My visit to Poland - Likes & Dislikes.

I have alot to say about Poland. First of all Warsaw. welll warsaw was not beautiful or attractive. it had a communist feel to it and only nthe foreigners or young people where friendly. anyone doing business with you looked miserable.that whole area of Pooland wasnt too pretty. I had stayed with some people who were selfish they wher5e the worst host. then I went to Gniesno. that is a nice city not too big or not too much to do. I saw all the sights. its good for a few dyas stayed with a friend there. then going to Greece for 10 days I had driven through katowice which looks so dirty. as we drove through wadowice beisko biela and the slesia malopolska region, I thought that it was so beautiful my goodness very beautiful landscaping and the houses and cities. after I came from Greece I went to Szczecin to visit my boyfriends family. they where really cool we had fun and that city was beautiful i loved it there.What i likie about Poland.

The food is good.transportaion is excellent. there is alot of pubs and bars.the southern and western part is beautiful.the weather and music and of course the fashion was great I got alot of stuff from Poland.

What I dislike about Poland.
How the people,s mentality is most of whom I meet and stayed with are not patient or understanding and rude or dont know English.the graffitti I seen in the cities.some of the towns look so depressing.some places you can only drink bottled water. alot of them give you a hard time if you buy something and have to return it and their cheapness.

the best people I got along with was my boyfriends family, the young people and other foriegners that where there.I was glad to get back to the USA made me realize what a good country I live it.

to me if you are disabled or dont speak their language then its not a country for them.its a country to visit for a week or too. there is good and bad there but it depends on who youa re.

Did you like Greece?


Conclusion:Poland is not a good place for a foreign woman.

I never found Warsaw attractive either but I am told, on good authority by friends, that there are some rocking spots, I have not seen any so far and share your view.


I've never been, Poznan was the closest I have been to there and I wasn't mad about the place, although it was nice.


I have to agree, I live between Zakopane and Krakow and I think it is the nicest part of Poland that I have seen. Although Augustow looks really nice too, I have only driven through it 7 million times without stopping for long.



I don't really understand your point about speaking English, it is Poland, people here speak Polish. Would you think it too much for a Polish person to go to the U.S and expect to be greeted in Polish?


I wonder which regular member is so bored tonight they have to resort to trolling...
Oh, yeah that's right, I don't care.

I just hope it was a typo... :)

I can't tell if you liked your visit to Poland or no. Maybe only for two weeks, eh? It's hard staying in a place when you don't know the language. If very few people speak your language, you can have a very trying time and can feel isolated.

Pots and Kettles sweetie pie..Learn to write and speak your own langauge properly before criticizing others.

Well Ive been 3 times and loved it..Apart from a few miserable shop assistants and a lazy bar staff I couldnt really say anything negative.


How could any one not..good weather, the best food ever and happy smiling people :D


Its not hard, its all part of the experience of travelling, if I wanted to hear English everywhere I'd go Margate for my holidays ;0)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margate

Yes.


True.


Now they don't smile so much.Damn the IMF.

You get this a lot here in the states, huh.

:p

It is hard if you don't speak their language and they don't speak yours. How else are you goingn to communicate with people? Why do you think everything is written in French, English and Spanish? It's so people will be less confused.


Only near the southern border.

When I hear the nice slavic sounds I know I am in the right place.

The same to you.


As a born Krakovian, I find Warsaw extremely attractive.

like everywhere including North Korea !

One of the top ugliest Polish cities. Milion people, million views ;)


Things that make us feel more westernized ;)

ans she was so excited about going to Poland..
LAgirl, sometimes the memories grow fonder with time.. anything else, that was a pleasant surprise in Poland?

No they do not.Calm down Poles not everyone has to like Poland.It is just her opinion.Whatever.I am a Pole and I do not like many aspects of life in Poland.No need to go on defensive when someone is saying what could be improved.Just listen,you don't need to apply everything(surely Poland will not switch to English just so bloody foraigners can have any idea what is happening around them) but some points may be worth to be considered.Chill out,there is no perfect country and Poland could be much better.

But I like graffitti so what could be improved (in Olsztyn)?
More walls designed for graffitti artists?

I'm a Greco-Pole and I prefer Poland over Greece. Mainly because I like central europe and it's climate better and I seem to get a long with the people there better. I mean Greece is great for me for your cliche' hot-beaches, drunk and wild parties, historical attraction vacations like in Italy or France.


Bad food :-( It gives me diarrhea...pierogies on the other hand ;-)

grubas


Exactly, you shouldn't feel so sensitive about criticism. Poland is Poland. I like to travel to Europe because it's so different from the States, totally different. And the parts of Europe that I like best are those areas that most reflect the local culture.

Greece, that's what I didn't like about Greece, everybody speaks English. Even the billboards are in English.

Amathyst


Nay, the Yorkshire coast. Scarborough, Robin Hood Bay.

What always amazed me is that the foreigners in Poland usually complain that the Poland is not like their home country.

For instance: Poles don't speak English. Outrage! Or that you can't just return purchased item to the store, simply because you changed your mind. People don't smile all the time. Washing machines are different. And there is no maple syrup. Can you imagine THAT?

Once I've heard a comment that apart from McDonald's - everything in Poland sucks. And of course - In the US McDonald's is far better.

that is where my cousins live :)

I too have visited Warszawa recently. I thought the city was great. Very clean, along with plenty of beautiful architecture and full of interesting history. One thing that bothered me though, was the permitting of cigarette smoking in many public places. Cough, cough.

The weather and food are the two criteria that prevent me from ever returning to Greece. Too hot, too much seafood; vomit-inducing in every aspect. Different strokes for different folks...


Ahhh, my home town. How glad I am to have swapped its urban decay and potato-faced population for Warsaw...

maybe you should first learn polish?

Considering that English is taught fairly early on in schools here, you'd expect a bit of English from anyone under 40... In the same way that I'd expect them to know basic math... English isn't a second language, it's more of a basic skill that allows you to work and vacation..


Would you suggest learning Hungarian before visiting Budapest? Italian before going to Rome?

Like it or not English is the international language of tourism as well as business - whether a visitor to Poland is from LA, Helsinki or Bucharest their language of communication is going to be English.

If a country wants to develop as a tourist destination - and Poland probably has a potentially greater source of income here IMO - people who do (or could) derive any of their income from tourists need to speak at least some English.

Of course if people don't want repeat visits from tourists, that's fine. Poles should not feel under any pressure to speak English - it's Poland and Polish is the language - but the simple fact is that a lack of spoken English will stunt tourism revenue.

hi teffle,
english, first of all, is language of international business, and it isn't so popular when talking about tourism. have you ever seen germans, russians, french, etc speaking english on their holidays?

knowledge of english isn't so common in continental europe - eg. in germany. try to talk english there with staff on gas stations or in shops. the same with hungary, even in budapest.

in mine opinion it is quite rude to criticize foreigners for not knowing my native language.

Yes. Just head down to the lobby of the Hilton in Warsaw, they check-in...po angielsku.

I don't speak Hungarian, and I do just fine in Pecs and Debrecen.


It's not criticizing foreigners for not knowing my native language, it's criticizing people for not knowing the international language that they studied for 8 years in school. Would you criticize someone that couldn't do basic math?

Not to each other but generally yes, to people in their host country.


Not my experience at all. The French are a bit different though.


Well I'm not criticising anyway.

Yes, I also think so when it's about tourists. It's silly to expect from someone who's coming to Poland for a couple of days to learn not the easiest language. Although when I'm visiting some foreign country I usually try to learn a couple of basic phrases useful while asking about directions, shopping, etc. (and I would do that if I were coming to Hungary too).

Well, I remember that when I was in Venice (swarming with tourists) and I went to a post office just behind St. Mark's Square (!) there was only one guy who spoke English and so I was able to buy stamps but when I came back after I finished writing postcards the guy was gone and the ladies weren't able to tell me (and other tourists) where I can send those postcards ;) It was quite a long time ago, but I was a bit surprised ;)

Btw, I've never thought of Poland as an obvious and attractive tourist destination, but I agree that in some places popular with tourists it's a good idea for the staff in shops, post offices or whatever to learn some English. At the same time there are in my opinion more important reasons to learn English (finding a job, for example) than being able to communicate with tourists.

And it will change with time - now kids learn English in schools (I had to learn Russian) and the same is with teenagers and students and in the future they will be able to communicate with tourists in English to some extent.

Teffle, you are actually wrong on that one. German is the international language of tourism when it comes to those within the industry as they have the biggest bureaus. Trust me, my wife is a manageress in the industry. A bit like America having no official governmental language.

Oh, tow-stalin made a good point.

Most Poles just aren't as open as Americans and tend to be very boring in comparison. The Americans here were very adventurous and liked to smile a lot. It can be a yawnathon here but there are those that provide hope.