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No Thank You
Polish tipping etiquette can be confusing for foreigners. While in other civilized countries it’s ...
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Recommended reading
Orange AlternativeRevolution of Dwarves,Major Waldemar Fydrych & Bronisław Misztal, 2007A cracking addition to any coffee table this hefty manuscript comes stuffed with all the trivia you ever needed to know about the Orange Alternative....
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The Pianist
Based on the biographical novel by Wladsylaw Szpilman, the Oscar-winning film charts Szpilman’s battle for survival in the Warsaw ghetto....
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The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity
Sunday 8th of January sees the 20th edition of The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity. No, Charlie ...
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Polish food and drink
Those wanting to take a quick foxtrot through the world of the Polish kitchen should consider putting the following to the test: BigosYou’ll either love it or vomit....
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National Holidays
ChristmasWinter in Poland can be miserable, but Christmas proves to be anything but. The culmination of the Grinch period is Christmas Eve, and as in most countries is celebrated by eating....
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Max Factor
Max Faktor (or Faktorowicz), born in Łódź in 1877, has come to be regarded as the father of modern day cosmetics....
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Enigma
The vital role played by Polish exiles during the Battle of Britain, who represented one in eight Allied pilots and whose 303 Squadron boasted the best hit rate against the Luftwaffe, is today common knowledge....
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Solidarity
Although Solidarity was officially christened in 1980, its roots can be traced some ten years earlier....
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Zbigniew Cybulski
Referred too as the Polish James Dean Zbigniew ‘Zbyszek’ Cybulski personified the confusion and longings of Poland’s post-war youth....
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Hot Beer
There’s a number of ways to survive winter in Poland, and we’ve tried them all; from dressing up like Eskimos to eating loads of fat and staying home....
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Marek Kamiński
Born in Gdańsk on March 24, 1964, Marek Kamiński ranks as Poland’s greatest living explorer, and in 1995 became the first person in the world to reach both Poles unaided in the same year....
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National Football
‘Abroad, football has moved on. Here it has stood still’. Those were the words of Leo Beenhakker when he took over the Poland job two years back, and they’re as relevant now as they were then....
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Roman Polański
Born in Paris, 1933, to Polish parents, Roman Polanski and his family returned to Kraków, Poland two years before the outbreak of war....
Białowieża National Park
Białowieża - thought of as the crown jewel of Poland’s national parks - is Europe’s last remaining primeval forest, and dominated by massive oak trees dating several centuries. Spilling across the border into Belarus, Białowieża was declared a royal hunting ground back in 1541; a move which saved much of the wildlife from being hunted out of existence. In turn the bison who populated the forest were the exclusive prey of dukes and tsars, as well as latter day baddies such as Ceausescu and Goering. In total the park stretches for 10,502 ha, though it covers just 20 per cent or so of the total forest area. The park features on the UNESCO list of treasured heritage sites. Besides the largest population of bison in Europe, there are 61 other species of mammal, including lynx, elks, roe deer and wild boar. There are some 232 species of birds in the Białowieża region, 120 of which breed in the park and include capercaillie, black stork, crane, owls, and a large number of raptors including the spotted eagle and the booted eagle. Twelve species of amphibian and seven reptile species have also been recorded as inhabiting the park. Around 100,000 nature lovers visit the park annually, most on organized tours. Much of the park is protected and visitors must be accompanied by a guide. A number of companies in Warsaw organize individual or group day trips to the park, including Stay Poland (ul. Nowy Swiat 29-3, tel. 829 40 72, office@staypoland.com). You can also find out more by calling the multi-lingual tourist office in the town of Białowieża, the gateway to the park, at tel. (85) 681 22 95. The best website is the park’s own superbly detailed site, found at: www.bpn.com.pl
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That's not just logic. That's really sensible.