I have been talking to a friend who now resides in Zielona Góra (dolnośląskie) and he tells me how his home town is now an interesting mishmash of new buildings with the occasional English word, and old buildings some of which are nearly falling down. In his section, its apparently 50%/50% new/old with new buildings often beside old/crumbling ones.
My family in Eastern Poland, in one of the towns near Sandomierz (Świętokrzyskie), mention how their town and the region has gotten better - there are discotheques, new bars, modern buildings, etc.. its not dreary, but its still mostly old.
The Western parts seem to have more verve/life/development/HOPE then the East.
Or am I wrong? Is it just these two places, or is there a continuum of less as you go East?
That's an interesting point, I was myself wondering the same as you.
I'm just back from a trip that took me to Wroclaw, then Krakow and finally to Gdansk.
Wroclaw has now such a nice motorway starting straight in Zgorzelec. I remember the old times when we had to drive on the national road up to Legnica until we could get onto the motorway. Also at that time the motorway to Gliwice/Katowice was just a blaspheme to the shocks of the car - and it's so smooth now.
Gdansk is such a clean city now, with huge crowds of tourists (sigh) and all historical buildings seem in a good shape.
I had already visited the cities above a few years ago and found that, although they were looking good before, they look even better now (or is that nostalgia?).
On the other hand I had never been to Krakow, and it seemed lagging behind in terms of infrastructure and shape of buildings (but better food and music!).
I must say I spent only 2 days in Krakow so that impression that I got might be wrong.
It's because - mostly - of historical reasons. We know the differencies but we are very homogeneous country and completely do not feel like a being divided. :) It's just variety of Poland regions :)
A Poland - the western part is developed a bit better. Now - differencies are fading away
Pomiędzy Polską A i B istnieje różnica.
Głównie jest ona spowodowana przyczynami historycznymi. Rozumiemy te różnice, ale jesteśmy bardzo jednolitym krajem i nigdy nie czujemy się rozdzieleni. Traktujemy to po prostu jako różnorodność polskich regionów :)
Polska zachodnia (Poland A) jest nieco lepiej rozwinięta, ale różnice te zanikają obecnie.
the majority of my family lives in the Podlaskie woj., and most of their towns and villages have hardly been touched by modernization since at least WWII.
there are discotheques, new bars, modern buildings, etc.. its not dreary, but its still mostly old.
Some progress as there were not bars or discotheques before. Modern buildings are mostly disgusting and not fitting in, surrounded by classy or even older style buildings - sort of architectural and aesthetic nightmare!
West-East? Have you been to Japan or China? Are they East or West? Maybe the problem lays with your perception.
Merged: Are the eastern areas of Poland more dangerous and less developed? Around Bialystok?
Eastern areas are bordering such countries life Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and even a part of Russia. Undeveloped countries with bad economies, political situations that are questionable, lack of 'western' store chains, etc.. I've been there and I know people from there, nobody but the blindly Patriots say that they are great countries. Even 'normal' Patriots say they don't lie it there. But Lithuanian youth is changing opinion a bit lately I noticed.
Anyway, so I wonder if the situation in around the parts around bialystok are as bad, or are they as good as the rest of Poland? (I only know about the western parts which are as good as western countries)
Ps. please don't take offense, my goal was to explain why I think what I think currently and what I want to know...
If you divided Poland into less developed and more developed, these areas would be definitely in "less developed" part but there's no simple east/west division like some seem to think. Go more than 50 km away from Warsaw in any direction and it's "poor" there too.
East is typically less developed. The neighbours are less developed mainly due to govermental structure I agree and not only today but for eons. That was always a given for me, like something one just knows without having to think about it. The other thing is there was always a lot of wilderness that way, vast amounts when poland reached the ukis, so far less urban by a long way.
Anything close to or with good access to the German border tends to do well. Wroclaw and Szczecin are well supported. You are getting a lot of investment in those two cities from the likes of Warsaw and Krakow, thats private Polish money looking for a home.
Anything close to or with good access to the German border tends to do well.
Sorry but you are using cheap stereotypes here. Szczecin has been 3rd tier city since many years. Actually most of ex-German areas are rather poor and often underpopulated. Go drive from Gdańsk to Szczecin and you will hardly see anything on the way and that's the area of a friggin Belgium.
Horizontally speaking, It's central Poland that is better developed, peripheral areas on both sides (+ a lot in the north) are falling behind.
The one time I was there (many years ago) I was surprised to see what a dump it was. One of the most poorly maintained cities I'd ever seen in Poland. Is it any better. One friend's explanation was that they didn't want to make it look too attractive to the Germans across the border....
central Poland that is better developed, peripheral areas on both sides (+ a lot in the north) are falling behind
I pretty much agree with this. Draw a line from Warsaw to Gdańsk, Poznań, Wrocław, Cracow and back to Warsaw. Most of what's inside that area is pretty okay and most of what's not inside it ...... is a lot worse off.
One of the reasons is that they were historically underdeveloped (what was there ever in German central Pomerania or southern East Prussia beyond forests and lakes ? not much) and commies have never really properly carried out "re-integration" of these lands, their major concepts were state owned farms and massive military presence, both gone in 90s. Another is that these are peripheral areas (vs major Polish economic/population centers) and peripheral areas never have it easy, be it peripheral countries in EU/EA, peripheral neighbourhoods in the cities etc. For instance cities often spend huge money to put some crap in the city center/old town, while people in remote areas (unless it's some place where local "VIPs" live) need to petition authorities to get a damn sidewalk built.
Anywhere where its tough to buy property at good prices Id say those are the areas doing well. Money drives money and since we have scared off most foreign capital (for now), you follow the internal investment.
The Western parts seem to have more verve/life/development/HOPE then the East.
you wrong.honestly,when i travel in west Poland i see all those villages and small towns looks poor and dirty to me. or maybe am wrong. but south east Poland, look so much cleaner and nicer.at least smalish towns and villages.i was traveling trough Rzeszow area recently(2 years ago) and i tho this area developed nicely.
Life in the little known parts of Poland What's life like in Suwalki, Elk, Bialystok, Zamosc and Rzeszow
This list looks a bit random. Rzeszów as a little known part of Poland? It`s the capital of Podkarpackie region after all. Zamość is famous for its Old Town so it is quite known too.
I've always wondered why there aren't any large cities in the very South Poland like if Nowy Sącz, Krosno and Sanok were as big as Lublin? Don't tgey have the best climate (most yearly sunchine)? Plus a flight from there to Hungary, Austria and Southern Europe is less long than from/to Warsaw.
