Welcome to Poland

Learning by Eating

Salt mine Wieliczka

Near Cracow, in southern Poland, is the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Not much can be seen above the surface, but visitors are taken down into a hidden world of natural and manmade wonders.

Legend of Saint Kinga

According to a 700-year-old legend, a princess called the Blessed Kinga threw her ring into a salt mine at Marmaros in Hungary. While travelling from Marmaros to Cracow, she stopped at Wieliczka and her servants were told to dig a well. Instead of water, salt was discovered - and in the first lump of salt which was taken out, Kinga`s ring was found!

The legend is just a story - but it is true that for over seven centuries salt has been mined from the rock below the town of Wieliczka. The salt used to be dug out by hand, and until 1620 it was carried up to the surface by the miners. After that date, horses were used to carry the salt out, but the work was still very dangerous and many miners were killed or injured. The constant danger made the miners deeply religious and chapels were constructed undergroung where church services were held. After a chapel was destroyed by fire in 1697, miners were not allowed to take wooden statues into the mine, so they began to carve sculptures from rock salt.

Jan Paweł II

Nowadays visitors are shown how salt was mined long ago, and can see the enormous chambers which have been dug out of the solid rock. They can also see pretty green lakes, and chapeles with beautiful carvings. The walls and floor of the chapel, as well as the lovely statues it contains, have been carved from rock salt. A special attraction is the Chapel of the Blessed Kinga, which was made by the miners themselves in a chamber 100 meters undergroung.

You will be amazed by these unforgettable sights, which should definitely not be missed by any visitor to the Cracow area.Mariacki

Church

Muzeum Wsi Kieleckiej – Polish etnographic museum in Tokarnia, near Kielce. The fundametnal purpose of the museum is to accumulate and protect historical munuments of polish national architectonic culture from the świętokrzyskie area. Main object of the museum is outdoor museum in Tokarnia. In 2006 on its area there were 30 historical monuments, for example:

village museum in Tokarnia

-Church from Rogów -windmil from Grzmucin -Manor from Suchedniów

All the objects are equipped with typical furniture and tools. Some of the present workshops of craftsman with rural equipment like shoemaker or carpenter.

The świętokrzyskie region is situated in the south east part of Poland and covers about 3,4% of the area of Poland. It’s famous for its the Świętokrzyskie Hills with the highest peak called Łysica (the Bald Moutain) and the Nahional Park where you can admire beautiful sights of wild nature and wild animals.

Łysica

herbs in our region

Peppermint (Mentha × piperita, also known as M. balsamea Willd.) is a hybrid mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint. The plant, indigenous to Europe, is now widespread in cultivation throughout all regions of the world. It is found wild occasionally with its parent species.

UsesPeppermint has a long tradition of medicinal use, with archaeological evidence placing its use at least as far back as ten thousand years ago. Peppermint has a high menthol content, and is often used in tea and for flavouring ice cream, confectionery, chewing gum, and toothpaste. Peppermint is commonly used to soothe or treat symptoms such as nausea, vomitting, abdominal pain, indigestion, irritable bowel, and bloating. It is also used in aroma therapy

Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla)

Uses chamomile is used in herbal medicine for a sore stomach, irritable bowel syndrome, and as a gentle sleep aid. It can be taken as an herbal tea, two teaspoons of dried flower per cup of tea.

St John's wort is the plant species Hypericum perforatum, and is also known as Tipton's weed, rosin rose. Uses St John's wort is widely known as an herbal treatment for depression.

Taraxacum officinale, the common dandelion, is a flowering herbaceous plant of the family Asteraceae (Compositae). It can be found growing in temperate regions of the world, in lawns, on roadsides, on disturbed banks and shores of water ways, and other areas with moist soils. Common dandelion is well known for its yellow flower heads that turn into round balls of silver tufted fruits that disperse in the wind called "blowballs".Uses Dandelions are wildcrafted or grown on a small scale as a leaf vegetable. The leaves (called dandelion greens) can be eaten cooked or raw in various forms, such as in soup or salad.

Thyme is any of several species of culinary and medicinal herbs of the genus Thymus vulgaris. Uses It is a common component of the herbes de Provence. It is very popular in different cuisines.

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