Yay for Fridays Plummy. And we've got a Bank Holiday Monday too!
jra, my thoughts on your list:
The Tatras - lovely. I spent many a summer there hiking and a handful of winters skiing. From what I hear, foreign tourism is picking up a bit now, so the facilities are good, but it's still not a *destination* like the Alps etc, so it's not as busy.
Slowinski National Park - as above. Really nice for long walks. If you know the German coast at all, it's got a similar feel.
Gdansk - quite a bit of it survived the war so it's very pretty in parts. The centre used to have a fab feeling in the summer - street cafes, music, and it's right on the coast of course. But I haven't been for a long, long time.
Lublin - I can't remember if I've been or not. If I have it obviously hasn't made an impression!
Vodka -
Wooden churches - they're lovely. If you were doing a tour of the country, I'd pencil a couple in.
Malbork - a fab castle with loads of history so, again, if you were doing a bit of a drive around, I'd include that.
Markets - hmmm, I do like a market and Polish ones are just fine but very commercial now. And if you go in the winter it's just so bloody cold. The boy and I were there just before Christmas last year and the main market in the Old Town looked fantastic but it was minus something stupid and once your snot freezes it all quickly loses its charm
Zamosc - know it well as an uncle lived there and we're distantly related to the founder. Eeek. Very pretty in parts but to be honest I'd only go if town planning is of particular interest. And it's a bit of a trek from places like Warsaw or Krakow, which would probably be your starting point.
Baltic beaches - I love the coast and I'm trying to get Batman to consider a summer holiday there. He just can't imagine that you can have a perfect beach holiday in Poland. And you can!
Palace of culture - oh, it's a monster but a must see. Amazing architecture. I dragged Sad all the way to the top.
Milk bars - yeah, a massive part of my childhood. Only go if you like dumplings and pancakes. I don't think there are many around these days but there is one in central Warsaw. Very cheap.
Catholic festivals - the Poles still do religion on a grand scale and the festivals are very much part of the fabric of Polish society. Sad and I were there for All Saints Day/Halloween and that's very atmospheric. Find yourself a good cemetery and enjoy. Sounds weird but people bring flowers and candles to put on graves and it looks quite magical.
Bialowieza - places like this are disappearing fast so if forests are your thing, you can't beat this one. I went as a child and I really hope it hasn't changed much. You could have a horse drawn carriage tour and it was The Place for birdwatchers.
Open air museums - I can't think of any I've been to that have made an impression!
Wawel - amazing architecture but when I went the interior was a bit empty. But if you go to Krakow I'd check it out.
Auschwitz-Birkenau - I went when I was quite young and it made a massive impression on me. The saddest place I've seen.
Kazimierz - lovely but a bit out of the way.
Folk festivals - not really my thing and I suspect they will be getting more and more commercial.
Poznan - it used to be a nightmare to get to but I think there's a motorway now... I dunno. I've been a few times but can't think of anything to say about it!
Mioda - not sure what that is. Miody would be honey, so maybe something to do with that?
Zalpie - very cute little villages made up of painted houses. Very folksy. Not really my thing but nice.
Wroclaw - full of history but unless there's something specific there that you're interested in, or if it's part of a tour, I wouldn't make it a destination.
Rynek - Krakow is definitely worth a visit and the main market square is the heart of it. On the hour, a golden trumpet does a bugle call from the tower of the main church and it stops mid tune because, so the story goes, the tune was used to sound an alarm and the sudden stop pays tribute to a bugler who was shot through the throat. It's all very iconic.
Mazury - pack mozzie repellent and go. It's amazing. It's all about camping and sailing but much better than it sounds. Many of the lakes are interconnected so you can have a holiday of camping (or staying in log cabins) at night and sailing or kayaking to your next destination through the day. But the mozzies are the size of ponies.
Torun - a World Heritage Site and very Gothic and fabulous. I love it. It's one of those places where you feel the history in the stones, if that makes sense.
Warsaw's old town - another place I really like. It's very impressive because it got flattened during the war and got rebuilt to the original design and using as much of the original materials as they could save. They did a fantastic job and it feels completely authentic. Great for bars and food, but gets massively busy in the summer. Oh, and one of the town houses used to belong to my family and we're trying to get it back. A useless bit of info, but hey.
The Black Madonna - worth seeing, if only for the pilgrims. It's a very big pilgrim destination and many complete the last part of their journey on their knees. Can be quite emotional for people.
Not sure if any of that helps!
I would also add that if you go to Krakow, then include half a day for the salt mine which is just down the road. It's impossible to describe what a fantastic place it is - there's a massive underground church carved entirely out of salt (people have been known to lick the walls to check) as is all the detail, like *art* on the walls (including The Last Supper
).
And in Warsaw, if you're into footy, the the stadium tour is worth a go, as is the Copernicus Institute, which is like an interactive science museum. Not typically Polish but we were there for hours and are planning to go back.
This must be my longest post ever!!!
