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Poland is changing. Grim youth hostels with member restrictions and 10pm curfews are no longer the only places to stay, while outside Warsaw and Krakow the rest of the country is becoming more accessible.

Krakow, the jewel of southern Poland, has long been recognised a Central European mecca for budget travellers, alongside Prague and Budapest. While Warsaw remains less popular and its charm less immediate, the Polish capital is a popular gateway city to the Baltic States, Belarus and Russia.
 
Given the vastness of the Polish countryside, old Catholic villages, the ski slopes of the High Tatra mountains and the riviera along the Baltic coast, Poland might be seen as a Central European cousin to France. Certainly Napoleon, while rampaging across Europe, thought the Grand Duchy of Warsaw worth fighting for:

"Marie, I have revived the name of your country.
It still exists, thanks to me."

A New Poland
© Max Donelly, Warsaw, December 2002

Arriving on your first visit to Poland, it won't take you long to realize that this is a land with a dark history. Oppressed by just about every neighbour from Lithuania in the late Middle Ages to Prussia in the 18th century, Austria in the 19th century and the Nazis and the Soviets in the 20th century, the Poles carry an understandable chip on their shoulder.

Poland is home to the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp, a short distance from Krakow. For any serious visitor this must be seen. Beyond the obvious atrocities committed against the Poles, it is relatively unknown that contrary to what is taught in western schools, the British did not rush to the aid of the Poles at the beginning of World War II. Instead, Britain declared war and did nothing, leaving the Poles to be slaughtered by   [ article continues... ]

Max Donelly, represents warsawshotel.com, providing information on Poland hotels, Warsaw and Krakow.

A Brief Introduction to Warsaw
© Max Donelly, Warsaw, December 2002

Don’t be disheartened when you arrive in Warsaw and you discover it is not an Eastern European paradise. The city is really a big accident. Giant glass skyscrapers dominate the centre while ugly communist Lego-construction style tower blocks are omnipresent nearly everywhere else.

The city was levelled by the Germans in World War II and has been completely rebuilt in tasteless communist grey.

Since 1989 the capitalists rebuilt the centre with barely more finesse, preferring to use glass and plastic. There are hardly any historic buildings, although the old town is an exact reconstruction of pre-war Warsaw.

The Russians built the Palace of Culture with German money intended as reparations for war crimes. Poles are divided about the fate of this building; half would like to   [ article continues... ]

Max Donelly, represents warsaw-hotels.co.uk, providing information on Poland hotels, Warsaw and Krakow.

Walking around Krakow
Article by Tomas Zukal

A Brief Introduction to Warsaw
Article by Max Donelly

A New Poland
Article by Max Donelly