Poland's climate is influenced by a continental climate from the east and a maritime climate from the west. As the result the weather is changeable, with significant differences from day to day. Winter one year can be almost without snow, whereas another year heavy snows can paralyse transport for days. Summer [...]

Upper Silesia has a well-developed network of railway connections with Katowice as one of its major junctions in Poland. The Katowice Main Railway Station, also referred to as Katowice Central Station (Katowice Dworzec Glowny PKP) is the largest and the most important railway station in the Upper Silesian Industrial District. It [...]

The earliest traces of human activity in the historical region of Silesia date back as far as 200,000 years B.C. The first written record of Silesia can be found in the ancient works of Ptolomaeus and Tacitus. According to the latter, the first inhabitants of Silesia were the Lugii, an East [...]

Not only cuisine, but the dialect of Silesia is part of the cultural heritage of Upper Silesia as well. The distinctive way of vowel pronunciation, sentence intonation and separate vocabulary set distinguish the language spoken by the people of Silesia from that used in the other regions of Poland. The dialect [...]

The best idea is either to take a taxi operated by one of the taxi corporations from a taxi rank or order one by phone or by sending an SMS message. Their names and telephone numbers are usually displayed on the car. The corporations usually do not charge any extra money [...]

Using public transport In Katowice and in other cities of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, there are mainly four means of public transport to choose from, namely: the bus, the tram, the trolleybus and the regional train. There are also other services offered by state-owned railways and private transportation companies.   In 1991 the [...]

Upper Silesia, similarly to other regions of Poland, has got its own traditional recipes which have been passed down from one generation to another. The regional cuisine consists of about 100 dishes, some of which are plain everyday meals, whereas the others are meant only for Sundays or special occasions (wedding [...]

So far if you have flown to Poland, you have probably landed either at Okecie Airport (Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport) or at Krakow-Balice Airport (John Paul II International Airport) which are considered to be the busiest and the most modern airports in the country. Nowadays the situation has changed dramatically. Following [...]

In Katowice there is a Pay Parking Zone (Strefa Platnego Parkowania, SPP for short) which is marked with traditional parking signs with the inscription ''Parking platny'' (Pay Parking Zone). However, one is obliged to pay for parking their car in the SPP zone only on workdays (from 9 a.m. till 5 [...]

Till 1950s The post-war period was the time of industry development in Upper Silesia, which allowed Katowice to regain its status as the most industrialized city of Upper Silesia and a major administrative centre. As the city developed so briskly, the 1950s marked a significant increase in its population. The city area [...]

Katowice is an important educational centre with lots of institutions offering primary, secondary and higher education. The oldest ones are the state universities which, having the well-earned reputation for outstanding academic achievement and innovation, attract loads of applicants for Bachelor's, Master's and PhD programs in a wide variety of fields. The major [...]

Upper Silesia is not only one of the most densely populated regions of Poland, but the most industrialised part of the country as well. Thus, the area covering the industrial centres in the central and eastern parts of Upper Silesia and the Dabrowskie Basin (Zaglebie Dabrowskie), with Katowice as its largest [...]

In order to boost economic development of certain regions of Poland, Special Economic Zones were established within the country. Currently, there are fourteen Special Economic Zones, one of which is situated in the Silesian voivodship, i.e. the Katowice Special Economic Zone (KSEZ, for short). The KSEZ has been in operation since [...]