ABOUT POLAND

Poland, one of the largest countries in Europe, with broad access to the Baltic Sea, is situated in the middle of the European continent at the crossroads between West and East. For centuries, Poland has maintained strong links with Western European culture, links established by its first ruler, Mieszko I, who accepted Christianity in 966 and connected the country to Latin civilization. Poles had to defend their independance many times and they had to befriend many different nations. It is therfore easy to understand how Poland's national character was forged, one that drives the Poles to staunchly defend their freedom

at the same time showing great tolerance for others. Poles are considered hard-working, creative and driven to become successful.

Capital: Warszawa

Language: PolishBorder Countries: Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, RussiaPopulation: 38 millionArea: 322,575 sq km (124,547 sq miles)Time Zone: CET (UTC+1Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)Climate: Temperate with mild summers and moderately severe wintersCurrency: Zloty (PLN, zł), 1 zloty = 100 groszyGovernment type: Republic, parliamentary democracyMembers of: EU, UN, NATO, OECD, WTO and many otherHolidays: 11 days a yearCountry Code: PLEmblem: white eagle on red background

Political SystemPoles are born democrats. Seeing that as early as the 15th century a system of democracy operated among the Polish nobility, guaranteeing chosen citizens the ability to decide about the country’s fate, it is no surprise that it was here that the first modern constitution in Europe, and only the second in the world, was written.

A country of parliamentary democracy with a market system – this was the vision of their country for which Poles fought under more than 40 years of communist rule. It was a place of groundbraking events initiated by the 'Solidarity' movement, which resulted in the Round Table talks, the first free elections and political transformation in Eastern Europe. Since 1989 Poland has been a multi-party democracy. Executive power rests with the Polish President and the Council of Ministers. Courts and tribunals are separate and independent of the other branches of authority and issue judgements in the name of the Republic of Poland. The change in the political system also meant reform of the economy. All this enabled Poland to become a part of the West’s military and economic structures: since 1999 we have been a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), and since 2004 we have been part of the European Union.

The Polish language

Polish is the mother tongue of 46 million people scattered throughout the world, making it the 21st most used language on earth. It has matured over the centuries, derived from the dialects once spoken by the inhabitants of Malopolska and Wielkopolska. It belongs to the West Slavonic language family, its closest cousins being Czech, Slovak. The older Polish tongues are preserved by regional dialects and languages.

Polish is full of traps. Its grammar and spelling are riddled with exceptions, alternative forms, hard-to-remember rules of inflection and oddities such as the noun declensions ręce-rękoma, pies-psa. For foreigners (particularly English speakers) the most difficult thing is the pronunciation: rustling, crackling, full of sibilants. However, those who take up the challenge of learning Polish compare it to an extreme but satisfying expedition.

Warsaw

Warsaw is a capital of Poland, located in the center of Europe, at the junction of the trade roads from the West to the East and from the North to the South of the continent. It is a city of over seven-hundred-year rich history. Nearly in 85% destroyed during Warld War II, the capital was reborn like phoenix from the ashes thanks to the efforts of the entire nation. You will be truly fascinated by the history and atmosphere of this magnificent city,

which combines the influences of Western and Eastern Europe, and where tradition meets modernity. Warsaw will surely enchant you. We invite you to get to know this city full of contrasts, where historical monuments and modern architecture coexist in every street. The typically-urban construction is immerged in open spaces of green squares and municipal parks.

More about Warsaw: www.warsawtour.pl/en Public transportation in Warsaw - travel planner, bus, tram, metro timetables, tickets – ZTM www.ztm.waw.plPublic transport journey planner in Warsaw: www.warszawa.jakdojade.pl

City map

How to get to Warsaw?

BY AIR: Warsaw has two airports. The international Warsaw Chopin Airport is located in the city with easy acess to the city center by:

Bus 175 (recommanded) running daily between 04:58 - 23:27

Route: Chopin Airport – City Centre; main streets ŻWIRKI I WIGURY - AL.JEROZOLIMSKIE (Central Railway Station) - KRAKOWSKIE PRZEDMIEŚCIE - PL. PIŁSUDSKIEGO)  

http://www.lotnisko-chopina.pl/en/passenger/access-and-car-parks/Public-transport ,

Train http://www.lotnisko-chopina.pl/en/passenger/access-and-car-parks/train

Tickets

Buses and SKM trains serving Chopin Airport are part of the Public Transport Authority of Warsaw’s (Zarząd Transportu Miejskiego – ZTM) public transport network. The tickets can be purchesed:

at the Passenger Information Point in the arrivals hall, from ticket machines placed at bus stops and next to the train station entrance, from ticket machines in SKM trains and on some buses, from bus drivers.

Taxi

Taxi corporations recommend by the airport:

Name Telephone WWW

ELE SKY TAXI +48 22 811 11 11 www.eletaxi.pl

SUPER TAXI +4822 578 98 00 www.supertaxi.pl

SAWA TAXI +48 22 644 44 44 www.sawataxi.com.pl

For safety reasons we strongly advise you to use licensed taxi services offered at Chopin Airport. Taxi tariffs should be clearly displayed in the car window. The taxi fare from the airport to the city centre is approx. PLN 40.

Warsaw Modlin Airport used by low-cost airlines and charter carriers. Warsaw Modlin Airport is located 35 km north-west from Warsaw. For bus and tram timetables please visit: http://en.modlinairport.pl/modlin-en-new/web/passenger/access/koleje-mazowieckie-trains.html

BY TRAIN: Warsaw has railway connections with all large cities in Europe. The Central railway station is located in the city center. For train timetables visit: www.rozklad-pkp.pl

WHERE TO STAY?There is a broad choice of hotels in Warsaw conveniently located close to the meeting venues or in the city canter with good connections by public transport to the Medical University of Warsaw. The prices for accommodation in a double room with breakfast range from 70-120 €/night.

Radisson Blu Sobieski Hotel: http://www.radissonblu.com/sobieski-warsaw

Hotel Novotel Warszawa Airport: http://www.novotel.com/gb/hotel-0527-novotel-warszawa-airport/index.shtml

Novotel Warszawa Centrum Hotel: http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-3383-novotel-warszawa-centrum/index.shtml

Campanile Hotel: http://www.campanile.com/fr/hotels/campanile-varsovie-warszawa?utm_source=google&utm_medium=maps&utm_content=POL5&utm_campaign=Campanile

Public transport journey planner in Warsaw: www.warszawa.jakdojade.pl

What to see in Poland?

Cities and Towns

Gigantic metropolis, historic towns and villages of sentimental charm for which poems and songs have been written. Poland officially has a total of 887 towns. The largest is Warsaw, with a population of 1.7 million, while the smallest Polish town has just 884 inhabitants. 

Krakow, the historic capital of the kings who resided at the Wawel castle, is today Poland’s cultural and entertainment centre – it contains one quarter of the country’s museums. The city’s bars and restaurants are too numerous to count. More: http://www.krakow.tourism.pl/

In Wroclaw, apart from the historic buildings of Ostrow Tumski, the Church of St Elizabeth and the Leopoldynska Hall, you can also see the post-modernist Hall of the Century, a reinforced concrete structure which was the most contemporary building of its time. More: http://www.wroclaw.pl/en

Gdańsk – the capital of amber and the city of freedom – the Baltic’s gold, has always been the trading city also due to its port function. And the best example of old style trading with modern goods and souvenirs can be experienced during St. Dominic’s Fair. The tradition of St. Dominic’s Fair reaches back to the 13th century. On the last Saturday of July, Gdańsk attracted German, French, English and even Spanish and Portuguese merchants. 400 ships with French and Spanish wine, silk, preserves, Portuguese spices, tin and cloth called at the port. Circus performers, acrobats, jugglers and troupes of actors arrived from far and near. Today the fair

continues to attract tourists and residents, combining a trade fair and a rich agenda of cultural and sports events. The events calendar encompasses a wide range of festivities, concerts and contests. More: http://www.gdansk.pl/en/

The Polish urban landscape is created not only by the giant cities, but also – and maybe most especially – by smaller towns. Kazimierz Dolny, a town beloved by artists on the Vistula river. Sandomierz, with its numerous monuments standing above a maze of cellars carved out of the rock.

Photo. Kazimierz Dolny Photo. Sandomierz

Then there is Plock, with its Romanesque cathedral and castle on the high banks of the Vistula, and Pultusk, with the longest marketplace in Europe.

Zamość was founded in the 16th by the chencellor Jan Zamoysky on the trade route linking western and northern Europe with the Black Sea. Zamość is a perfect example of a late -16th-ceuntry Ranaissance town. It is often referred to as the Pearl of the Renaissance as it features buildings of great beauty and historical value.The historical centre of Zamość was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992. More: http://www.turystyka.zamosc.pl/en/

Nature

The most important environmentally unpoluted regions in Poland are within boundaries of 23 national parks. Eight of them have been recorded on the UNESCO list.

Bialowieski National Park

Established in 1932, the Bialowieski National Park is one of the oldestnature reserves in Europe. It is home to the world's largest population of European bison (Polish: żubr), the continent's heaviest land animals. A pearl of nature renowned throughout Europe is the Puszcza Bialowieska – the last natural lowland forest on the continent, honoured with entries on both the List of Biosphere Reserves and the UNESCO list. More: http://bpn.com.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=104&Itemid=178

Tatrzanski National Park

On the Polish side, the park surrounds and protects the whole Tatra massif with its highest peak, Mount Rysy (2,499 meters above sea level), and is the only region of an Alpine character in Poland. The jagged granite ridges and forested slopes, post-glacial depressions, mountain lakes, numerous caves and scenic valleys with rushing mountain streams create one of the most beautiful landscapes in Poland. More: www.tatry.pl

Photo. Tatry Mountains

Pieninski National Park

The most characteristic feature of this range is its particularly diversified landscape. During the traditional raft and kayak trips down the Dunajec River, visitors are able to admire the picturesque crags and peaks, steep rocky walls and several hundredmeter high precipices dropping down to the river.

More: http://www.pieniny.com/en

Karkonoski National Park

The park encircles the upper reaches of the Karkonosze Mountains with their highest peak, Mount Snieżka (1,603 meters above sea level). The most important natural and picturesque areas of the Karkonosze are carefully protected. This includes a zone comprised mostly of rocks with post-glacial depressions, mountain lakes, and multiple rock formations. The park has been recorded on the UNESCO list of World Biosphere Reserves.

More: http://www.kpnmab.pl/pl/poznaj,93

Mazuria is a land not only of 4,000 bright blue lakes,

but also of natural forests and rivers which provide

excellent conditions for canoeing. Tourists are attracted

here by the Trail of the Great Lakes and the unique

Ostrodzko-Elblaski canal, as well as the nearby

Teutonic castles and Prussian forest lodges. 

Baltic Sea coast A thousand blue lakes, a desert, verdant forests and rushing hill land rivers. Any adventure in the Pomorskie Voivodship along the Baltic coast usually starts in the Tricity, an unusual urban assembly of three towns: Gdansk,Gdynia and Sopot. More: http://www.sopot.pl/

Gdansk is bourgeois and solid, Gdynia is youthful and full of investment zeal, and Sopot, squeezed in between the two cities, is relaxed and liberal, as a health resort should be.

Foreign tourists love Sopot as much as they love Krakow – one reason being the high quality of its night life. They are drawn here not only by the mall, surrounded by cafés and restaurants, but also the longest pier in Europe. 516 meters of white painted wooden jetty thrust out into the Baltic sea like a wooden wedge.

Across the middle of Poland lie the following regions: Wielkopolska, the cradle of the Polish state; next to it are

the green lands of Lubuskie; the flat level plains of Mazovia ; the region of Lodz; and Podlasie, a land of wild

nature, multicultural border towns and villages with beautiful eastern churches.

Silesia, which occupies south-west Poland, is divided into Lower Silesia, with its capital in Wroclaw, and Upper

Silesia, centred on Katowice. Although this is a heavily industrial area, there is no shortage of places of valued

natural beauty, such as the Lower Silesian Woods, the Sudeten mountains, Beskid Slaski and Beskid Zywiecki.

A region particularly generously endowed by nature is Malopolska. The mountain ranges of the Beskids and

the area of Jura Krakowsko-Czestochowska, with its many forts from the era of the Piast dynasty, border the

historic towns of the Lublin region, the industrial wonders of Swietokrzyskie and areas of natural interest such as

the loessial Roztocze and the marshy Polesie.

Podhale, the cradle of Polish highland culture, stretches from the Tatra mountains to Orawa and Spisz. Its

capital is Zakopane. More: http://www.zakopane.eu/en/

Source: http://www.polska.travel/pl