Olsztyn & Warmia

Olsztyn

& Warmia

Eco-city Olsztyn grew in lands once inhabited by pagan Prussian tribes who worshipped trees, and the city retains a close tie to nature. Unmatched anywhere else in Europe, it has numerous lakes within city limits and an urban forest of over a thousand hectares, and recently added Poland’s largest inland urban beach. All of this combines with the complex multicultural heritage of the region to create an intriguing mixture.

Here and away

 Olsztyn Airport – 56km  Warsaw – 175km

Stockholm – 635

Minsk – 470km

Vilnius – 330km

Kaliningrad – 105km

Overview

�� 1353  175 k  88 km2  3954 PLN  31 k

Culture & Nature

un 4  8  13 Food & Stay

 1611  143  38

The view that captures the eye when entering Olsztyn is red roofs emerging from a sea of greenery, and this image is not erased even by the large tower blocks added to the city centre. The medieval Chapter of Warmia Bishopric Castle towers over the city. Now a stop on the European Route of Brick Gothic, the castle was built by the Teutonic Order and was later administered by Polish bishops (NexT PaGe boTToM rIGhT). In the 16th century it was defended against the Teutonic Knights by Copernicus himself, at that time a Warmian canon. On the wall of the castle you can see nothing less than the hanging toilet of the man who stopped the sun and moved the earth – Copernicus. The landmarks are a reminder of the complex history of this ter-

ritory, where Catholicism rubbed against Protestantism, and Slavic elements with Germanic. Before World War II, Warmia and Olsztyn (then Allenstein) lay within the boundaries of German Prussia, but since 1945 have been part of Poland. History intertwines with nature here. Olsztyn has the natural conditions to become a modern eco-city. More and more consciously, the city relies on green technologies, obtaining energy from renewable sources, and lowemissions public transport (a tram network covering the entire city). Apart from nature, Olsztyn is also the Polish capital of ballroom dancing, as well as martial arts, as competitors training here have won honours around the world, like international MMA champion Mamed Khalidov •

aBove: polar bear plunge participants at an Olsztyn lake demonstrating Polish toughness • Below: lake Ukiel, unofficially known as Crooked Lake (Jezioro Krzywe). It is the largest lake in Olsztyn and has a maximum depth of 43 metres. Numerous recreational facilities including sailboat and kayak marinas, the city beach and leisure centres lay along its shore •

Kortowo

Hanna Wróblewska, director of Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, comes from Olsztyn, and she thinks the city’s strongest point is its lakes: ‘I remember how strange it seemed when I realized that there are cities that do not have a dozen lakes where you can go for a walk or a swim anytime you want’. The Kortowo academic village in Olsztyn, part of the University of Warmia and Mazury, built in picturesque former German barracks, is located right on the lake. Students can head straight from class to the beach! •

Olsztyn: suspended between nature and culture

Edwin Bendyk – journalist and commentator with Polityka weekly covering development issues, now based in Warsaw but keeping an eye on his hometown of Olsztyn Olsztyn hangs suspended between nature and culture, with nature taking the upper hand. It’s more than a county town but not yet a big city. The city continually tries, with varying success, to exploit the impressive energy from its reserves of social capital, symbolized by such associations as Tratwa (activating local communities and cultural minorities, bELOW) and Borussia (building a culture of dialogue between people across differing nationalities and traditions). One hope for the future is the OKO phenomenon (Olsztyn Citizens of Culture), a progressive cultural movement in the city that is still in its infancy.

In terms of nature, the popular Jezioro Długie (Long Lake) has become a charming spot, where Olsztyn’s still tiny ‘hipster’ element and the cosmopolitan middle class flock to show off their sports moves and cycle on the path around the lake. The lake serves as an interface between culture and nature, and the northern shore runs along the Municipal Forest (AbOVE), whose stately, murky trees inspire the imagination to find traces of the legendary Smętek, a demon from Warmian folk mythology accompanied by goblins called kłobuki appearing in various guises.

My other favourite hot spot in Olsztyn is in the Old Town, a bar called Vinyl, popular with fans of local varieties of beer and music served on vintage vinyl records •

Zatorze and the city forest

Karol krl Kalinowski

– cartoonist and comic-book artist who works at the Olsztyn Municipal Library. His work Łauma won the prize for best comic book at the International Festival of Comics in Łódź in 2009 and is being made into a full-length animated film.

For visitors, I always recommend Zatorze (AbOVE) – the name Olszynites have given to everything ‘on the other side of the tracks’. Here is the loveliest part of the city, full of charming townhouses, churches, parks and cemeteries – something for urban vagabonds seeking something beyond the deck of postcards. The district used to enjoy ill fame, but all that remains of that is fame and a rare atmosphere. Crooked Lake-Jezioro Krzywe (aka Ukiel), where we relax on the municipal beach – a truly impressive recreational complex. If you’re feeling lazy there is sand and sun-tanning, for the more ambitious a marina and a variety of water sports – I don’t even know what they’re called. Right next to the pier is the restaurant Przystań, where you can arrive by boat •

Warmia

This green city is the focal point of the Warmia region’s enchanting natural environment. The region’s topography is ideally suited for dwarves with tiny hills, small lakes and enormous forests. There’s plenty of nature to go around as well as preserved German architecture with the iconic red brick and wood ‘Prussian walls’ – a local variety of half-timbered walling. The region’s tourist infrastructure is mostly based on cozy pensions and small traditional farms.

Looking for biodiversity? There’s plenty to go around. The area has always been famed for its mosaic of crops: a field of cereal grains here, rapeseed there, a few vegetable plots and some orchards thrown in for good measure. Warmia is a great place for a holiday in the country, interactions with untrammeled nature are guaranteed and more and more exhausted city-dwellers are deciding to relocate here permanently •

Urban refugees

Joanna Posoch from Warsaw runs the lavender farm Lawendowe Pole (LEFT), the Lavender Living Museum, and an agrotourism farm in Nowe Kawkowo, Warmia. Many ‘refugees’ from big cities live in Warmia, where they finally find the space to develop their dream activity, for which they previously lacked time and favourable surroundings.

Glendoria is a site in the village of Ględy promoting ‘glamping’ (glamorous camping). Guests stay in spacious and exclusive tents with wooden floors, and the barn in the centre of the property has been converted into a clubhouse offering slow-food meals and massages (bELOW RIGhT). The mobile spa offers treatments in the open air (bOTTOM).

Marcin Wiechowski settled in Włodowo several years ago and discovered that Warmian apple trees producing sour fruit are ideal varieties for cider (bELOW LEFT). He founded a farm called Kwaśne Jabłko (Sour Apple) devoted to apple cider. His cider has won awards and is offered at the finest restaurants. The farm also offers agrotourism combining traditional architecture with contemporary design.

The Węgajty Rural Theatre, (RIGhT) founded 30 years ago, is a legendary location on the cultural map of Warmia, with productions alluding to the works of Poland’s theatrical pioneer Jerzy Grotowski. The players put old Warmian rituals into practice, wandering through the villages with instruments, and even performing works by Witold Gombrowicz in a barn.

The Revita Warmia

Foundation is based in the small town of Jeziorany, known around Poland for a popular radio show set there. The foundation was established by Rafał Mikułowski, who settled there after years abroad in Mali and France. In a gallery on the main square, he and his wife Marcelina created an open space for gatherings with grass-roots tourism information about Warmia (bELOW). They showcase local craftsmen, promote local producers of traditional foods, and conduct intergenerational workshops and a social textile studio •

Lake Ukiel’s surface area of

412 hectares

makes it one of Poland’s 100 largest lakes. Forests take up 1,900 hectares which amounts to 21.5%

of the city’s area.

Olsztyn

Rivers in Olsztyn have a total length of 24 km, of which 17.5 km

the length of the Łyna River within the city’s boundaries

The city is home to

2

species of protected plants including the western marsh orchid (Dactylorhiza majalis)

130

species of nesting birds including corn crake