Wirtualny Kraj allows you to browse various locations across Poland and go for a (virtual) walk across many cities – both major and those less known.

You can visit museums, various tourist attractions, churches, universities and even go inside Sejm, the Polish parliament (see below).

There are also some weird choices – like shopping malls – but judging by the number of visitors to those, they seem to be as popular in the virtual world as they are in the real world.

The site is a great way of exploring new destinations and potentially planning your next trip. So, if you find some time over the festive period, why not give it a try? The site has an English version too, although it didn’t always work for me.

Here’s my top 10 destinations on the site:

1. Sejm – the Polish Parliament

2. Kraków

3. Hel 

4. Malbork Castle

5. Silesian Observatory

6. Książ Castle

7. Tatra Mountains (Kasprowy Wierch Mountain)

8. Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (a UNESCO site)

9. AGH, Kraków

10. Sanok folk/etno museum

 Tweet

 Tweet

Blacksmith Shop by Czeslaw Milosz - click to view large

Those of you who live in London are probably familiar with Poems on the Underground, a Transport for London initiative to display short poems in Tube carriages. From tomorrow, you will also be able to read Polish poetry on London Underground as TfL is celebrating centenary of Czeslaw Milosz – a well-known Polish poet, writer and Nobel Prize winner.

The latest Poems on the Underground collection features Blacksmith Shop by Czeslaw Milosz himself, but also Nothing Special by Zbigniew Herbert and Star by Adam Zagajewski.

Milosz, who emigrated from Poland and subsequently became an American citizen and a lecturer at University of California, Berkeley, translated Herbert’s and Zagajewski’s poems into English. Zagajewski, who also left Poland for Paris, is best known for his post-9/11 poem, Try to Praise the Mutilated World.

Star by Adam Zagajewski - click to view large

Zbigniew Herbert was also one of the most recognisable and most cherished Polish poets. During WWII he became a member of the Polish resistance and in the 1980s he was a poet of the Polish opposition.

Judith Chernaik, the founder of Poems on the Underground, said:

“We hope that Londoners and visitors alike will enjoy this latest collection of poems which celebrate one of the greatest Polish poets of our time.”

The Poems on the Underground programme has been so successful other big cities – including Warsaw – have launched similar initiatives on their respective underground/metro systems.

Nothing Special by Zbigniew Herbert - click to view large

But if you can’t spot any of the Polish poems on the Tube – or don’t travel on the Underground that often – you will be able to pick up a leaflet with the featured poems from five Tube stations: Embankment, Covent Garden, South Kensington, Russell Square and Moorgate. They will be available from June 10th.

UPDATE: Thanks to Transport for London I can now share with you the three Polish poems chosen to be displayed on the Tube. Click on the above images to read the poems. Those of you who want to learn more about the Tube can do so from the excellent Going Undergound’s blog by Annie Mole (who first let me know about TfL’s plans to display Polish poetry).Tweet

I’ve mentioned the city many times on this blog, partly because I know it well, partly because it’s eventually, although very slowly, shedding its “dirty, industrial and boring” image.

Heavy industry has always been a crucial part of this city’s – and the region’s – history, but over the past 20 years Katowice and many neighbouring cities have had to reinvent themselves. The coal mines and steel factories might be gone, but they have been replaced by General Motors, Fiat and hundreds of others which helped the area reinvent itself.

Katowice itself is undergoing probably one of the most dramatic changes in its recent history. The lovely, partly neglected and partly confused city centre is being re-developed. Mariacka St, once a very dodgy, but architecurally lovely street, has been pedestrianised and the city’s biggest eyesore, the main railway station, is eventually (although not without controversy) going to be rebuilt and its sorrounding area transformed into a very modern transport and shopping hub.

All that is captured in the film. From Nikiszowiec, the old working class district of Katowice, where window frames and sills are still painted bright red, to Rynek, the curiously underused central square. From the recently modernised Rondo gyratory (with the famous flying saucer-shaped Spodek concert hall in the background), to the about-to-be-completely-rebuilt bus and train station in the heart of the city.

Those who know Katowice, will find many familiar sights here, those who don’t should probably give it a chance. After all, it’s been shortlisted as one of Poland’s candidates to become the European City of Culture in 2016.

Katowice. Rok w fotografii Gazety Wyborczej
Uploaded by gazeta_katowice. – Watch the latest news videos.
If you happen to be in Katowice over the next few weeks, make sure to visit the exhibition, which is open from 9.12.2010 to 14.01.2011 in the Cultural Centre in Katowice.
Tweet

Poznan, one of the oldest Polish cities, for decades recognised as an important trade centre favoured by many Polish entrepreneurs, will be showing a series of ads across a number of TV channels in Britain and elsewhere.

Those behind the “Eastern energy, Western style” campaign want to make the city more recognisable abroad. But also, presumably, they want to present it as an important acedemic and cultural hub, on a par with Warsaw, Krakow or Gdansk.

And it is an important city, after all this is where Mieszko I, the first Polish ruler, was linked to Poznan and the first Polish cathedral was built here ten centuries ago. Poznan has always been seen as a dynamic, successful city and last year it launched a new logo and a new promotional slogan: “POZnan: the city of know-how”. (The capitalised POZ is how the city is recognised internationally in aviation).

The city’s mayor, Ryszard Grobelny, said the slogan reflected the character of the city’s inhabitants, their ability to do things skillfully and professionally.

The newest campaign is supported by a 3-minute long video shot by Xawery Zulawski, the son of Wojciech Zulawski, the famous Polish director, and his wife, Malgorzata Braunek, an actress.

You can watch the full version above, while shorter versions will be shown on Sky News, Sky Sports and CNBC in the UK, CNN internationally and on various channels in Germany, Spain and other countries.

Oh and if you ever wonder how to pronounce Poznan – or any other major Polish city – you know where to look for help Tweet

Usually mentioned in traffic bulletins only (“heavy traffic on the A40 near the Polish War Memorial”), the monument commemorates the Polish airmen who fought for Britain during World War II.

Pete wonders why the memorial is so far out of town. He suggests it might be

because of a sense of shame at what befell Poland after the war. Perhaps our military leaders wouldn’t have been comfortable looking out over Whitehall and seeing it every day. I doubt we’ll ever know….

Answers on a postcard.

Read the whole post and see Pete’s pictures here.Tweet

In the same period 1.49m people came from Poland to visit the UK, an increase of 15.3%.

It’s unclear whether the figures include any migrants or indeed how precise they are. But they clearly suggest there is more people in the UK who still haven’t visited Poland than those who’ve already sampled kielbasa in its native land.

Spain remains THE destination of choice for most Brits – almost 14 million people chose sangria over Zubrowka. Just under 11 million hopped across the Channel to France.

So let me ask you – how many times have you visited Poland so far? The survey should display in the middle column, to the right of this post. It applies to non-Poles, obviously, but everyone is welcome to leave a comment below.

And if you’re still looking for Bank Holiday ideas, let me just tell you that Gdansk, Wroclaw or Krakow – let alone the Tatra Mountains – look fabulous in May…

Tweet

Like many areas in that part of Poland, Rospuda Valley is quite spectacular. To quote a recent AP report:

the Rospuda Valley [is] a pristine area in northeastern Poland containing a peat bog amid a virgin pine forest that is home to endangered bird species, orchids, eagles, lynxes, wolves, elk, wild boars, otters and beavers.

In recent years it also became the bone of contention between the Polish government and many environmentalists as the former wanted to build a motorway right through the Valley.

Via Baltica is to link Warsaw and Helsinki and the Rospuda Valley lies slap bang in the middle. But the government didn’t bother with alternative routes and carried on with its original plans.

A Polish conservationist called Malgorzata Gorska from the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds led a successful campaign to stop the development and yesterday she was awarded this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize, also known as the “Green Nobel.”

Here’s how AP reported Gorska’s fight with the Polish officials:

The Goldman prize said Gorska was “instrumental in fostering a citizens’ movement and developing a case against the Polish government to protect the Rospuda Valley from construction.”

After efforts to persuade the government to stop its plans failed, Gorska took advantage of Poland’s new membership in the EU, which it joined in 2004, making the case that the project violated environment regulations known as the EU’s Natura 2000.

The EU, as a result of her campaign, filed suit against Poland’s government in 2007, forcing it to suspend work until the court could examine the case. While the European Court of Justice did that, a Polish court found the route violated national laws, and in 2009 the Polish government gave up its plans to build the expressway through the valley.

If you’ve ever driven in Poland you know how desperate Poland is for good quality motorways. But not at any cost. So well done to Malgorzata!

Image by Pedalofilo via Flickr used under Creative Commons Attribution licenceTweet

If your commute takes ages – like mine – and if you keep complaining about not having enough time to digest your dinner, consider Cittaslow.

It would seem north-eastern Poland, with its lakes and forests and endless green fields, is hoping to attract people who want to live their lives in the slow lane. Hence the idea to join Cittaslow – a growing international network of small towns in 18 countries that have adopted a common set of rules and principles to improve the quality of life for those who live there. And for their visitors too.

The idea is to grow the local community, encourage people to support local food producers, attract visitors an make them feel welcome. A few British cities have already joined Cittaslow UK, but today I came across a mini gallery put together by the Huffington Post and featuring some Polish cities.

According to the site, Lidzbark Warmiński, Reszel, Biskupiec, and Bisztynek have joined the network and it would seem they are the first Polish cities to introduce the movement in Poland. As the Huffington Post says:

Decisions to adopt this philosophy were reached by the councils of the four cities together, to create a Polish network.

Not sure how many people are really willing to give up their cozy urban pads for this life in the slow lane, but it’s great news anyway, at least for the four communities.

But I also have to say it surprised me to learn that four different towns managed to agree on something together.

Is this the beginning of the end for the (in)famous Polish saying: “Where you have two Poles, you’ll have three different points of view”?

Image of Lidzbark Warminski (top) © JerzyW, and Reszel © jophan, both via Flickr and used under Creative Commons licenceTweet

This one is for music lovers planning a trip to Warsaw.

To mark the bicentennial of Frederic Chopin’s birth (yes, he was Polish), the Polish capital has published a Chopin audio city guide.

Available in eight languages, the guide will take tourists to some key locations related to the great pianist.

You can download the audio guide from Warsaw City Hall’s website (in English and other languages) or you can get in while walking through the capital as there will be several ‘music banks’ with special codes, which you can scan using your mobile – and get the audio files this way.

If you are a Chopin fan, you’ll be pleased to know that next year over 2,000 evens are planned across the globe to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth – and over half of them will take place various cities across Poland.

Just remember that – as Chopin was born to a French father and Polish mother – his name will often be spelt in two different ways in Poland. Frederic Chopin is the internationally recognised spelling of course, but Poles will refer to him as Fryderyk Szopen. The pronunciation is similar, just swap the French accent for a Polish one

So, if you haven’t been yet, it looks like 2010 might be a good year to visit Poland at last!

Frederic Chopin Statue in Warsaw – image © Patrick F via Flickr, used under Creative Commons licenceTweet