to Belarus, crossing overland from Terespol to Brest.

In the beginning of the summer in 20224 the capital of Poland has been hit by a heat wave with temperatures up to 36°C. Long days and sunny weather enabled me to explore the city until late in the evening. In general, I had never been very keen on Warsaw, but this time I perceived it as a pleasant, well-organized, extremely clean and quiet city, offering high quality of living standards to its residents and visitors.

Beside obvious growth, new development and historical sites, my attention was called by spotless streets, very quiet atmosphere and cautious drivers who patiently waited for pedestrians to cross zebra passes. I haven't seen any garbage, plastic or pieces of paper in any areas that I visited.

Being in restaurants, bars, on public transport or walking on the street, I perceived very calm and quiet talking people. No loud music or unnecessary hassle were noticed either. In this respectful environment, everything seems to work perfectly.

I settled down in a newly refurbished apartment close to the central area, nearby central train station. It couldn't be better equipped and arranged, butt the old apartment building was not ready for the extreme heat. If it was 35°C outside, the temperature indoors didn’t mark much of a difference. Without A/C the heat was unbearable, but fortunately, I spent most of my time exploring the streets of Warsaw.

Even though a variety of modern skyscrapers have been raised since the change of the system in the earlies 1990s, the Palace of Culture and Science is still the most remarkable structure in the capital, visible from a far distance. With a total height of 237 meters, it is the second tallest building in Poland (after the new Varso Tower). Designed by Soviet-Russian architect Lev Rudnev, it was erected with great propagandist fanfare and named after Joseph Stalin upon its completion in 1955. At that time, the Palace was the eighth tallest building in the world, reminding on the main building of Moscow State University. The monumental building hosted various cultural and entertaining events, such as a 1967 concert by The Rolling Stones, the first by a major western rock group behind the Iron Curtain.

Not very far from the Palace of Culture and Science, the The 53-storey Varso Tower, neomodern office complex, designed by a famous British architect Normal Foster, has recently conquered the title of the tallest building in Poland, raising up to 310 meters high. Originally planned only up to 130 meters, was later substantially extended and topped by a spire surmounting the building. When asking about access to the observation platform on the top floor, I was explained that the view platform won't be ready before 2025. The 360° observation deck will probably convert the Varso Tower to a new tourist attraction, since the views from the top would be superior to those from the Palace of Culture and Science or observation deck from Taras Widokowy in the old town, which I climbed as an alternative.

Vistula Boulevards along the waterside walkway on the banks of Vistula river is popular for cycling and jogging, but also provides a relaxed atmosphere with bars on boats, terrace cafes and summer beaches. Pleasant and relaxing atmosphere somehow compensates for lack of proper seaside in the vast country. It was the time of football. Although the Polish team had already been eliminated from the Euro 2024 competition, football is always very popular among visitors, who can follow the matches on a big screen.

The oldest area of the city, Warsaw's Old Town (Stare Miasto), dates back to the 13^th century and serves as the city's historical hub. The charismatic Market square with its wide selection of eateries, embellished with the bronze sculpture of the Warsaw Mermaid and surrounded by picturesque buildings, which used to be inhabited by rich merchant families.  During the World War II, the majority of the Old Town was destroyed; the current buildings were reconstructed between 1948 and 1953, to look as they did in the original form in the 17^th century. These days it is difficult to determine whether the colorful edifices were rebuilt or survived the war due to the accuracy of the restoration. The Warsaw Old Town was recognized by UNESCO in 1980, when it was included on the World Heritage List.

I wandered around to explore churches, squares, the castle, souvenir shops and tasted Polish cuisine. Polish food features an abundance of meat, particularly pig, poultry, and game, as well as a variety of vegetables, spices, herbs and wild mushrooms. Since I don’t eat meat, the most popular choices were borscht soup, made with red beetroots as one of the main ingredients, and pierogi, filled dumplings, made by wrapping unleavened dough around a filling, which could be sweet or salty. Cooked in boiling water or fried pierogi can be filled with potato, cheese, quark, sauerkraut, ground meat, mushrooms, fruits or berries and flavored with sour cream.

A day trip to Gdansk occurred as the consequence of my Slovenian friends’ recommendation; “I watched a beautiful video of the colorful facades of old houses along a canal, which might be worth visiting!”. I took an early morning train from Warsaw to Gdansk and arrived to the train station as early as 8:00am. The first impression, when walking up to the viewpoint of Góra Gradowa, where remains of a 19^th century hilltop fort, marked by an iconic, towering cross, were not so impressive.

Gdansk bounced back and forth from being German and Polish territory, until it was finally liberated by the Soviets at the end of World War II in 1945. As it was rebuilt son after the war in the 1950s and 1960s, the main idea was to avoid the original Germanic architecture. Today The Pearl of the Baltic reminds more on Dutch or French guidelines.

As I walked down to Dlugi Targ, the main thoroughfare through Gdansk, I started to note some of the landmarks: Golden Gate, Town Hall tower, cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops. Among other traditional souvenirs I can assure that I had never seen such a wide range of magnets as in Warsaw and Gdansk. When passing Main Town Hall and Neptune Fountain, the crowd of visitor increased substantially, as this point is the most popular selfie spot in the whole city.

Dlugie Pobrzeze (Long Riverside) is a waterside promenade which runs along western Motlawa river embankment. Probably the most picturesque area of this remarkable city could be divided in two areas that are scattered on the opposite banks of the river, where characteristic water gates and bridges are connecting both sides. On one bank modern apartment buildings, fancy restaurants and bars are being erected, while on the other side colorful houses decorated with roses and steep roofs are leading to the most remarkable structure on the shores - Zuraw.

The crane of Gdansk (Zuraw), built in 1442-1444, is the biggest and the oldest port lift in Europe. It used to have three functions - putting up masts, handling the cargo and operating as a city gate. Hundreds of years ago, ships were loaded with this crane. Treadwheel workers operated the crane by walking inside it, pretty much the same as a hamster operating its treadmill wheel. The massive bulk is a reminder of Gdansk's heyday as a major trading hub.

My last stop in Gdansk was European Solidarity Centre, transformed Gdansk shipyard, which was the background for some of the most significant events in Polish and European modern history: anti-Soviet Solidarnosc (trade union named Solidarity) and Round Table Talks that leaded to the collapse of Soviet communism. The museum presents a background marked by Solidarity and opposition movements, which achieved significant changes in Poland and furthermore in other Eastern European nations. The eye-discovering building reminds on a steel boat, squeezed into the shipyard scene. In addition to the comprehensive presentation of the opposition movement, the protests in the shipyards and their influence on the collapse of the communist system in Eastern Europe, I was also impressed by the efficient audio guide explanation and guidance, which took me through the museum and vividly introduced me to the most important events of that time.

In the last years Poland has been growing fast, therefore many of its citizens decided to return home after working abroad for decades. The country gained popularity after hosting a few important sport events and it seems to be a cool place to visit or live.

The mayor cities are loaded with historical landmarks, solid tourist infrastructure, efficient and inexpensive transport options. Security has never been a question. Even though the competition to attract foreign visitors in the Eastern European region is harsh, Poland has been taking all the right steps to transform from the image of a grey and rundown post-communist country to a popular destination that offers hundreds of castles, colorful and diverse architecture, pure nature and inspiring cuisine. If you add accessible prices, good intercity connection and plenty of party options, you can get a clear picture, why Poland popularity is growing so fast.

During my trips to Poland I visited three of the most important cities, Warsaw, Gdansk and Krakow, salt mine of Wieliczka and concentration camp at Auschwitz, but still, I know very little about countryside or nature in this vast Eastern European country.

So, there are reasons to come back and dedicate more time to Poland in the near future.