Czy Polska jest krajem atrakcyjnym dla obcokrajowców? - Is Poland an attractive country for foreigners?

I think that the answer is clear-cut. Situated in the centre of Europe, our country is a very beautiful and interesting place to visit. Warsaw is the capital of Poland. It is the biggest city of our homeland. You can admire The Royal Castle and many picturesque tenement houses in the Old Town, or relax in the beautiful Lazienki park founded by king Stanislaw August Poniatowski. You can also visit some art. Galleries, for instance, Zacheta, or museums such as the National Museum or the Museum in Wilanow. Another interesting and beautiful Polish city is Cracow. In Cracow you can visit the Old Town and the gothic St. Mary's church, tenement houses and beautiful town hall known as Sukiennice, or the Cloth Hall. One of the numerous attractions that are there for you to discover in Cracow is undoubtedly the famous bugle-call. While being in Cracow you must visit Wawel - the Royal Castle with king Zygmunt's Chapel and the tombs of Polish kings and important people from our history. There is also a remarkably beautiful gothic altar in Mary's Church.

To my mind one of the most attractive cities in Poland is Gdansk. There you can see the Old Town and Artus Court with its famous fire place decorated in Dutch tiles, Neptune's fountain, Old Sweep on the Motlawa river, or the shipyard and the monument commemorating the brave shipyard workers and the trade union Solidarnosc. Speaking about the most interesting places in Poland you cannot forget about our mountains. It is worth setting off to the Tatra Mountains. In the Tatras you can visit the National Park with impressive mountainous landscapes, beautiful valleys formed by glaciers, and come across such animals as the chamois, the eagle or the marmot You can climb Kasprowy Wierch or Giewont, or take the cable railway to Gubalowka. The Tatra Mountains have much to offer as far as culture and architecture are concerned. You can visit the Museum of the Tatra Mountains and the ones devoted to Jan Kasprowicz or Witkacy. Another thing worth seeing while in the Tatra Mountains is the monument of Sabala and Tytus Chalubinski - the 'discoverers' of Zakopane. A walk along Krupowki and the taste of oscypek - the Zakopanian specialty, will make the memories of your visit to the Tatras last longer.

As you can see there are a lot of interesting places in Poland and it is hard to enumerate all of them but there is also one area I would like to recommend to all foreigners visiting Poland, I mean Mazury - Polish Lake District. This region of woods and lakes is ecologically the cleanest in Poland. It has got a well developed tourist infrastructure. There are many tourist attractions there. You can visit a gothic church in Lidzbark Warminski, or make a journey through the trail of Mazury Lakes and Augustowski Canal.

In conclusion I would like to say that Poland is a country of great diversity. There is something for everybody and those tourists who choose it as a place for their holidays will certainly not be disappointed.

[Arkadiusz Szymczak]