Geography
Poland is a country located in Eastern Europe. The total area of the country is 312,658 km². From the north, Poland is washed by the Baltic Sea. See Poland abbreviations.
Poland borders Germany in the west, Slovakia in the south, Czech Republic in the southwest, Ukraine in the southeast, Belarus in the east, Lithuania in the northeast, and Russia in the north.
In the northern and western parts of the country there are lowlands, territorially occupying more than 3/4 of Poland. In the southern and southeastern parts they are replaced by the Silesian-Małopolska Upland with the Świętokrzyskie Mountains and the flat Lublin Upland. A little further south are the Carpathian and Sudeten ridges, along which the southern border of Poland stretches.
In the meridional direction, the territory of Poland is crossed by large rivers of the country – the Odra with tributaries of the Bubr, Nysa-Luzhitskaya, Warta, and the Vistula with tributaries of the Bug, Veps, San.
Off the coast of the country, the Baltic Sea forms the Vistula, Gdansk and Szczecin bays. Here are the main ports of Poland – Szczecin, Gdynia and Gdansk.
The southern mountainous border is divided into two zones: in the southwest – the Sudetes and in the south – the Carpathians. Between them is the passage of the Moravian Gates – a small depression, which was previously used mainly for trade links between southern and northern Europe.
The Sudetes are low mountains located along the border of the Czech Republic and Poland. The maximum height of the mountains reaches 1520 meters. In these mountains, near the cities of Kłodzko and Walbrzych, there is the Lower Silesian coal basin.
The Carpathians are located east of the Moravian Gates. In general, these mountains are higher than the Sudetes, the maximum height in the High Tatras reaches 2499 meters.
Climate
According to 800zipcodes, the climate in the country is temperate, with transitions from maritime to continental. January temperature averages -1…-5 °C, in mountainous areas up to -8 °C. In July, the average temperature is +17…+19 °C, in mountainous areas up to +10 °C.
Basically, the climate of Poland is influenced by oceanic masses coming from the west, colliding with the cold air of Russia and Scandinavia, as well as the warmest subtropical air masses from the south.
The average rainfall in the lowlands ranges from 500 to 600 millimeters per year, in mountainous areas up to 1000 millimeters per year in some places.
In the northern part of Poland, the maximum amount of precipitation falls in the summer, in the southern part – in the winter.
Capital of Poland: Warsaw
Major cities in Poland: Krakow, Lublin, Gdansk, Katowice, Lodz, Poznan, Szczecin, Wroclaw
The main resorts in Poland: Beach resorts: Sopot, Jastrzembia Gora, Leba, Kolobrzeg, Jastarnia, Krynica Morska, Miedzyzdroje, Ustka, Swinoujscie, Masurian Islands; Ski: Sudetes: Szklyarska Poremba, Karpacz, Zelenets; Beskids: Shchyrk, Zdroj, Krynica, Vistula; Tatras: Zakopane.
Polish cuisine
The cuisine of Poland is very satisfying, it is distinguished by a large number of dishes with butter, sour cream, fried foods are preferred to boiled ones. Traditional Polish cuisine borrowed some of the culinary preferences of European peoples: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, Austria, the Baltic states and some other countries.
Products used by Poles for cooking national dishes: meat (pork, veal, chicken, duck, goose, hare), vegetables (cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, beets, peppers, onions), fish (herring, pike, carp, bream, cod, tench, pike perch), mushrooms, dairy products (sour cream, cheese, cottage cheese), dough products.
National dishes of Poland:
- Meat dishes: loin baked with potatoes with onion sauce; roast veal; veal brains with herb seasoning; fried tripe with a side dish of boiled vegetables “flaki”; chicken meat stewed in sour cream with peppers and tomatoes; “kachka” – fried duck; “pozhibroda” – smoked breast with cabbage; “ges” – goose cooked with apples. Also popular in the country are meat served with sour cream sauce “zraj”, goose neck with minced meat, “cutlet shabovi” – pork cutlets, pork chop served in breading, “golonka” – pork leg served with pea puree, in In national restaurants, you can try wild boar roast. Sausages enjoy special honor in Poland, hare meat pate, ham with horseradish, stuffed cabbage, the most famous dish is bigos – different types of meat with sauerkraut and smoked meats. Poles prefer fried meat.
- Soups. A large number of various soups are prepared in the country: “botvinka” – vegetable soup made from beets, “kapusnyak” – from cabbage, “krupnyak” – soup with potatoes, vegetables and cereals, “rosol” – broth with cape and dumplings (pieces of bread), “Zurek” is a soup made from sour cream, “Zachka” is a noodle soup, “Chernina” is a soup with goose blood, as well as cucumber soup, Polish cabbage soup, fish soup and borscht.
- Traditional fish dishes: baked pike, fish with horseradish, fish salad with herring, herring with sour cream sauce, “holiday Polish carp” – carp head, bream or tench with a special Polish sauce, fish meatballs with cucumber sauce – gherkins, fish roll from zander, cod and other fish dishes.
- Vegetable dishes: sliced cucumbers with sour cream, honey, pepper, potato salad with beans, beetroot salad, pumpkin fritters with sausage, salad with horseradish and apples, “red cabbage” – salad with red cabbage. The potato is widespread. It is prepared both fried and boiled. Pancakes are baked from potatoes, served with sour cream and onions.
- In Polandthey love dishes with mushrooms, boiled they are added to soups. Mushrooms are also fried, stewed, salted, marinated with spices.
- Bakery products: dumplings (“pulpets”) – flour balls, are added to many dishes, “cheesecakes” – cottage cheese pancakes, “feathers” – pies made from potatoes, cheese, mushrooms, “lasan” served with greaves, “ears” with various fillings, “casserole”.
National Polish desserts are “mazurek” – cake, “poppy seed”, pretzels with the addition of poppy seeds, nut roll made of sand text, gingerbread, gingerbread, jams.
From non-alcoholic drinks, Poles use juices, kissels and kvass.
Vodka (“ Vyborova ”, “Zubrovka”, “Zhytna”), tinctures ( “Myslivska”, “Karamelevka”, “porter”, “orange”), beer (“Zywiec”, “Okocim”, “Lezajsk”), brandy (“winniac”, “slivovitz”).
