taste mead from a forest beekeeper, and you’ll never want to reach for beer instead
wooden Orthodox churches in Karpaty, and be amazed at how You could like brick-built buildings before
why it’s worth to go to Galician resorts for treatment instead of Davos
Brooklyn’s Hasidic Jews in a provincial town, and won’t even be surprised by this fact
Wawel
We’ll start the day by visiting Cracow’s Old Town, which was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. We’ll visit the parish of St. Mary’s Basilica and see its gothic masterpiece — the Veit Stoss Altarpiece — and then we’ll discover the source of wealth of former Cracow — the sixteenth-century Kraków Cloth Hall. Afterwards, we’ll head toward the edifice of one of the oldest academies in the region — the Jagiellonian University – founded in 1364. After dining in one of the old urban cellars, we’ll go to the Wawel Castle, to the king’s residence and the cathedral where the majority of Polish monarchs were buried. We’ll go downhill from the king’s hill toward Kazimierz — “the Polish Jerusalem” — a district, where before the World War II the majority of 64 thousand Cracow Jews lived. We’ll visit the old cemetery with the sixteenth-century tombstone of the Remah — one of the most important rabbis of the Ashkenazic Diaspora, as well as two out of seven synagogues that survived — the gothic Old Synagogue and the Moorish Revival Tempel Synagogue.
Overnight stay in Cracow.
After breakfast, we’ll move from Cracow to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska — a Mannerist monastery and a sanctuary of Order of Friars Minor. This breathtaking establishment, accurately copying Jerusalem, is the only calvary in the world inscribed on the UNESCO list. Then, we’ll go to the nearby Lanckorona. This drowsy town is famous for its wooden ground‑floor housing at the unique steep market square. After strolling down the lanes paved as early as in the 14th century, we’ll head off to Lake Czorsztyn. Medieval fortalices that once guarded the Polish-Hungarian border rise above the lake’s surface. We’ll marvel at the panorama of the surroundings from the best preserved tower of Niedzica Castle.
Overnight stay near Czorsztyn.
Kalwaria Zebrzydowska
We’ll set off in the morning, and find ourselves on the way to the Dunajec Valley — a river meandering in the Pieniny Mountain Range, which is a part of the Carpathian Mountains. We’ll admire beautiful views onto the peaks of the mountains from a wooden boat that will take us for an hour-long passage to the most picturesque corners of the Polish-Slovakian border. Afterwards, we’ll head off to Łąck — one of the Polish fruit farming centres, where a tasting of the local speciality — Slivovitsa — will await us. Thereon, we’ll take a way through the foothills to Nowy Sącz, where we’ll visit a typical wooden Galician town. From there we’ll go to a hotel in the health resort of Krynica-Zdrój.
Overnight stay in Krynica-Zdrój.
We’ll start the day by visiting Krynica-Zdrój, a mountain resort famous for the curative properties of its waters. We’ll come by the Old Spa House and the Nikifor Museum — one of the most outstanding primitive-style painters, also known as Nikifor Epifaniusz Drowniak. He belonged to the Lemko ethnic minority that lives in this area to this day. After lunch in a Lemko tavern, we’ll go to one of the UNESCO-inscribed sixteenth-century Orthodox churches built precisely by Lemkos. On the way to our hotel, we’ll pass by the surrounding terrain of the Ropa village known for excavating black gold — where some of the first shafts and refineries in Europe were created.
Overnight stay in Krynica or near Tarnów.
Cerkiew w Kwaitońu
Jewish cemetery in Bobowa
We’ll start the day by paying a visit to a local beekeeper — since this region has been known for mead production since hundreds of years. Apart from tasting different types of honey, we’ll also have an opportunity to taste alcoholic beverages made of honey — an example of traditional Polish tipples. Then, we’ll go to the beautifully located first-war cemetery — a testimony of one of the biggest battles during the war that took place not far from the city of Gorlice, in May 1915. From the burial site, we’ll head off to one of the Galician centres of Hasidism — Bobowa. We’ll visit there an eighteenth-century old synagogue and a Jewish cemetery year by year visited by hundreds of pilgrims from all over the world. For the of the day will be sightseeing the nearby Tarnów — third-largest town in the Austro-Hungarian Galicia — together with its renaissance tenement houses at the market square.
Overnight stay near Tarnów.
We’ll head northward from Tarnów to the Vistula border of Galicia. There is Zalipie village located nearby known for its houses decorated with flower motifs. We’ll visit one of the farmhouses, where everyone will have a chance to make their own Himmeli (pająk) — a traditional Christmas decoration of the region. Then, we’ll head toward the nearby Dołęga, where we’ll visit a beautiful lurch wood manor house — a typical residence of the Galician gentry. In the afternoon, we’ll go the salt mine in Bochnia — the source of the region’s wealth, which has been in use since the Medieval Times, now also included on the UNESCO list. After visiting the mine, we’ll come back to Cracow for supper and stay there overnight.
Overnight stay in Cracow.
House in Zalipie
Polski
