by Vas Mylko, Roman Bilusiak
Curiosio is back in Europe. We have installed our AI engine Ingeenee in Poland. The result is Curious Poland. There is a lot to See & Do in Poland — from jaw-dropping to breath-taking. We took several interesting itineraries from credible sources to validate the quality and density of our knowledge graph. It’s OK to jump to curiosio.com right away and check out Poland, but we suggest you continue reading to learn what we did and learned.
A Coastal Drive for Geeks
There was a geek Mikołaj Kopernik, more known world wide as Nicolaus Copernicus. He began work on his heliocentric theory in the earliest 1500s at Lidzbark Castle. In the earliest 1510s, Copernicus moved to Frombork, a town on the Baltic Sea coast. Where he got a house outside the defensive walls of the cathedral mount. In 1514 he purchased the northwestern tower within the walls of the Frombork stronghold. At Frombork Copernicus conducted over half of his more than 60 registered astronomical observations.
Sometime before 1514 Copernicus made available to friends his Commentariolus (English: Little Commentary), a manuscript describing his ideas about the heliocentric hypothesis. At about 1532 Copernicus had basically completed his work on the manuscript of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium; but despite urging by his closest friends, he resisted openly publishing his views, not wishing — as he confessed — to risk the scorn “to which he would expose himself on account of the novelty and incomprehensibility of his theses.” Wikipedia.
In 1539 Copernicus was still working on De revolutionibus orbium coelestium even if not certain that he wanted to publish it. It was already a whopping 30 years of the research. Toward the close of 1542, Copernicus was seized with apoplexy and paralysis, and he died at age 70 on 24 May 1543. Legend has it that he was presented with the final printed pages of his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium on the very day that he died, allowing him to take farewell of his life’s work. He is reputed to have awoken from a stroke-induced coma, looked at his book, and then died peacefully… Wikipedia.
For those who understand Kopernik’s discovery as one of the most monumental breakthroughs in the history of humankind 500 years ago. And for those who love to think about the origins of our world observing the sun and the seas — The Coastal Route in Poland for you. We got inspiration from The Coastal Route by The Culture Trip and made sure you would not miss Frombork and Lidzbark Warmiński.
You can change the starting and ending points. You can shrink or stretch this trip plan. You can plan for a different number of travelers. You literally can do anything you want with the trip you like to your own trip you will love.
A Roadtrip Through Poland
“Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversations with God (Polish: Astronom Kopernik, czyli rozmowa z Bogiem) is an oil painting by the Polish artist Jan Matejko, finished in 1873, depicting Nicolaus Copernicus observing the heavens from a balcony by a tower near the cathedral in Frombork (seen in the back).”
“Currently the painting is in the collection of the Jagiellonian University of Kraków, which purchased it from a private owner with money donated by the Polish public… The painting presently adorns the Aula of the Collegium Novum of the University.” Wikipedia.
We took A Roadtrip Through Poland Should Be Top Of Everyone’s List by The Sunday Post and made it interactive. We made sure the Collegium Novum is present in your daily programme in Kraków.
“Krakow is a city that means different things to different people. To many, it is a popular venue for stag and hen parties. To others, it is of deep historic significance with direct links to the Second World War and The Holocaust. Our visit was the latter.” The Sunday Post.
This itinerary includes a visit to Oświęcim — the place of the concentration-extermination camp by Nazi Germany. We figured out many more similar sites in Poland and decided to dig deeper. Keep reading, the dark tourism is following.
A Historic Path in Poland
There is a movie Schindler’s List — an epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg. Schindler’s List was released in December 1993, in the United States. Often listed among the greatest films ever made. It was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, winning seven. In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked Schindler’s List 8th on its list of the 100 best American films of all time.
The film follows Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who together with his wife Emilie Schindler saved more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust by employing them in his factories during World War II. Here is the enamel factory:
We found A Historic Path in Poland by Frommer’s. “A 5-Day Focus on Jewish Heritage. Five days is barely enough time to begin to scratch the surface of Poland’s immense and important Jewish history… The eastern city of Lublin is not included in this tour, though there are numerous Jewish heritage sites there that are worth visiting.” We made it a bit longer and included Lublin.
This is a dark journey. The Hell is always on Earth. At any point in time, there is hell somewhere. There are natural disasters… but usually the hell is made by people. It is Homo sapiens killing other Homo sapiens… On this trip, you will be able to enter thru the ARBEIT MACHT FREI (English: Work sets you free) gates at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration-extermination camp and exit. Barely 80 years ago many people only entered and never exited.
On February 14, 1990, Voyager 1, which had completed its primary mission and was leaving the Solar System, was commanded to turn its camera around and take one last photograph of Earth across a great expanse of space, at the request of astronomer and author Carl Sagan. Nobody ever said it better than Carl did, listen:
There were other species in the genus Homo — most notably Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis. Only Homo sapiens survived the evolution and wars. Only Homo sapiens reached out to the distant planets. Only Homo sapiens populate the planet Earth. Learn from the past to make a better future…
A Scenic Drive in Poland
Let’s switch to the scenery and beauty. “There are plenty of scenic road trips through Poland. This particular trip focuses on the Giant Mountains and the province of Lower Silesia, south of Wrocław. But the lakes north of Warsaw and the coastal areas to the west of Gdansk are all spectacular; even if they’re just seen from the car window.” Frommer’s.
You can remove some points, add your points. Just use the names as on English Wikipedia. As you are typing there will be suggestions — select from the list if you see the point you want. You can set the perimeter of your interest. The tool is pretty geeky — just play and learn. Usability is better on the big screen. We tested in Chrome browser.
Thank you for reading/skimming/scrolling down here. Now it is good to navigate to curiosio.com and play with road tripping in Poland.
