Poland
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A Photo Tour of Katowice: Street Art, Neons, and Architecture
Katowice is where your childhood dreams of living in space, like the Jetsons family, can come true. While there are no flying taxis, the city has its own ‘flying saucer’, non-pneumatic (yet!) glass elevators, and the Cosmos Cinema (Kino Kosmos). At night, the neon-lit streets are full of little alien-like figures called Beboks. Fans of the space age and modernism will never tire of exploring the city’s out-of-this-world architectural gems. I visited Katowice for the European Science Open Forum 2024, held at the International Conference Centre (which sits on an old mining waste dump site!). It was my first time in the city, and during the day, I soaked up presentations about transformation, innovation,…
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Cracow Museum Marathon
Cracow – a city where every corner whispers history. And what better way to unveil the secrets of its past and present than to run a museum marathon? Every day, different museums offer free entry with Tuesdays featuring the most attractive selection. And the great news is that many of them are located within or close to the Old Town, so it is possible to just walk from one place to another. From Chelmonski to da Vinci From outside a beautiful palace, inside a modern exhibition space – Czartoryski Museum is displaying one of the most expensive art pieces in Polish collections – The Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da…
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Macro photography ideas – Baltic Sea beach
White sand, green water and blue sky – Baltic Sea beaches are raw and cold. The subtle colour palette and a lot of empty space create perfect conditions to experiment with a simple, minimalistic photography style. The challenge is to find the object worth capturing and which isn’t too obvious. Typical photos from the Baltic Sea include sunsets, pier, beaches, shells and boats. What if your camera is already full of such photos and you experience the creative block? Try macro photography! In this post I share my ideas of objects worth shooting. Sand There is so much of it on the beach that we tend to ignore it. Sand…
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Bieszczady – 4 easy hiking trails
It is another rainy night in Kalnica. The water drops hit the metal roof. It is so dark that there is no difference if your eyes are opened or closed. As every other evening, we think about the next trip, but with a storm expected next day it is hard to plan long hiking high in the mountains. Luckily we have plenty of alternatives, suitable for worse weather, for when we are tired or when we feel like cycling instead of walking. Below I present 4 easy hiking trails in Bieszczady. 1. From Kalnica to Dolzyca The first trail leads from Kalnica to Dolzyca. It is a biking path through…
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Relaxing weekend at the Baltic Sea
Every now and then we all need a break. The best way to rest and forget about everyday issues is to go somewhere far from home. The farther we go the smaller our problems seem to be. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to take a few weeks off and fly to another continent. However, already just a weekend spent on recharging batteries can do wonders. What if we combine a short holiday with practicing mindfulness? It is not just a meditation, but trying to be present in the moment and live life more consciously. It helps to be more focused and ignore distractions. Such holidays, although short, will stay…
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Fall in love with Bieszczady – 24 slow travel ideas
Are you not tired of busy touristic locations full of people taking selfies? Fortunately, a new trend is being born that goes against that – slow travel. There is no clear definition of what slow travel is. Everyone understands it differently. However, there are some common ideas. It includes visiting a new site with an open mind, no planning. Quality of experience is over quantity. It should help you embrace a moment. For some people it’s their natural traveling style, others still need to learn. And I think I found a perfect place to practice slow traveling – Bieszczady. Bieszczady is a mountain range in the south-east of Poland. Wild…
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Looking for a sand in SANDomierz
Do you remember Don Matteo cycling on the roads of Gubbio? Poland has its own priest-detective, who solves crimes. Ojciec Mateusz (Father Matthew) rides a bike in Sandomierz. Together with the local police unit, he became one of the famous TV stars. Sandomierz is a small town in Eastern Poland with more than 1000 years of history. It is located close to where the river San meets the longer polish river – Vistula (more than 1000 km long). Recently it is frequently visited by fans of “Ojciec Mateusz”. Here are my 10 tips on what to visit and do to have an unforgettable time. 1. Explore the Old Town Walk…
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Ustka Mini Guide
Wind in your hair, golden sand in your shoes and gentle sun on a face – summer at the Baltic Sea. We visited Ustka for the first time in 2002 and since then we are there almost every summer. In this very personal Mini Guide I show what we fell in love with in this city and what makes us come back. Ustka is divided into east and west part by the Słupia river and the harbour. We always stay in the western part, because it is less popular, so way calmer. When we want to experience a bit more crazy city life we just go to the eastern part…
