Culture and history
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Though Poland claims to have no official religion, the vast majority of the Polish population is Roman Catholic and the country even has a TV channel dedicated to the Pope!
Famous Poles include composer Frederick Chopin, Karol Józef Wojtyla (better known as Pope John Paul ll), novelist Joseph Conrad, art deco artist Tamara de Lempicka, and the co-founder of Marks and Spencer, Michael Marks. If you want to get a flavour of the country, read Olga Tokarczuk’s award-winning House of Day, House of Night, tales weaved around a small village in the countryside, or Stefan Chwin's novel Death in Danzig about a German doctor who stays on in Gdansk at the end of World War ll.
When greeting someone in Poland, a good handshake, eye contact and a smile goes a long way. Among the golden generation, kissing a woman's hand in greeting is considered very courteous.
Local dishes include pierogi, which are delicious little dumplings filled with potato and cheese, meat, mushroom or sauerkraut, blueberries or cherries. Or try bigos, a meat stew, or Golabki, cabbage leaves stuffed with meat and rice. For the sweet-toothed, a belt-busting variety of pastries - including fawoki, twists of fried pastry sprinkled with sugar - are available.
Looking back in time, Poland has its origins in the Slavic tribes of the Middle Ages, and eventually united as a kingdom around the middle of the 11th century. Surrounded on all sides by powerful neighbours, Poland has had a tumultuous time throughout the centuries, attacked and taken over (to varying degrees) by Prussians, the Teutonic Knights of Germany, and later the Ottomans, the Tatars and Russia. Despite such hostilities, Poland remained strong, and the 16th century heralded something of a renaissance in the country, with sciences, arts and music flourishing. Fortunes dipped with invasions from all sides when Austria, Prussia and, most significantly, Russia seized control and occupied Poland for well over 100 years.
With the onset of World War I, the country's fortunes changed again, and as the war drew to a close Poland became a republic. Despite signing nonaggression pacts with Germany and the Soviet Union, Poland was invaded by German troops in 1939, and World War II was set in motion. Just a few short weeks later the Soviet Union invaded Eastern Poland. The war was catastrophic for Poland, its cities lay in ruins and around six million Poles had lost their lives. Soviet control ensued, then after the fall of communism across Eastern Europe the road to democracy and a free market began. Poland joined the European Union in 2004.
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Population and size
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The country’s population clocks in at 38.3 million, which makes it the sixth most populous country in the EU.
At 312,685 square kilometers, Poland is nearly 2.5 times bigger than England.
It shares its borders with no less than seven countries: Russia, Lithuania, Belarus, Slovakia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Germany.
One third of the country is covered with forest, 50% of the land is farmed, there are 9,300 lakes, 23 National Parks and one desert.
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Poland holidays
