Country’s full name: The Republic of Poland   National flag: Color: top - white, bottom - red                Language: Polish Population: 38 mln Capital city: Warsaw (1,7 mln citizens) Poland is the 9th biggest country in Europe, and 63rd in the world. Neighbouring countries (border length):     * Russia (Kaliningrad District) (210 km)     * Lithuania (103 km)     * Byelorussia (416 km)     * Ukraine (529 km)     * Slovakia (539 km)     * Czech Republic (790 km)     * Germany (467 km)     * Length of sea border  (528 km)

Poland's territory accounts for 1.4 percent of Europe's total surface area, and for 0.23 percent of the world's land masses. Poland is 120 times bigger than Liechtenstein and 520 times bigger than Singapore. The Voivodeship of Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) is exactly the size of Belgium.

Total length of national border   3582 km

Time: GMT/UTC plus one hour

Money and exchange of currency.
The Polish obligatory currency is the polish zloty (PLN). From the years of system tranformation, the PLN holds relatively stable course of dollar and euro. On the market there are banknotes with nominals: 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 PLN, and coins: 1, 2 and 5 PLN, and also 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 gr. The Grosz is one hundreth of zloty. The most safe places to exchange currencies are banks, although they offer lower prices than others, and some of them collect manipulative charges( about 2-3% per transaction). Better courses are offered in currency exchange offices.

Visas in Poland
Before you travel to Poland, be sure to have a passport that will be valid for the length of your stay. Citizens from the UK are permitted to stay in Poland for up to 6 months without obtaining a visa. USA, Canadian, as well as most European citizens, can stay in Poland for up to 90 days without a visa. Bulgarian, Estonian, Mongolian, Romanian, and Macedonian citizens can enter Poland for 30 days without a visa.

Using Credit Cards and Travelers' Checks in Poland
Higher quality restaurants, hotels, and shops will accept widely recognized credit cards (Visa, American Express, JCB, Eurocard, and Mastercard), though it is good to have cash in reserve for minor transactions. Travelers' checks are widely accepted in Poland, though they can only be exchanged for zloty at banks.

Climate - temperate.
Four distinct seasons of the year. Autumn - very colourful, sunny, rainy towards the end, a good time for lovers of forest walks. Due to the capricious nature of the weather Poles regularly watch the TV weather forecast.

Health services
Better to buy insurance cover, as private treatment is expensive. There is a full range of drugs in the pharmacies. Some countries have reciprocal contracts with Poland for free treatment on the national health service for their citizens.

Telephones
The whole country is within range for mobile telephones. Fixed-line calls, especially international ones are among the most expensive in Europe.

E-mail
You can use email in Internet cafes found in all the larger towns and cities. Most companies have email and private use is becoming more and more widespread.

Safety
Crime rates are among the lowest in Europe. Better, however, not to go in the evening to places tour guides and friends have warned you about. Purse-snatching doesn't really figure large, though it is necessary to be on the look-out for pick-pockets, especially in crowded trams, buses and trains.

Electric plugs -  220V 50 Hz C & E :

Polish Traditional Foods
Polish traditional food, a cuisine that was suppressed during Communist times, is now making a comeback. Polish traditional foods consists of traditional Slavic fare, but also has influences from Italy and France that date back to the medieval Polish court. The Polish traditional foods you will encounter today are flavorful, hearty, and complex, but they have a lighter side, too.

Polish traditional food features many soups, made with mushrooms, broth, and beets. But imagine, if you will, a hearty hunter’s stew that is a meal in itself. This stew, called bigos is a combination of cabbage, mushrooms, and various meats—traditionally pork, bacon, and delicious Polish sausage, but today bigos may also contain venison or duck.

Pierogi have long been a traditional Polish food staple. They may have come from Russia in the Middle Ages, but they are as Polish as Polish food gets. Dough filled with cheese, potatoes, onions, cabbage, mushrooms, meat (or almost any other ingredient, savory or sweet, that you can think of), pierogi are served steaming hot boiled or fried and are accompanied by sour cream. Homemade pierogi are a special treat that even the pickiest eater will beg for more.

Zrazy is Polish traditional food that will stick to your ribs. A filling of bacon, breadcrumbs, mushrooms, and cucumber is rolled inside a seasoned slice of sirloin beef then fried or grilled to allow the flavors to mingle. With a side of mizeria, or cucumber salad, you’ll have a meal bursting with all the flavors of the best Polish traditional food. This chilled salad is composed of thinly-sliced cucumbers, sprigs of dill, and chopped onion in a sour cream and lemon juice dressing.

Fish dishes are also popular, especially in regional Polish traditional food. Carp, pike, perch, eel, and sturgeon are all popular and served in various ways. Pork is the most common meat in traditional Polish cuisine, but chicken, beef, venison, duck, and other meats are seen on restaurant menus today.

For desert, Polish meals will include Polish cheesecake, or sernik, apple tarts (szarlotka), makowiec (a sponge cake with a poppyseed filling), or eklerka (éclairs). Bakeries in Poland will have many of these sweet pastries and deserts to choose from, so be sure to try them all!