Bialystok is located in the eastern part of Poland, near the border with Belarus and Belovezhskaya Pushcha. This city is quite large and developed, with several large industrial enterprises, but it is not industrial at all. Thanks to its location, it is even called the "green lungs of Poland". And the city architecture with its wealth and variety is able to attract anyone: more than 250 buildings in Bialystok (including more than 10 churches, 6 palaces and 80-odd houses) have been included in the register of historical monuments.

How to get to Bialystok

Regular buses go to Bialystok from Warsaw and from Minsk several times a week. By train you can reach Bialystok from Warsaw in 2 hours and 20 minutes

Any tourist services in Poland

Weekly excursion tours, weekends and shopping.
Christmas and New Year tours. Rest in Zakopane.
Winter camps for schoolchildren. Tours for school groups.
Treatment in sanatoriums. Excursions in the cities. Hotels online.

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A bit of history

It is believed that the city was founded in the first half of the 4th century . Like other Polish cities, Białystok managed to visit the country under the rule of various powers . It was owned by the Lithuanian princedom, Prussia, and Russia . During the First World War, the Germans captured the city, after which it withdrew to Byelorussia, and then again to Lithuania . Later Poles repulsed Bialystok, but already at the beginning of the Second World War it was again captured by the Germans . After the end of the wars s The Soviet Union again got Białystok, but gave it to Poland . No wonder that in all these vicissitudes the city's image developed a multifaceted and heterogeneous . Today's Bialystok is one of the strongholds of Polish Orthodoxy and an extremely multinational city .

Entertainment, excursions and sights of Bialystok

One of the main city sights is the baroque Branicki Palace, which the Poles proudly call their own Versailles . The palace was built in the late 17th century, was completed in the 18th century . This impressive building served as the residence of the influential Polish-Lithuanian hetman Jan Clemens Branicki, who counted no less than to become the election king of Poland . Palace complex ks stands in a park of 10 hectares, where luxurious gardens, sculptures and pavilions are located . The main gate at the entrance to the residence, decorated with a picture of the neck (the Branitsky coat of arms can be seen on the tower spire) is also noteworthy .

Other interesting the palaces of the city are the classical palace of Lubomirski, the Hasbakh palace, stylized under the Middle Ages, with a pointed turret, the Citron Palace with a richly decorated facade. There is even a small house of Napoleon here

The main city street is Lipovaya, half pedestrian; at the Branicki Palace it turns into Kosciuszko Street. Two of these streets are the focus of most tourist attractions and objects of interest.

Bialystok Church deserves attention . This is an old Renaissance style chapel with a beautiful portal above the entrance . In its interior there are many pretentious baroque details . Another beautiful church of the Virgin Mary was built in the early 17th century in the Baroque style . Another Roch SV . Rocha, built in the modernist style in the first half of the 20th century, stands on a hill, and its tower is 80 meters tall excess m is clearly visible from different points city ​​. Her crowned statue of the Virgin Mary . This octagonal building is decorated with multiple images of stars in various forms: carved in concrete, placed on pilasters or painted .

Another more modern Orthodox church - St. Nicholas- Wonderworker, built in the middle of the 19th century in the classical style. It is relatively small and can accommodate no more than 600 parishioners, but in its interior one can see frescoes made in 1910 by Mikhail Anilov based on Vasnetsov's paintings at the Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev. A special interest is the Church of the Holy Spirit, built in the second half of the 20th century, with black domed onions: it is one of the largest Orthodox churches in the country.

There are many interesting museums in Bialystok . Historical museum, part of the museum of Podlasie, is famous for its rich collection of archival materials and icons, as well as household items and a numismatic collection of 16 thousand . exhibits . The Army Museum was founded in 1968 ., and here you can get acquainted with the military the history of northeastern Poland .In addition to the permanent exhibition, Ludwik Zamenhof's center attracts guests with frequent concerts, exhibitions, theatrical performances and film shows . On the outskirts of the city there is a museum of rural life in the village . A gallery of contemporary art "Arsenal" is the third most important place in the list of art galleries of the country .

Neighborhoods of Bialystok

In Bialystok you do not need to go far to find yourself in the bosom of nature . The city is surrounded by groves and forests, wild marshes and beautiful well-groomed parks . Bialystok is rightly considered a "green" city: one third of its territory is reserved for public gardens, plus more than 1500 hectares in the city there is a forest . And there are also 4 beautiful national parks . Belavezhsky, the oldest in the country, with relic antiquities, is listed in the UNESCO Heritage List . Biebrza Park is famous for the fact that there are a lot of elk here in the endless peat bogs . And the Narvian Park differs from the other by a vast system of reservoirs where a variety of birds nest .

About 30 km west of Białystok there is a toy Podlaskie town of Tykocin. Poles themselves call it a city-doll: everything here is very small, very sweet and very old. The ancient Jewish city of Tykocin stands on the river Narva, on the bank of which now you can again see a small restored Tykocin castle, originally built in the 16th century as a powerful fortress. Here there are preserved rich houses of wealthy Jews, an old synagogue and a typical Jewish planning.

And if you drive a little further, you will find yourself in the village of Pentovo, which is called the European village of storks. There is nothing of the kind in Poland: after the strongest storm in 1991, the storks for some reason chose this village as their home and have been nesting here ever since - on all the available elevations. Specially for the nests of storks in the village, vertical racks began to dig in, and about 70 birds annually return to Pentovo.

Cuisine of Bialystok

Culinary traditions of Podlasie are quite specific, because they were influenced by a multitude of peoples and nationalities. In addition, the unique nature of the region with an abundance of forests also affected: among the old Podlaski dishes one could find, for example, a soup from the nostrils of elk, a pie with sparrows, a roasted peacock. Today, nothing is done in Białystok (thank God), but you can eat no less specific dishes.

One of them is a sinkhawk, a sweet knotty egg-based pie. It is prepared by dousing the rolling pin with a dough and twisting it over the flame so that characteristic mounds appear on the muffin, as on a tree. It turns out an amazing design in the form of a tall tower, hollow inside. To taste it resembles a rich biscuit.

Another traditional Podlaskie (and Belarusian) dish is potato sausage with cracklings. In addition, Podlasie cooks a special borsch: it is not at all like the traditional Polish "barge", which is a beet broth with "ears". Podlasie borscht is a full-soup on beef broth with all the traditional ingredients, to which is added beans (and sometimes white mushrooms).