Travel / Cost of taxi in Wroclaw [5]

A quick look on the internet shows a few between 2.25 and 2.50 per km (plus the initial 4.50 to 6zl). This is more or less around the Warsaw rate except in Warsaw you don't get as cheap as 4.50 for the starting price.I did notice a company that was more expensive.

Here's a price list, firm by firm for Wroclaw:
mmwroclaw.pl/artykul/radio-taxi-wroclaw-sprawdz-ceny-taksowek-we-wroclawiu,2886912,art,t,id,tm.html

Work / Does Poland welcome overseas workers as much as the UK does? [34]

Someone who has settled permanently in another country is very much an immigrant. It may not sound as posh as expat (generally meaning a temporary resident, there for work only), but that's the way it is.


In that case we almost certainly have friends in common.


Many of the expats left due to the economic downturn at home. Those French who have stayed are the immigrants, with homes and families in PL


More than just 'some', really quiet a lot. That's how I originally came to PL all those years ago, as a language trainer to senior army officers.


In the capital and certain other places, probably more than you think.

Work / Does Poland welcome overseas workers as much as the UK does? [34]

Yes, it's the money that's the biggest factor - it isn't as easy to make a good living and there isn't the same social safety net. I'd disagree about language teachers not settling though. You'd be surprised how many have married and had kids in PL and are there for the duration. Some for 20+ years already and I can think of a couple who've been there since PRL days.

There are a few foreign-born doctors in PL, a larger French community than one might expect, a few people from Cuba, a thriving Vietnamese community, an Indian community in the south of Warsaw as well as a growing population from Turkey and parts of the Arab world especially running small businesses.

The official stats aren't reliable since the national census is taken inefficiently, immigrants from certain counties often instinctively avoid officialdom where possible and in any case Poland being in Schengen means the borders are more fluid.

Travel / Hotel / Hostel in Wroclaw in the city centre - any recomendations? [13]

Merged: Hotels in Wroclaw?

Can anybody commend a good hotel in or very very near to the Old Town in Wroclaw?

I've only ever been there on flying visits and last time I stayed it was out of town a bit. This time we're just going for a nice weekend.

One of us has mobility issues so we do want somewhere very central and it should be a decent hotel although no need to be 5 or even 4 star since we'll be out and about for most of the time. Price isn't as important as location.

Travel / New rule if you board a train without a ticket in Poland [24]

Nope - it's in their rules for certain trains. Have you ever got on a night train without a ticket or reservation?

Travel / Cost of taxi in Wroclaw [5]

3pln seems expensive. In the capital it's 1.80 to 2.40 with a few Mafia taxis charging more (plus high end ones closer to a limo service).

If in doubt, discuss the price with the driver first and always use a radio taxi.

Study / Studying in University of Lodz as an Indian student? What's the city like - is it safe here? [56]

The grid of streets in £ódź is one of the things that gives the city its unique atmosphere - much nicer in my opinion than, say, Zakopane. Most Poles would disagree with that...

Also it was a planned industrial town (and compared to its contemporary Middlesbrough in the UK a beautiful one). It has a kind of faded elegance and does feel like what it was - the westernmost city in the Russian Empire yet built by Germans.

People do spoil some of the buildings with plastic windows and satellite dishes. This should be banned. Saltire and New Lanark are UNESCO World Heritage Sites due to their architectural unity and importance in the country's industrial heritage - £ódż should be a contender for this however I can't see that happening just yet and by the time anyone looks at it the damage may well have been done.

Work / Does Poland welcome overseas workers as much as the UK does? [34]


To answer your first question, no. More to do with high unemployment meaning that most immigration is by people with highly specialised skills or by business people.

To answer your second question, the answer is that relatives and friends of people who work in the labour exchange hear about the vacancies first. Also, they employ the cheapest regardless of nationality. That and the fact that relatively few foreigners speak Polish.


They know about those clowns in Poland and have their own too - but people are generally too sensible to give them the time of day.


None the worse for that. Poland was similarly a 'melting pot' until relatively recently and it won't be any bad as that returns. As is happening slowly but steadily now.

Work / Any Speed School of English in Poland? [54]

Yet another spurious review, written in the same style as the others. Don't they realise that this is actually the opposite of an advert? It definitely doesn't inspire any confidence in them.

At a quick glance, 4 obvious language points (and a couple more debatable) in one short email that indicate it wasn't written by a native speaker of English...

Travel / New rule if you board a train without a ticket in Poland [24]

Not all trains that leave Poland. On some it's absolutely forbidden and you will be put off the train at the next station. On others, it's at the conductor's discretion, usually depending on how full it is.

Life / Polish people are miserly?? [25]


They say wire was invented by a Krakowiak and a Poznaniak fighting over a 1 grosz coin.


Not złotówki?

Travel / New rule if you board a train without a ticket in Poland [24]

For local trains, always check the date on the ticket. They sometimes try to sell you ones they'd printed by accident which makes for problems when the tickets are inspected it's treated as if you have no ticket and you have to pay the surcharge. This is especially important if you've got a foreign accent since they assume you won't notice.

Life / Little-known facts about Poland [45]

Plenty of those all around.

Also in Poland there are no letterboxes in the 'hole in the door' sense.

Life / Little-known facts about Poland [45]

Or why there are bathrooms with no window, even on an external wall...

Life / Little-known facts about Poland [45]

The slathering ketchup on pizza is alive and well, but in the more expensive places they make their own. Garlic sauce too. And look surprised when you don't want any (plus stare when you don't eat it with a knife and fork)!

Law / Money with ZUS - what happens to it when I leave Poland and come back home? [23]

Better to pay it than get it back. Could be useful one day.

The same with ZUS.

Travel / New rule if you board a train without a ticket in Poland [24]

My point entirely. Much cheaper to buy beforehand, queuing in Polish stations isn't as chaotic as it used to be (though there are stil 'moments') and buying on line is easy.

Plus if you do have to buy from the conductor it's very likely he or she will have no change.

Life / Little-known facts about Poland [45]

Your points in order:
1. Glad you agree he was a German. Not even the nuttiest nationalist crank would describe him as Polish.
2. No, there are two much older. Neither is Iceland's. One still (and always) legally in force.
3. This isn't about Americans. All of Europe and most of the world do it the same way as Poland.

The last point is related to your favourite topic. Analogous to Scottish sportsmen being British when they win and Scottish when they lose, there are plenty of people who would deny that somebody Jewish is fully a Pole but doesn't mind the list of Nobel prize winners which would otherwise be rather small.

There are a few other questionable ones on that list - it looks like it was written by teenagers from elsewhere in Europe. Looking at the site I'd guess the former Yugoslavia.

Travel / New rule if you board a train without a ticket in Poland [24]

According to their own website it's 650. Plus the cost of a ticket, about 300 on top:
intercity.pl/en/site/about-company/about-the-company/news/z-express-intercity-premium-podroz-zacznij-od-biletu.html

Life / Polish people are miserly?? [25]

I buy mine because I'm not tied to a network. I think people in PL often do the same, or alternatively. they have contracts like 'mix' where you often have to pay something if use over a small limit or want the latest or the blingiest model. Without actually having enough money left to make calls or use date transfer on them. Most people in PL would want to pay less than 70zl a month.

All about show really. Not really miserliness, more keeping up appearances against a background of necessary thrift. Still annoying sometimes.

Travel / New rule if you board a train without a ticket in Poland [24]


650zl to be precise.

A bad idea to try boarding the EIC to Berlin without a ticket either.

Life / Polish people are miserly?? [25]

One thing that's long irritated me is certain people I know in PL who have fancy smartphones but either can't afford to use them (just sending those sygnałki which are downright rude) or have to change their sim before sending a text message so they get it free.

In some cases, yes, it's meanness. In other cases, no, because people do often have tight budgets in PL and without that thrift they wouldn't be able to afford a holiday.

Life / Little-known facts about Poland [45]

Some of these are spurious to say the least. Hevelius did live in PL however he was of German (and possibly some British) background and unlike Niklaus Copernicus Poland doesn't claim him to be Polish. There are other similar things like pointing out that the ground floor is called the ground floor and not the first which is upstairs. This is normal for most of the world and hardly a 'little-known fact' about Poland.

Also the 'first constitution' in Europe isn't Poland's. Nor was Copernicus the first person to suggest the solar system is heliocentric - he was the first to mathematically prove an existing theory.

Several other howlers too.

Travel / New rule if you board a train without a ticket in Poland [24]

Do you know how much the fine is on EIP?

I suppose if you're in a desperate hurry it could be worth it, but frankly easier and often cheaper to fly.

It's also quite large on the EIC.

Life / Polish people are miserly?? [25]


Very much so. Just the same.

Worth remembering that many people are asset rich and cash poor, meaning the two flats in town, the bungalow in the countryside, the over-expensive car and the iPhone may make them look like they can afford to buy a round of drinks but in fact they're living on kielbasa so they can make the credit payments.

Travel / New rule if you board a train without a ticket in Poland [24]

That's true, and the fine is large.

News / Korwin Mikke: re-badged American Jews pushing Poland into war [33]


All of that good. All drama, but unlike that clown Korwin-Mikke, no malice either.


A highly dodgy website and a highly dodgy far-right conspiracy theorist. Not taken seriously except by ultra-nationalists and/or people who believe that lizards and ancient aliens control the earth.

The bit about Lucifer and pretending Rupert Murdoch is Jewish should be a clue.

Really Pol3, you are obsessed with these people.

News / Korwin Mikke: re-badged American Jews pushing Poland into war [33]

Easily.
One's a clown and the other's a self-made millionaire who challenges the established political culture.

One means well. The clown Korwin-Mikke doesn't.
One generally knows when to stop. The idiot Korwin-Mikke doesn't.
One has launched the careers of several respected public figures like the popular and effective Mayor of Słupsk. The fool Korwin-Mikke hasn't.
One hasn't stabbed himself and blamed a mystery Chinese assassin. The embarrassing Korwin-Mikke has.
One didn't deliberately use the word n*gg*r in the European Parliament, The oaf Korwin-Mikke did.

Food / POLISH RECIPES! [287]


I don't believe you as it happens. Cooking, whatever the countries involved is a process of constantly borrowing, adapting and improving. Choucroute Polonnaise is an improvement on bigos, brought back by soldiers who'd served in the Grand Armée.


Double rubbish. Either ignorance, trolling or both. It has nothing to do with anybody's wife; it was based on an old family recipe, and if you google it, you'll notice how bizarre your second 'point' is - it's actually very well-known throughout France and beyond.

It would be interesting to know the original Polish recipe and what the nearest equivalent is in PL today.

Food / POLISH RECIPES! [287]

Because they adapted it over the years to local tastes and ingredients. The origin is Polish and it moved west after the Napoleonic wars.

Tarts Tropezienne, about as French as it gets also has its origins in Poland, though not now recognisable as a Polish recipe.