Today we will explore central Poland and take a small off-road to the East! Even though we will talk about Masovian county, we will not discuss Warsaw: you can read about it in every guidebook while we will introduce you to some amazing places that actually await your discovery!

Overgrown field road in Masovia Region of Poland

Mazowieckie

The Masovian voivodeship is known mostly because Poland’s capital –Warsaw – is located here. Don’t be mistaken – this city has a rich history (in fact so rich that we will cover it in a separate article) but it is not the only place that Mazowsze has to offer!

Żelazowa Wola Chopin Birthplace

You are doing your Erasmus in Warsaw? Go for a trip around the town! Make sure one of your stops is Żelazowa Wola – a small village located ca. 40 km from Warsaw, where the famous pianist Fryderyk Chopin was born! His house – turned into a museum – is surrounded by lovely gardens filled with his music. Feels like a place out of time!

Fortress Modlin

Another spot worth seeing is Twierdza Modlin – a 19th century fortress situated close to Modlin airport. The ruins that lay on the confluence of Vistula and Narew rivers survived both world wars and actually form one of the biggest and best maintain fortresses in Poland!

You want to escape the town during the weekend and have a picnic somewhere nobody else will disturb you? Grab a takeout pizza from one of the local restaurants and go to Mokre Łąki reservoir on the edge of Kampinoski NP (direct bus from the subway – 20 minutes from
Warsaw!) and enjoy the tranquillity of this place. Date tip – if you are bored with laying on the grass, discover your inner child on the playground that is just a few meters from the lake!

Mokre Łąki reservoir on the edge of Kampinoski NP

Łódzkie

Łódź Voivedoship is not the biggest one, but surely is the central one! It does not matter in which city you are doing your Erasmus – this county is always on your way. What you shall visit here? One of our top places is Groty Nagórzyckie – a labyrinth of underground halls, caves and niches of an old quartz sand mine. The biggest cave has 30 m of length, 25 m of width and 3 m of height – these rocks have around 100 million years and were formed by the movement of the sea!

Entrance to “Groty Nagórzyckie”

You are reaaally into the water? Termy Uniejów – thermal baths – in the west of Łódzkie county is a better place for you then. This complex has a lot of attractions – graduation towers, a few big swimming pools inside and outside (including brine pools of course,) jacuzzi island,
and huge slides. There are also many hotels with spas and saunas around – perfect place to go for a weekend and relax before an exam session!

Łódź- the capital of Voivedoship during Film Light festival

If you are in Łódź, the capital of the county, you must see the old Manufacture (don’t mistake it with Manufaktura shopping mall though!) and the Palace of Izrael Poznański located next to it. Poznański was the owner of the textile factory back in the 19th century and one of the richest people in Poland of that time – after all, he was labelled one of Three
Cotton Kings of Łódź. Find out yourself why his palace is called the Louvre of Lodz!

Podlaskie

Podlaskie Voivodeship is known for being one of the most forested parts of
Poland. In fact, there are four national parks that belong to this area: Białowieski, Biebrzański, Narwiański and Wigierski. The most distinguished one is probably Białowieski NP, as it is home to one of Poland’s most recognizable animals – Żubr. For sure you know a vodka that has this creature in its logo, but now you know where to find it outside of the supermarket: in Białowieża, in a special wildlife reserve!

Białowieża NP – it’s also the oldest forest in Europe

This county also happens to be an intersection of different cultures and religions: in Kruszyniany you can visit the oldest Polish mosque (it is a wooden building raised by Lipka Tatar); only 40km from there, in Supraśle – an impressive Orthodox monastery; and in Tykocin – a small but very old town that used to be inhabited almost exclusively by Jewish people – a famous synagogue from 17 th century!

The oldest Polish mosque

Once you are in Podlasie, you should try some traditional cuisine of this region. Kołduny tatarskie, cebulniki, kibiny and pieremniacze are different types of Tatar pierogi (yes – famous, loved and amazing dumplings) that originate from this area and are rather difficult to find in other parts of Poland – so if you come here, this is what you have to taste!

In the next article, we will take you to South-East of Poland – so you can expect even more nature and even better food – but not only that! Stay tuned to see what we have selected for you!

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