Located in the very center of Europe, Poland is a country that many people know firsthand. Thousands of tourists come here every year, and it is not surprising - what is Warsaw alone worth! And among immigrants, Poland, along with Slovakia and the Czech Republic, is popular. Why not? A Slavic country with fairly transparent immigration laws is of interest to immigrants from the countries of the former Soviet Union. Be that as it may, we have compiled for you a selection of interesting and curious facts about Poland:
- In some coffee machines you can buy borscht. Yes, yes, borscht in Poland is usually drunk, not eaten.
- The most popular sport among Poles is football.
- After the Second World War, almost completely destroyed Warsaw was actually rebuilt.
- AT Polish cities There are more theaters than cinemas.
- Films in Polish cinemas are shown without dubbing, with subtitles.
- The most popular dessert in Poland is gingerbread.
- Comes to Poland every year a large number of illegal immigrants. However, this is not the best way - there are legal ways.
- In Warsaw there is a street named after Winnie the Pooh.
- Almost a third of the territory of Poland is occupied by carefully preserved forests.
- Poland ranks first in the world in the export of amber.
- It is the first country in Europe and the second country in the world to have a constitution.
- In Poland, it is customary for men to kiss a woman's hand when they meet.
- The largest departments in Polish grocery stores- departments with sweets.
- The first floor in Poland is “zero. Accordingly, the button with the number "1" in the elevator corresponds to the second floor, and so on.
- Almost a third (19 million out of 60) of Poles live in other countries.
- On average, Poles get married before all other Europeans.
- There is not a single nuclear power plant in Poland.
- There are no homeless dogs here either. But there are a huge number of squirrels and hedgehogs in the parks. By the way, there are also a lot of parks.
- The second city in terms of the number of Poles living in it is Chicago, USA.
- Polish cuisine as a whole is very similar to Russian or Ukrainian.
- A typical holiday dish in a Polish family is soup. On ordinary days, soup is rarely eaten.
- Sports and fitness are very popular here. Many Poles run in the morning.
- In general, the Poles, like the Germans, are punctual.
- Passing the driving license exam in Poland is difficult.
- Despite being a member of the European Union, Poland has retained its own currency, the złoty.
- Honorary donors who have donated more than 18 liters of blood use public transport for free.
- In all major cities there are night buses, but using them is not always safe.
- There are many bicycles and cycle paths in Polish cities.
- The sirens installed on special services vehicles are notable for their monstrous volume.
- The academic year in Poland starts in October.
- There are more than a hundred higher educational institutions in Poland.
If you compare Vasrava with a woman, then she is about 35-40 years old. She looks great, her movements show self-confidence, kindness and a desire to improve herself, while she already has a decent life experience, she is self-sufficient and patient.
Of course, it is better to see once than hear a hundred times. And you will want to see Warsaw again and again. Therefore, if you have not planned your vacation yet - go ahead - busfor.ru/buses/Kiev/Warsaw. Well, if a trip to Poland is still only in your dreams, let's get to know it at least virtually ...
The coat of arms of the city depicts a Mermaid. This is due to a legend according to which a fisherman named Vars fell in love with a mermaid named Sava, hence the name of the Polish capital. A monument to this mermaid is erected on the market square in Warsaw. According to legend, if you rub her tail seven times and make a wish, then it will come true.
After World War II, Poland took a long time to recover. 85% of the buildings in the capital were destroyed, but the Poles decided not to move the administrative center to another city, but to restore it. Therefore, Warsaw is the only city that has a metro. The opening of the subway took place only 20 years ago.
The Poles reacted very reasonably to public transport. There is a single ticket for all types of city vehicles - by purchasing a travel card, you can ride on trams, on the subway, and on the bus.
Warsaw is a very intelligent city. Surprisingly, there is not a single circus here. And the number of theaters in the city exceeds the number of cinemas.
There is a street in Warsaw winnie the pooh. In 1954, the inhabitants of the city decided to replace Lenin with this fairy tale hero. And it seems that no one will ever rename this street again.
If you are lucky enough to visit this city, then you will most likely understand how much the Poles value the world and their history, how much they believe in goodness and miracles. Sometimes we miss it so much!
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1. Poles often complain that they got the mountains in the south, and the Baltic Sea in the north, and it warms up not so hot. But lucky with the lakes formed after the convergence of the glacier. The Masurian Lakes are a favorite place for yachting or kayaking, the latter are very popular.
2. Polish weather can be very unpredictable and locals constantly complain about it: in winter, by European standards, it is frosty (up to -25), and in summer it is not warm enough. In general, it is in the blood of the Poles - to be dissatisfied with something. In the spring, on the same day, rain can start, end, hail fall 3 times, after which everything will dry up in the sun without a trace. The seasons, as is customary in Europe, do not begin on the first day, but according to the astronomical calendar, so it’s not worth congratulating everyone on the beginning of winter on December 1, they won’t understand.
3. Poland is quite homogeneous ethnically, linguistically and culturally. Nevertheless, it includes most of Silesia (Shlensk), which went to the Poles after the Second World War. The area is very specific, especially the industrial-mining Upper Silesia with its center in Katowice, with its incomprehensible Sloan dialect and its own opinion about the rest of Poland.
4. Economically more developed western Poland is often outraged that it feeds lazy people and drunkards from the poor agrarian eastern part.
5. The problem of internal migration from rural areas to big cities in Poland it is not very acute, the infrastructure is quite decently developed. A common story when a Warsaw family, living in an apartment, starts building country house, after which he moves there, and rents out an apartment.
6. During its history, the territory of the country has been divided many times, as evidenced by the fact that St. Mikolay brings Christmas gifts to children in Warsaw, in Poznan - Gwiazdor (from the word star), in Krakow - Angel, in Silesia - baby Jesus, and in the eastern regions there is even Santa Claus ...
7. Polish small businesses and NGOs often live on subsidies and grants from the European Union. My friend thus received 40 thousand euros for the opening kindergarten in your suburb and free course on the economics of the enterprise in addition.
8. Since 2007, a law has been in force, according to which 1% of your taxes must be transferred to the activities of public benefit organizations, you choose the organization yourself. Therefore, there are pitiful advertisements on the street - give 1% to the children of Africa or to a dog shelter.
9. There are no homeless animals here. Nuclear power plants, too, everything is good with the environment. In the cities on the banks of the Vistula there are a lot of river gulls, the parks are teeming with squirrels. In my residential area of Warsaw in the evening I ran into hedgehogs more than once.
10. Lives in Poland the largest number white storks (23% of the world population). Like bison from Belovezhskaya Pushcha, storks are one of the symbols of the country.
11. Separation of garbage exists, although it is not strictly controlled. There are many places where containers for collecting old clothes are placed, what they do with it later is unknown to me.
12. Since 2004, Poland has been a member of the EU, and since 2007, the Schengen area.
13. Since the beginning of the 90s, a wave of emigrants has poured out of the country, mainly to England. With rising living standards, many have returned, but it is still not uncommon for a doctor working in a Polish clinic to fly to London for the weekend, where he receives his weekly salary at a time.
14. State Polish clinics are free, but there are not as many of them as grandmothers with sores. Therefore, you need to make an appointment with a therapist somewhere in a month or two or go to private clinic. Of course, for cases emergency care this does not apply.
15. Chicago is considered the second largest city in the world by the number of Poles living in it.
16. As the Poles themselves say, they do not like two nations - Russians and Germans. You can find combined monuments to the victims of Nazism and the communist system. However, such dislike is more stereotyped than real, and is manifested only during sports competitions.
17. C hostile relations almost never met Russians. Often, on the contrary, everyone is very friendly and hospitable, they will always tell you the way, if necessary, they will call you from their phone, and sing “May there always be sunshine”. For some reason everyone knows this song.
18. The Russian language is understandable to the majority of the older generation, as it was compulsory in the schools of the Polish People's Republic. However, in the 90s, as a language forcibly imposed, Russian was no longer studied, and only recently began to return and become popular again.
19. For the Germans, the Poles remain a poor and cold neighbor without electricity, stealing their cars. Hence the common jokes like this: What does the Polish triathlon look like? - Came to the pool on foot, and returned on a bicycle.
20. On the other hand, the Germans actively take advantage of the proximity and cheapness of Poland and go on weekends to Wroclaw or Szczecin, which once belonged to Germany. From the latter to Berlin a little over 100 km, buses run from 10 zł, and all excursions are offered in two languages - German and Polish.
21. To an untrained ear, Polish is just a collection of hisses, especially if you don't listen closely. For example, the word happiness sounds like “shchenschche”.
22. Despite being related to all languages Slavic group, in Polish there are many words that mean completely different things than in Russian: sklep - shop dworzec - station zapomnić (read as "remember") - forget zakaz - prohibition urodliwy - beautiful dywan - carpet owoce - fruits
23. Tanya means cheap in Polish, so girls with a sim beautiful name it is better to introduce yourself as Tatiana. "Tania odzież" is not a fashionable author's collection, but a common name for second-hand.
24. If somewhere on the street of Krakow you ask how to get to the library, and they answer you “just”, do not take the answer as a mockery. "Simple" means "straight."
25. Spoko - in Poland it is a standard phrase in almost any life situation and means something like "Calm down". Poland's Euro song was "Koko-koko, Euro Spoko" performed by the grandmothers' choir.
26. The traditional song for birthdays, weddings and any other events where you need to wish for something - “Sto lat!” Wish for a hundred years, respectively.
27. Poles call only black pepper pepper, for the rest (including chili) they use the word “paprika”, being very surprised at how we distinguish which particular pepper we are talking about.
28. From other words that cause emotion: adidasy - sneakers, rajstopy - tights, kawaler - bachelor.
29. Polish girls are really very beautiful, they dress tastefully, but not defiantly. Bright coloring, miniskirts and high heels are usually peculiar only to representatives of a certain profession.
30. Polish cuisine is very close to ours, but less oily. Traditional dishes are Russian feathers (pierogi ruskie), Ukrainian borscht (barsz ukraiński) and Greek-style fish (ryba po grecku). You can easily find them in every restaurant.
31. Russian perogi are dumplings with cottage cheese and potatoes, in Poland they are often fried after boiling. Keep this in mind if you decide to buy in a store, usually they are already welded and it is better not to dip them into water again. The pies we are used to are not baked in Poland.
32. Other national dish is bigos - braised cabbage with meat and smoked meats. Depending on how bigos was cooked at home, the recipe varies: from a mountain of meat with rare glimpses of cabbage to a plate of cabbage with pieces of sausage.
33. Soups - this is what starts any holiday in Poland. The obligatory first course for Christmas is mushroom soup or red borscht (one-syllable beetroot soup with spices). Red borscht is often not eaten, but drunk, so do not relax if on Christmas Eve you get a glass of liquid that looks like mulled wine. Yes, you can stumble upon borsch in coffee machines, again I don’t recommend stumbling. On Easter, they eat zhurek - sourdough soup with white sausage and an egg, and even a wedding feast begins with soup. However, not everyone eats soup on ordinary days for lunch.
34. What I could not get used to for a long time was the fact that the Poles almost never eat bread with soup. Well, in catering establishments, bread for the first is very rare. But you can try zhurek in a bread pot (the crumb is removed and the bread turns into a dish).
35. One of the brightest holidays in Poland is All Saints Day on November 1st. Something similar to ours Memorial Sunday, but on a larger scale. People come to the cemetery and with the onset of twilight they light candles in huge numbers, it becomes light as day. In general, in terms of the number of lamps placed around monuments and in cemeteries, as for me, the Poles are world leaders.
36. On the other hand, it is useless to come to Poland as a tourist to enjoy a real Catholic Christmas. On December 24 at 15.00 all shops, museums, cafes, bars are closed and so on for the next three days. At this time, Poles mostly gather with families, sit at home, drink, eat and watch TV. On Christmas Eve, my friends and I found only one working Kebab for two million Warsaw and a couple of stalls with alcohol, and a day later the only open pizzeria for a huge shopping center.
37. The employer does not have the right to force employees to work on Christmas, so only small family shops or gas stations can be open. At the last one, we were once offered to buy a half-liter bottle of 96% alcohol. With alcoholism, selling alcohol only by prescription, they do not fight here.
38. Poland's number one fast food is kebabs. In composition, the same shawarma, only twice as large and placed in half a loaf, is eaten with a plastic fork, since everything does not fit into the mouth at once.
39. Pizza in pizzerias often comes with an extra jar of sauce (garlic or ketchup). This makes the pizza more juicy. I have not seen this in other countries.
40. From the remnants of the Soviet era in many cities in Poland, the so-called "milk bars", originally subsidized by the state, have been preserved. Food in them has always been and remains cheaper than in other places. For 10–15 zlotys (100–150 rubles) you can have a full meal. True, the orders in milk bars remain very Soviet.
41. One of the main export products from Poland are fruits and vegetables. You can buy them here quite cheaply: for 4–5 zlotys (40 rubles) a kilogram of peaches. The same applies to the prices of meat and dairy products.
42. Of the products that are either not available in Poland or very difficult to find: croutons for beer, fermented baked milk, condensed milk, dumplings and taranka (Poles cannot stand its smell).
43. Contrary to popular opinion even in Poland, Poles do not drink that much and share stories among themselves about the impermeability of Finns who are on a binge from Friday to Monday, or about 5 liters of beer drunk by a German in the evening.
44. On the other hand, vodka is one of the symbols of the country. When my friends and I sat down in a cafe in the center of Warsaw on the first day and ordered a beer, the waiter looked with a smile and said: “Guys! You are in Poland, take vodka!” Meanwhile, they will not argue that vodka was invented in Poland, and not in Russia.
45. Traditional Polish vodka - bison with a blade of grass inside. For soldering female half often mixed with apple juice, this mix is called "charlotte".
46. In Poland, there are no chemical low-alcohol drinks like a screwdriver, but there are many varieties of various honey and fruit beers.
47. In addition, ordering a regular beer in a bar with the addition of raspberry or ginger juice, and then drinking it from a straw is considered quite normal.
48. The Poles are very athletic, do not suffer from excess weight, many run, go to the gym, dance, salsa studios grow like mushrooms here.
49. The number one sport is football. Despite the mediocre performance of the national team and the weak domestic championship, almost everyone in Poland is an ardent football fan. Somewhere in Łódź you can easily be beaten if you don't correctly identify which local club (ŁKS or Widzew) you are a fan of.
50. Since Polish clubs and the national team fail quite often, the popular slogan is “Polacy, nic się nie stało” (“Poles, nothing happened”).
51. Even the current championship of the Polish volleyball representation in the World Volleyball League did not particularly shake the football championship.
52. On the site of the current National Stadium in Warsaw, built specifically for Euro 2012, there used to be the largest bazaar in Eastern Europe. There you could buy everything from smuggled Ukrainian cigarettes and pirated CDs to any clothes and documents. This part of the right bank of Warsaw is called Prague, and a couple of years ago the area was considered the most criminal and dangerous in the capital.
53. By the way, Poland is the first European country to massively protest against ACTA, which restricts the freedom to disseminate information on the Internet. Whatever you say, torrents are very close to the Poles.
54. Polish roads can hardly be called ideal. There were almost no wide and fast motorways connecting major cities, especially before the European Football Championship. Now the country has set a course for the improvement of infrastructure and wherever you go, new roads are being built everywhere.
55. On average, Poles pass on the rights from 3-5 times. This is one of the remnants of the old corrupt system. Now it is impossible to give a bribe to an examiner, cameras are installed in cars, however, in order for the work of instructors to pay off, those who pass are deliberately overwhelmed by minor mistakes.
56. Poles are quite punctual. This also has a public transport system with a detailed schedule of all routes at each stop. And the schedule is almost not violated.
57. Of all Polish cities, only Warsaw has a metro. The only line for today was launched in 1995, the opening of the second line is planned for a year, but for now the entire Polish capital is carefully dug up by the metro construction.
58. According to legend, after the war, I. Stalin, as a gratuitous gift from the Soviet people, offered the Polish people to build in Warsaw a choice of either a metro or a palace of culture. The Poles chose the second, for which they received the erected type Stalin skyscrapers Today the tallest building in Poland is the 237 meter Palace of Culture and Science.
59. During the Second World War, 85% of Warsaw was destroyed, the retreating Germans wanted to raze the city to the ground. There were proposals to leave the ruins and move the capital to another place. Today's Warsaw is a whole city built anew. Restoration proceeded at an accelerated pace, block houses in the style of socialist realism were hastily built, so most Poles do not like Warsaw, they say that it is very noisy and gray.
60. Old city(historical center) of Warsaw was restored according to the paintings of the 17th-18th centuries and was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as an example of a thorough restoration of the destroyed property. In other cities of Poland, restoration is not always in a hurry, because the restored houses suddenly show up with the owners who owned the house before the war.
61. When you say Auschwitz, the Poles correct you - it is correct to call the concentration camp Auschwitz, since it was built by the Germans. In May of this year, Obama's speech in which he used the phrase "Polish death camp" caused a massive outcry here.
62. Urban transport in Poland is an integral system. In Warsaw, the same ticket gives you the opportunity to travel on the metro, city bus, regular or tourist tram, suburban train and even the ferry across the Vistula, which runs in the summer.
63. The variety of tickets is also amazing: from 15 minutes in Krakow for 2 zlotys (≈ 20 rubles) and 20 minutes in Warsaw for 2.60 to plastic travel cards with a recharge for 90 days for 220 zlotys.
64. Children under 7 years old, honorary blood donors who donated more than 18 liters, people over 70, as well as luggage, bicycles and pets ride for free.
65. Tickets can be bought from vending machines or kiosks. Moreover, a kiosk is a common name for small shops with a basic set of products and a press, and a kiosk can be located anywhere, including shopping centers.
66. Trolleybuses are only in three cities in Poland: Lublin, Gdynia and Tyche.
67. At night, night buses run in all major cities, their route differs from the usual one and covers the route of several day buses. Everything that is prohibited in public transport (smoking, drinking alcohol, damaging the property of the fleet, fighting) can be more than enjoyed on night buses.
68. Despite the abundance of modern buses with a low seating position, air conditioning, a plasma panel that shows the route and current location, about a quarter of the buses in Warsaw are old Ikarus. Often they play the role of night buses, if they finish it, it’s not a pity)
69. yellow light Traffic lights in Poland are called orange.
70. The complexity of transport interchanges in Warsaw frightens from ignorance. For example, there are more than fifty Dw Wileński stops in the capital, each has its own number and can be located five hundred meters from another with the same name. And the routes of some buses contain up to three stops of the same name in a row.
71. Cyclists in Poland feel quite confident. Sidewalks are often divided into two parts - for people on their feet and on wheels. It is better not to enter the bike path, they can move. Since August of this year, automatic bicycle rental stations have been operating in Warsaw. The principle is the same as in Paris or London - 20 minutes for free, up to 1 hour - 1 zloty, further more expensive. In Krakow and Wroclaw, such a rental has been operating for several years, the capital does not immediately adopt innovations.
72. Sirens of emergency services (ambulance, fire, police) are simply deafening and clearly sound louder than required. They say this is done so that the Poles know where their taxes go.
73. Trains, unlike buses, are not particularly punctual. The time of delay at the station is announced in minutes and sometimes you hear that the train is late for 90 or even 300 minutes.
74. Tickets for travel in 2nd class carriages are often sold at unlimited quantities and without seats, so you have to stand very tightly in the vestibule for several hours in a row. There were times when the train was late due to the fact that all the passengers could not be stuffed into the car.
75. The Poles are indeed very religious, although at first glance this may not be noticeable. Churches here use the McDonald's slogan - the closest one is five minutes from you. And most importantly, Catholic churches during the services are packed to capacity. Probably, this is facilitated by the nature of the Catholic service, which is fundamentally different from the Orthodox one - you do not need to stand all the time, and the priest (Catholic priest) will certainly tell a couple of jokes during the Mass. And in order to hallow food for Easter, you don’t need to wake up at five in the morning (they do it the day before on Saturday).
76. Catholics commune only with bread (payment), only the priest drinks wine, and, given the number of masses, in the late afternoon he should be well cheerful.
77. Popular in certain circles are the Catholic "Radio Maria" and TV channel Trwam, often manipulating the opinion of the faithful voters.
78. Catholic Church has the right not only to marry, but also to officially register a marriage, without applying to the registry office.
79. And yes, abortion is prohibited in Poland.
80. Figure of Pope John Paul II c. Poland is practically inviolable, and it is better not to argue or joke about the pontiff with the Poles. In each city you will find a street named after him, a monument and a school, if the school is lucky, of course.
81. The first president of post-communist Poland, the leader of Solidarity, Lech Walesa, enjoys almost the same unshakable love and reverence. Other world-famous Poles - the composer Frederic Chopin, as well as Maria Sklodowska-Curie, who discovered polonium and radium, are often mistaken for French outside the country, and the latter's maiden name is generally omitted.
82. Despite the power of the church, opposing views in society are also strong. In the last parliamentary elections, more than 10% of Poles voted for the Palikot Movement, a newly minted party that advocates stopping funding for religious organizations, removing crucifixes from the Sejm hall, and meanwhile legalizing same-sex relationships, abortion and marijuana. From this party, for the first time, a transsexual and an open homosexual got into the Polish Parliament.
83. It is hard to say that the school is separated from the church. In 9 out of 10 schools in each!!! crucifix will hang on the walls in the classroom. In addition, from the first to the sixth grade, twice a week, a religion lesson, usually taught by Catholic sisters. Religion is one without the possibility of choice - Catholicism. The lesson is optional, but few refuse.
84. A group of parents protested against crucifixions in classrooms a couple of years ago in Wroclaw, the crosses were removed, a week later a twice as large group of their opponents came out, and the crosses had to be returned.
85. The school system is different from what we are used to and is divided into 3 levels. Podstawówka - junior grades from 1st to 6th, gimnazjum - equivalent to grades 7-9, liceum - senior grades (10-12). Each of these schools is separated from the previous one, often located in a different building, and the student, when moving to the next class, has to change not only the place, but also the team. This seems to have been done so that the older classes do not offend the younger children.
86. Children in Polish schools feel more free than in ours, compulsory school uniform no, they often wear interchangeable indoor slippers. Due to the lack of a sufficient number of benches in the corridors, during breaks, a picture of schoolchildren sprawled on the floor among the rubble of backpacks is often observed. Teachers of the old school, as expected, are called the lack of discipline.
87. An analogue of the graduation ball in Poland is called "stodnevka" and is organized one hundred days before the final exams (matura). The obligatory first dance is the polonaise. Poland is the only country where you participate in such a ball even before graduation.
88. In last grades schools, students take additional classes with tutors, often in English, even if it is not needed upon admission. To get a job, the language is required even from middle managers, so the level of English among urban youth is quite high.
89. Poles enter higher educational institutions from the age of 18–20. Student academic year, unlike school, begins in October. Higher education in Polish, including for foreigners, in many universities it is free, which attracts foreign students especially from Belarus and Ukraine, but you can only hope for a scholarship in rare cases.
90. It's hard to reproach every Pole with an excess of politeness and excessive culture, but being squeezed in the middle of the bus, do not worry that you will pass your stop - half the bus will come out to let you through. After a meal, it is customary to say thank you to everyone, not even the hostess for the prepared dishes, but the interlocutors for the company.
91. In Warsaw, wherever you go, you will stumble upon a theater everywhere. There are definitely more theaters than cinemas. According to the Polish Wikipedia, there are 47 theaters in the capital and only 36 cinemas, there are no circus buildings. In other cities, the trend continues.
92. In Poland, few have heard of Barbara Brylskaya, she is definitely not among the top ten Polish actors. But the diminutive form of the name Barbara sounds very cute - Basya.
93. All films in the cinema, except for cartoons, are shown without dubbing with subtitles. Perhaps this is also one of the reasons for good knowledge in English in the masses.
94. The price of tickets at the cinema is the same regardless of the place, you just buy what you like from the free ones.
95. For the use of public television and radio, Poles have to pay about 200 zlotys a year, but most do not pay because payment is not mandatory. They say that in this case, they can come to you at any time to check if you are watching TV and fined.
96. Relatively cheap cable Internet can be obtained upon signing a contract for at least a year, otherwise it will be three times more expensive. Technical support services here are simply terrible, it is impossible to get through, and if you get through, you rarely get intelligible information. Mobile Internet and telephone communications are inexpensive, and when you change the operator, the old number remains with you.
97. The queue at the post office, in banks, government agencies is usually electronic by numbers, there is enough bureaucracy, but it looks quite mild: when filling out forms, up to 5 corrections are allowed, officials do not yell and do not pretend to be the navel of the earth. Although the inhabitants Western Europe they say that too many people work here in places where they would have had a machine gun long ago.
98. Poland is a country where many things are forbidden. Drinking alcohol is prohibited in public places, this is vigilantly controlled by the police, the fine is 100 zlotys (about 1000 rubles). And for drinking on the go, the fine is higher.
99. Most Poles are very patient guys, because you have to wait a lot at traffic lights. For crossing a red light on a zebra, you need to pay 100-200 zlotys, outside a pedestrian crossing 50, but for crossing the road in the wrong place, only 30.
100. In parallel with the usual male and female silhouette to indicate a toilet, Poland uses its own icons: a triangle for “M” and a circle for “F”. Try to comprehend the deep symbolism of this yourself.
In this article you will not find dry statistical data about Poland. It is dedicated to more interesting fun facts about this beautiful country Eastern Europe.
Among all Slavic languages Polish is spoken by the largest number of people, with the exception, of course, of the Russian language. About 60 million people speak Polish in the world. However, only 65% of this number live in Poland.
Red borscht in Poland is not quite what they are used to in Ukraine or Russia. This dish in the Polish version is a kind of beet broth with spices. It can be bought in shops in Poland even in an ordinary cardboard bag, like juice.
The main Polish fast food that you can buy on the streets is kebab. With the filling, it resembles shawarma, but all this is placed in a cut bun. They eat it with a fork, as the size of the kebab does not allow it to be easily stuffed into the mouth. 🙂
Poland is the world's largest exporter of January, sourced from the Baltic Sea coast. The coastal port city of Gdansk is especially famous for its amber jewelry.
The famous skyscraper, which is the hallmark of Warsaw, was built as a gift to the Polish people from the Soviet, on the initiative of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. Until today, this Palace of Culture and Science is the tallest building in Poland and the tallest building in Warsaw. Its height is 237 meters. Moreover, this building has firmly become the hallmark of Warsaw and its symbol. In style, it is very reminiscent of the building of Moscow State University in Moscow, but the Moscow version is somewhat lower - 214 meters.
The church in Poland has the right not only to marry young couples, but also to register their marriage in the state register.
Before the events of World War II, Poland was the European center of Jewry. About 3.3 million Jews lived in the country at that time. By the way, a Jew in Polish sounds like "Jew", which is not offensive, at least from the point of view of the Poles. About 50,000 Poles were executed by the Germans for helping Jews. On the territory of Poland was largest concentration camp Auschwitz, near the city of Oswiecim. The museum still exists on this site. During the war, about 1.1 million Jews were executed or died from disease and starvation in the camp. Previously, this number was estimated at 4 million.
Poland is part of the so-called vodka belt of Europe. The first vodka in Poland began to be produced in the 11th century. It was called gorzalks and was used as a medicine at the time. From this word came the Ukrainian word "horilka".
Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) was the only Pope of Polish origin. He spent the longest time on the throne in the history of the Vatican. Some believe that he greatly contributed to the destruction of communism in Central and Eastern Europe. By the way, most Poles do not like their communist past, unlike the inhabitants of countries former USSR who refer to that period with nostalgia. It is difficult to say why this happens, because Poland at that time was far from being the poorest country, and Polish socialism differed significantly from Soviet socialism, since Poland then had a lot of private shops, workshops, etc.
Poland has the first functioning constitution in Europe.
The most popular dog name in Poland, like our Sharik, is Burek.
In Poland, the first floor is numbered as zero or parterre (parterz). This is often the cause of confusion for many foreigners and for Ukrainians in particular.
Poland's youth are the first to marry in the European Union.
Since 2007, according to Polish law, 1% of income tax is transferred to activities public organizations. Which ones, you choose yourself.
About 23% of the world's white storks live in Poland, which in Polish is called bocian, which sounds like a bochan. His image is often used on the coats of arms of cities, the names of urban areas, such as Bochanovo, and logos of commercial companies.
Abortion is prohibited in Poland. Termination of pregnancy is permitted only for medical reasons - in case of a threat to the life of the mother or irreparable pathologies of the fetus, or during pregnancy, which was the result of rape.
Poland is the western neighbor of Ukraine and Belarus, the closest country to Russia, among those where Western Slavs live. extreme eastern country European Union with a population of 39 million. Despite the fact that this is a state in the European Union and the Schengen area, it has its own monetary unit- Polish zloty. Poles are similar to Ukrainians in many ways, but there are many different and interesting things. Consider some interesting facts about Poland.
Geography
In terms of area, Poland ranks ninth in the European Union and 69 in the world ranking. In the past, it was one of the largest European countries, stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea and included, by the way, almost the entire territory of Ukraine.
The Polish language ranks third among the Slavic languages in terms of the number of speakers - after Russian and Ukrainian. And if you take into account that many Ukrainians communicate in Russian, or Surzhik, which is close to Russian, then it is in second place.
The largest cities are Warsaw, Krakow, Wroclaw, Lodz, Gdansk, Poznan.
Poland has been a member of NATO since 1999 and a full member of the European Union since 2004.
In the policy of the Polish state, nature protection occupies important place- a third of the territory is covered with forests, there are 23 national parks and more than nine thousand lakes. However, Agriculture is also developed - half of the land is cultivated.
Despite the fact that many young people go abroad, the Polish economy is developing rapidly, the pace of development is the highest in the European Union.
Story
The first Polish prince, who is truly mentioned in the sources, is Mieszko I, he lived in the second half of the 9th century.
First higher educational institution Poland - Jagiellonian University was founded in 1364 by Casimir III. He was second in Central Europe after the University of Prague, which was opened in 1348. The place got its name in the 19th century.
The history of Poland, starting from the 17th century, is the history of the struggle for survival. The state fought off foreign invasions and raised popular uprisings for the independence of the Czech Republic.
In addition to Warsaw, several other persons were capitals in Poland - Pozan, Gniezno, Lublin.
Famous people
The most famous Pole is Pope John Paul II, whose mother was of Ukrainian origin, so in some ways he was Ukrainian. He made 104 trips abroad, visited 1022 cities, visited Ukraine in 2001.
Among the Nobel laureates, 26 were Poles or had Polish roots.
Mariusz Pudzianowski has won five times the international competition "the most the strong man in the world". In terms of the number of victories in this tournament, he also holds the record.
The composer Chopin was a Pole born near Warsaw.
Maria Skłodowska Curie was a Polish woman, she received the first two Nobel Prize, together with her husband Pierre Curie, opened chemical element polonium, which was named after Poland.
The Pole was also Nicolas Copernicus, the author of the heliocentric theory, which states that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Element number 112 (Copernicus) is named after Copernicus, as well as a crater on the Moon, a crater on Mars, an asteroid, many streets and squares in the world, as well as in Ukraine, a genus of palms in Brazil, many monuments were erected to him, named after him University of Torun. The original treatise Copernicus sold at Christie's in 2008 for $2.2 million. The Germans also consider Copernicus "their own".
Poland has the highest level of secondary education in Europe - almost one hundred percent of the population attended and graduated from schools.
