Hotel Copernicus - Krakow, Poland     

Oswięcim (Auschwitz)

Oswiecim is a city of 50thousand population, located at the estuary of the Sola to Vistula River in the southern Oswiecimska Valley.
After the beginning of the II World War, Auschwitz was included into Hitler's Germany and between 1940-45, the largest concentration camp in Poland was there - KL " Auschwitz - Birkenau" (Oswiecim - Brzezinka). It consisted of 3 parts: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II - Birkenau, Auschwitz III - Monowitz, and the whole complex was combined of about 40 smaller units. Originally it was a camp for Polish, Russian, Gypsy and of other nationalities prisoners of war. Since 1942, this place became a witness and the centre of biggest mass extermination of European Jews in history. After deportation to Auschwitz, the prisoners were most frequently transported to gas chambers of Birkenau and then the corpses were cremated.

Wieliczka

Wieliczka is a small town near Cracow founded by the king Przemyslaw II in 1290 and famous since that time for one of the oldest guild of the salt miners and salt industry institution in Europe. Salt Mine Wieliczka is nearly 300km of the underground galleries situated on 9 levels and over 3000 thousand chambers reaching 327 m deep. Among the parts of museum, exhibitions available for tourists are galleries and underground halls, magnificent chapels, salt lakes, original medieval tools and equipment and several salt carvings and murals. Salt Mine Wieliczka was entered to the National Monuments Registry and included in Unesco’s 1st World List of Cultural and Natural Heritage. Recently, it has been acknowledged as the National History Monument.

Zakopane

The winter capital of Poland, a city of some 30 thousand inhabitants, located in the Podtatrzanski Gully surrounded by Tatra massif and Gubalowskie Plateau. The central part of the city is concentrated at the convergence of streams, which form Zakopianska Valley. The town is located at the height of 838 m. Before Zakopane was recognized a tourist resort, it served mainly as an industrial centre based on iron mining and manufacturing - Kuznice. The period between the 19th and 20th c. is the time of development and earning popularity by Zakopane as a place of tourist nad curable values.

Czestochowa

Jasna Gora Sanctuary in Czestochowa
It is the holiest place of Poland and one of the world’s most important destinations for pilgrims. The Jasna Gora (Bright Mount in Polish) sanctuary in Czestochowa, industrial city of 300,000 a ninety minutes’ drive northwest from Krakow, has been Central Europe’s spiritual hub for six centuries and it shows. Every year several million pilgrims – commoners as well as celebrities–come here to pray before the miraculous picture of Our Lady of Czestochowa. The faithful has believed for ages that St. Luke the Evangelist himself painted the divine icon on a tabletop from the Holy Family’s house. Anyway, over the last half-millennium great number of them have had their prayers heard and, grateful, left innumerable votive offerings displayed in the sanctuary.