Snapshot of Poland

FACTFILE

POPULATION 38,6 million
NATIONALITIES Polish
MAIN LANGUAGES Polish
CITIES Capital:
Largest:
Second largest: Warszawa (Warsaw)
Łódź
Kraków (Cracow)
CLIMATE moderate
SCENERY lowland (91,3%)

WILDLIFE

The most famous animals in Poland are: an eagle, a brown bear and a wolf. You can see them in a wilderness in the mountains. All of them are protected. An aurochs lives only in special reserves.

A brown bear inhabits the mountain regions in south-eastern Poland. It is an endangered species and its population can be counted in dozens.



SPORT

The Polish main sports are football and motor-racing. The most popular sporting personality is a ski-jumper Adam Małysz who has already won lots of prizes both in the country and abroad.

The important sports events are the league football matches of regional teams which take place in spring. Every bigger town has at least one stadium. You can find them in Warsaw, Cracow, Szczecin, Łódź, Poznań etc.


FAMOUS PEOPLE

There are some Polish persons who are well-known in all the world. One of them is John Paul the Second (Karol Wojtyła), the first Polish pope. The other one is Lech Wałęsa, former worker, a founder of ‘Solidarity’, the first independent movement in the comunism world, later the president of Poland.

PLACES TO VISIT

In my opinion, the best places to visit in Poland are Cracow and The Salt Mine in Wieliczka nearby. Cracow is one of the oldest Polish cities, former capital, and it has a lot of historical monuments. Some 15 km from there is a small town called Wieliczka. It is famous for the unique underground museum. Professional guides may take you in a salt journey hundreds of years back in time. Both Cracow and Wieliczka are located in southern Poland. You can get there from Warsaw by a fast train, a bus or a plane