Greatest Old Towns in Poland

Talking about today`s Polish Old Towns which were designed and built in the Middle Ages. Some survived in good shape, some were destroyed during WW2 and rebuilt afterwards.

Warsaw, Poland castle:

How about posting something less obvious? Warsaw, Cracow, Wroclaw - everyone knows them.

Thanks for appreciation and encouragement!! :):):)


Have you run a survey? Can we see the results? :):):):)

PS. What is wrong with female PF members at the end of the year? Most of them seem to be extremely dissatisfied ...... or unsatisfied..... I don`t know exactly.....

I see you have been let out of the cage...At least she has a personal opinion :)

So have you, monster! Are you going to haunt me again like you did in our past lives????

Wrocław:

The vein of my post wasn't nasty. I just know you have such a broad knowledge and you have travelled across Poland that you could bring something fresh :)

If so, I am sorry! :)


Oh la la, what can I say? You are too good for me.


I promise I will, I will even show the Old Town of Pacanów where they fit goats with horse shoes, but the English say: First things first! and you can`t deny this is also an English forum so we have to follow the English way.....

First things first.
Prov. Do things in the proper order; do not skip things that you should do first. Jill: Should we go to the museum first, or should we go shopping? Jane: I'm hungry. Let's eat lunch before we discuss it. First things first. First things first: read the directions carefully before you try to assemble the bookcase.

idioms.thefreedictionary.com/First+things+first

I like Chojnice personally.

Yes, I liked it too a few years ago though it has too many post-war buildings:

Pawian we all know the ' standard visits ' now gives us some real hidden old town gems.

Zamość?

Guys, why are you so impatient??? Is it the end of the world tomorrow or what? Come on, there is plenty of time. When I start a thread, I expect to run it for months, even years.


Why not??

Kazmierz Dolny: css.umcs.lublin.pl/venue

Guys, come on.....

OK!!!!!! LET IT BE YOUR WAY!

Zamość
Kazimierz Dolny

Piotrków Trybunalski



Kalisz



Leszno



Poznan



Wałbrzych

Kalisz looks the best when seen from the air:

How about ' Wadowice '

Yes, sure, show us the pics!!

Not just pics. This is a discussion forum. Some text would be nice too.



OK, why not.....

Not a too fascinating Old Town, but, whatever....

Toruń. Lovely.

Poznan

Yep, my favorite since I saw it a few years ago.

krakow-executive.com/wadowice-tour.html


A picture is worth a thousand words - Pawian has always been about pictures, give him a break.

Yes, that is my specialty! :):):)


Thanks!! :):)


Of course, this thread is full of not mine pics.I hope it isn`t a problem.


No, you won`t, you are too busy moderating the forum. The only chance for you to see real Poland is here. :):):)


Hey, I read the rules twice but cannot find anything about photos and text?
polishforums.com/rules-privacy-tos/

Where the hell is it?

Edit: I read the rules thrice and still cannot find it. Am I blind?

Nor can I. But I would still ask for some text as this is listed as a discussion forum.

There are two Sącz towns in Poland - Old and New. Both established in 13 century.

Stary Sącz (old)



Nowy Sącz (new)

Rzeszów

16th century was the time of prosperity for the town, especially when Rzeszów belonged to Mikołaj Spytek Ligęza (since 1580s), who invested in infrastructure, building a castle, a Bernardine church and a monastery. Rzeszów then had some 2,500 inhabitants, with a growing Jewish community. The town was granted several royal rights, including the privilege to organize several markets a year. At that time, Rzeszów finally grew beyond its medieval borders, marked by fortifications. A new town hall was built in 1591

In 1638 Rzeszów passed into the hands of the Lubomirski family, becoming the centre of its vast properties. At first, the town prospered and in 1658, first college was opened there, which now is High School Nr 1.

I dont know what happend to some of the links, Pawian you show them some good pics of this town ;)

Linka are broken because they contain this phrase: " title=".

Ask mods to remove it and all will be fine.

Strange. I tried to find a few British Old Towns for comparison and there are practically none which preserved their Medieval character (except for Edinburgh). Or is it me who can`t find them? What`s the matter???????

Being British, it never occurred to me that so much that was old had disappeared from our towns and cities in the name of "progress", until I started to travel and discovered that in some other countries the ethos was more "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I think it was in France that I first saw "compete" old towns and fell in love with their character and the feeling of really being in a place where people had walked for hundreds of years before me. In the UK, so much has been lost to "improvements", books have been written about "lost cities". Great houses have been lost to taxes - grand mansions and castles lost their roofs and deteriorated to shells, as the familes could not afford death duties - often moving into much smaller homes on the land and seeing their ancestral homes disolve before them. Whole swathes of housing in cities throughout the UK were demolished and replaced with blocks of flats, the people hated the loss of their communities and in time the blocks have often become high-rise slums and places where local councils dump their worst tenants.

There are exceptions, and some exceptional places to visit in the UK, but in terms of large areas, like the "old towns" in Poland, they are few. You're much more likely to see a 1,000 year-old cathedral next to a 1960s office block, sadly.

It is really amazing that the Brits allowed the transformation of their Old Towns into ..... shyt......

Yes, progress......

But again I appreciate living in Poland where people may seem conservative but their allegiance to history and tradition is still strong and that`s what I like.

The Old Town of Elbląg, rebuilt from scratch in 2000s.

https://polishforums.com/history/restoration-cities-destruction-32836/2/

PS. Most pics in the post above are mine.

In another member`s thread you can learn about a major Polish city which is considered a shythole by foreigners.

If you want to discuss if the opinion is justified or not, visit the thread: https://polishforums.com/uk-ireland-31/city-moved-britain-63987/.

I am pretty sure £ódź partly deserves its bad reputation to the lack of the Old Town. After all, the city developed in 19 century. I remember staying in £ódź for a few years as a child, about 30 years ago, and later I never visited it except for driving through. No point. Compared to historical Polish cities and towns, £ódź is poor indeed.

I do prefer every small armpit town with medieval design to industrial city of £ódź:

£ódź



Wodzisław:

More about small towns: skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1082605&page=14

Danzig:



Shyt! Why is everything so fekking dark??

Holy cow! I forgot to take off my sunglasses!

Aaaah, now that`s much better.....

pawian, sorry for being anal but as a citizen (well, ex-citizen for an undefined period of time) of Freie Stadt Danzig I'm forced to clarify that we dont have an Old Town. It's called the Main Town. Yes I know this is irrelevant, but...you know.

Yes! I knew it but forgot. But, to be honest, it doesn`t really matter. :):):):) We don`t need to go into such details here. But thank you anyway. :):):)

Breslau - despite heavy WW2 damage and cases of lousy reconstruction, still impressive Old Town.

Wroclaw Poland old town

Isn't there also a bit that is actually called Stare Miasto? A bit north of the Main Town.

Yes, there is, indeed.

Tarnów has a small but very pretty center. Tarnow Poland