Only in Lviv!

Gosia — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 18:20:31 +0000

We’ve been waiting for a trip to L’viv for a long time. This city is a part of long Polish – Ukrainian history. We hadn’t known what to expect there but our visit turned out to be a journey to the past. Having got off at local bus station at 8 o’clock, we saw another reality. This city brought us back to the old, pre-war Warsaw times and resembled Polish conditions around 30 years ago. It was a very important cultural center. Many famous Polish writers, scholars or artists lived here. A lot of Polish prominent figures were buried in the old Lychahiv Cemetery and in the city many monuments are connected with common history. In the city center you can see the most beautiful statue of Adam Mickiewicz – the famous Polish poet. Another Polish artist – Nikifor, who sits in front of Dominican Church. In museums are numerous exhibits important to Polish history and in the Old Town Square are a lot of old Polish townhouses. But on the other hand, we must admit that we didn’t know what to expect there because L’viv was within Polish borders for around 600 years. What’s more, Polish and Ukrainian history was sometimes very rough. To our amazement, after getting into the first restaurant we received Polish language menu and heard Polish old music from late 20’s. And this makes this city amazing. Our difficult relations seem to be a thing of the past. Lvi’v has been a multicultural for years. It has been a city of Polish, Ukrainians , Jews, Russians or Armenian people and this is apparent even nowadays. One can see it in the architecture where Orthodox churches coexist with Catholic ones or even Armenian Cathedral. The city has been trying to catch up with West Europe for years but then again one can get an impression that it got stuck in post – socialist malaise. Bumpy roads, uneven sidewalks, contorted tram tracks or neglected townhouses are common here. To top it all off, chaos in public transport, unmarked stops and routes which remain secret even for local residents. What’s more, public transport facilities are in poor condition and simple activity like tickets validation can be really baffling However this is a charm of this city. During our only 1-day visit, we heard many negative opinions about L’viv. Some people were disappointed by the omnipresent chaos and city and overall city’s condition. To our mind, these things create a unique atmosphere of the place which seems to be locked in a time warp. This city is a one of its kind, we’ll get back here again. ” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]

Artykuł Only in Lviv! pochodzi z serwisu .

Monte Cassino – Passer-by, go tell Poland…

Gosia — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 10:56:01 +0000

Since I remember, I have always been interested in history, especially this connected with WWII. After visiting Monte Cassino, I think that even the best written history of this heroic battle can’t evoke such intensive thoughts and emotions as visit in this place. During ascending to the top of this hill one can realize how strategically important was this location. During WWII it enabled to control a large area of Liri river valley and most of all the route to Rome. On the way to the top it’s well worth visiting The Memorial Museum of the 2nd Polish Corps of General Władysław Anders which took part in this battle. According to the information from this museum, it wasn’t only one battle but in fact it consisted of 4 battles which took place nearly 5 months. First attack took place between 17th – 25th of January 1944. It was made by Americans who decided to proceed to frontal attack. Unfortunately crossing torrential river – Rapido resulted in failure. Those who managed to cross it, were killed by German marksmen. Enormous losses on US side, were the reason to make a decision to bombard historic Benedictine abbey. On 15th February, 256 bombers dropped 576 tons of bombs during 3 hour air raid. This barbaric act outraged all world because this abbey was also called “The Athens of the Middle Ages”. Abbey was built in 529 and it was famous for a great amount of valuable manuscripts and known as a important historic building. During bombarding there were no German soldiers as German Reich headquarters had decided not to use it for military purposes in view of its historical value. This decision was in fact a big mistake because, bombardment enabled Germans to take strategically located underground positions of the abbey. Another two attacks took place between 15th – 18th of February and 15th – 25th of March. During this period efficient thrust was impossible in a quagmire caused by torrential rains. The last battle took place form 11th to 18th May. During this battle the 2nd Polish Corps attacked in the most difficult conditions. One can think that the 519 m high hill posed no challenge but during ascending this hill I realized how bravery were the Polish soldiers. Just imagine these fully armored soldiers climbing a very steep mountain, in the constant artillery and marksmen fire! On 18th May in the morning, 12th Podolski Lancers Regiment placed Polish flag on the Monte Cassino peak. The victory came at a high price, with at least 312,000 casualties on the Allies side and 435,000 casualties on the German side. The most difficult actions took place on Gustav Line, there fought soldiers from: Poland, United States, Italy, France, United Kingdom, India, New Zealand, Canada and even South Africa. Polish price for this victory was enormous: 924 soldiers dead, 2930 were injured and with 345 missing in action. Cemetery wall is decorated with the inscription: “Passer-by, go tell Poland, that we have perished obedient to her service” Polish Military Cemetery was built here in 1945. 1072 Polish soldiers rest here. There’s also a grave of General Władysław Anders and his wife – Irena. After the Battle of Monte Cassino, General Władysław Anders had to stay abroad. He was condemned for enormous Polish losses in this battle by former Polish government but in fact he has remained Polish hero. If you are in the neighborhood of this cemetery, come and visit our soldiers, light a candle and feel the history of this place. It’s not only a symbol of our great loss but also our great pride. ” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]

Artykuł Monte Cassino – Passer-by, go tell Poland… pochodzi z serwisu .

Cementery -

Only in Lviv!

Monte Cassino – Passer-by, go tell Poland…