Story & Photos by Sandy Katz

Travelin' Sandy Katz is a freelance writer based in Charleston, South Carolina. She has visited over 250 destinations and writes for many USA publications. Sandy who has a degree in psychology resides on the Ashley River with her husband.

Poland can no longer remain hidden behind the curtain of communism. Instead it has emerged as a popular new destination for visitors, a country that played a leading role in the rise of democracy throughout Eastern Europe.

You can now view Poland as a country with lots to offer - many people have their roots in Poland's "old-world" heritage: traditional village life, mighty fortresses and castles, towering cathedrals, formidable art treasures, spellbinding folklore and spectacular scenic variety.

Known as the "cradle of the Solidarity movement" that shook the entire communist system, changing the shape of central Europe, Poland is also the homeland of Pope John Paul II and a country of people open and hospitable to visitors.

Poland has been described as a land rich in natural beauty and contrasts. The landscape varies from rolling plains with slow-moving rivers, broad fields and scattered villages to lakes, forests and marshes in the north and jagged mountains in the south.

At the end of World War II, except for Krakow and Lodz, Warsaw and much of Poland lay in ruins and had to be rebuilt after the destruction. Only one third of its pre-war population survived the horros of the Nazi occupation. Poland's geographical position between Germany and Russia has determined its history of almost continual war and struggle for independence since the 18th century.

After liberation by the Red Army in 1945, a communist government was imposed, but 40 years of communist rule left Poland in prolonged economic crisis. Social discontent erupted in 1980 with strikes and the formation of Solidarity, the first free trade union in the communist bloc. After a year, martial law was imposed and Solidarity was banned. Though martial law was lifted in 1983 and Poland has a non-communist government, life for the average Pole remains difficult, and no one has simple answers to the country's complicated and economic problems.

Nevertheless, the Polish people continue to be resilient, resourceful and hopeful. They have managed to endure the most difficult of times and still retain their dignity and sense of humor.

Warsaw, once a medieval fortified town, lies on both banks of the River Vistula amid the plains of central Poland. It became the country's capital only toward the end of the 16th Century.

During World War II the city was occupied by German troops and subjected to systematic destruction. There are still visible reminders today with memorial plaques and bullet holes in the facades of buildings.

The postwar decision to retain Warsaw as the national capital resulted in large-scale reconstruction, and Warsaw street scenes by painters of the Cantaletto School were used as a guide during the reconstruction work.

The medieval Stare Mist (Old Town), with its marketplace and 14th Century cathedral, now looks much as it did then. Surrounding the old districts, the new modern Warsaw rises in utilitarian Socialist-Realist style.

The Old City and the Royal Castle, meticulously rebuilt after the destruction of the war, are the destination of many a tourist pilgrimage from all over the world. The two important factors in their architectural development was the influence of the church, mainly the monasteries, and the second being the construction of royal and aristocratic residences.

Warsaw is full of majestic antiquities such as Lazienski Park, Belvedere Palace, Wilanow Palace (the wonderfully baroque summer residence of Poland's King Jan III Sobieski, who helped defeat the Ottoman Turks at Vienna in 1683). Don't miss the Royal Castle (this Polish jewel was annihilated by the German occupation during WWII, but rebuilt from scratch in the seventies with money raised in a nationwide collection and with the unrivaled efforts and skills of many artists and craftsmen), Royal Route and the monument to the Heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto which commemorates the Jews who took up arms to fight the Nazis.

The cultural life is dynamic. For example, the International Chopin Competition and the festival of modern music, the "Warsaw Autumn" are highly acclaimed worldwide. The vast number of internationally recognized events which take place in the various regions of the country is a good measurement of the vitality of Polish culture. And it was the genius of Frederic Chopin that made Poland famous in the music world. The F. Chopin Society at Ostrogski Castle organizes tours and recitals. Then there is Grand Theatre of opera and ballet and folklore shows with Polish dinner.

Poland had undergone a variety of cultural influences in cooking no less than in art and literature. It shares much in common with its neighbors, Germany and Russia, as well as with its co-inhabitants for several hundred years, the Jews. This mixture did indeed lead to an interesting variety in its cuisine, but it is a variety that has unfortunately been lost or submerged in the years following World War II, and that is only just beginning to be re-discovered.

The centralization that the Communist system created did not leave the culinary system untouched, and the result has been a kind of national cuisine that is unvaried from one end of the country to another, with but a few exceptions. And so it is hard, for example, to find much of the regional cuisine that one might expect in various parts of the country. A menu in Gdansk or Krakow looks very much the same as a menu in Warsaw.

Visitors of Polish extraction may be surprised to find that the dishes which comprised the backbone of their Polish tradition, such as golabki (stuffed cabbage rolls), pierogi (sausage dumplings) or czernina (duck's blood soup) can only rarely be had in Polish restaurants, and that the famous Polish kielbasa (sausage) which in the West has made a career for itself even outside the Polish community, is here a common food not really worth the attention of a serious restaurant. In short, Joseph Czarnecki who wrote "The Restaurants of Warsaw" tells us that you may have to go to London or Chicago to get that kind of Polish food.

All my breakfasts were eaten at my hotel which displayed a varied buffet from delicious pastries to tangy cheeses. Most of my meals consisted of a variety of well prepared variations of Chicken Kiev and an assortment of aspic dishes usually complemented the delicious red beet or mushroom soup and freshly prepared salad offerings. Coffee and festive desserts and pastries always pleased the sweet-toothed dinner guest. My dining recommendations are Wilanow Palace, Pod Retmanem restaurant in the Old Town and Belvedere restaurant at Lazienski Park.

Poland is a country with a great many examples of ecclesiastical architecture, the majority of them representing the Christian religion and the Roman Catholic faith. The most important religious shrine is the Pauline monastery complex located on Jasna Gora (Bright Hill) in Czectochowa. The Pauline monks settled here in the late 14th Century and became well-known throughout Poland after their heroic and successful defense of the monastery and church against the Swedish army in 1655.

Pilgrims flock to this sacred monument on Bright Hill several times a year attracted by the Black Madonna, a painting of the Blessed Mother to Czectochowa. It is a 15th carbon copy of the original painted in the first centuries of our era and which in 1430 was stolen and seriously damaged by the Hussites.

Zakopane, the largest Polish tourist and winter sports center, is situated at the foot of the Tatras, the highest mountain range in the Carpathians. It owes its growth and present status to its mountain site. It's a tourist center where possibilities of rest in close contact with nature are practically unlimited.

The town has many antique structures of regional wooden architecture in the so-called Zakopane style and several museums. Every year in September there is a cycle of encounters called "Tatran Autumn" which includes the International Festival of Highland Folklore.

  To Part Two