At the last day our group had a half day trip to the Concentration Camp Museum in Auschwitz and Birkenau.

In the evening we all met on the farewell dinner at the hotel.

A night view of the Wawel castle from the hotel. Picture: Kristin Boucher

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This day our group visited wonderful underground world of salt chambers and sculptures in Wieliczka Salt Mine.

>Our second proposition was The Ethnographic Museum in Krakow. Located in Kazimierz area, in the ancient town hall. The museum was renovated a few years ago, combining the old, valuable collections of traditional culture relict with modern ethnographic and anthropological perspectives.

It was a kind of the resume of our trip to Galicia and the world of our ancestor’s everyday life. The museum presents the houses interiors of different regions, Polish traditional costumes but also spiritual culture and traditional art.

Traditional clothes in Ethnographic museum in Kraków. Picture: Zenon, PolishOrigins.

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After breakfast group left Podhale for Krakow. We had a guided tour through the Old Town, Wawel Castle and many other places.

A walk on  Main Market square. Picture: Zenon, PolishOrigins.

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Dunajec Castle in Niedzica. Picture: Kristin Boucher

Today our group visited Pieniny Mountains, where on both river banks, are located two castles: in Czorsztyn (on the historic Polish side, but today only the ruins remained) and Niedzica Castle, an important center of Polish-Hungarian relations since the 14th century. We had a guided tour there.

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A view to the Tatra Mountains from Gubałówka. Picture: Zenon, PolishOrigins.

In Zakopane our group travelled up to Gubalowka mountain by trail carriages, visited Tatra Museum and the old cemetery. Our guests had a free time and a great opportunity to do shopping in the outdoor market. In the late afternoon we had dinner in one of the Zakopane restaurants with live Gorals band music.

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This day our group visited Carpathian Troy and Magura National Park Museum. On the way to Podhale we have stopped to see the cemetery from the First World War in Nowy Żmigród.

At the First World War’s cemetery. Picture: Zenon, PolishOrigins.

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A visit in Łańcut Castle, the traces of the vanished world of Polish nobility. It is one of the most beautiful aristocratic residences in Poland, sometimes called the Potocki Palace, since that family lived here for a few generations.

The palace was built in 1628?1641 by Stanisław Lubomirski, and  rebuilt in 1894?1903 in the style of French Neo-baroque. It is  famous for its excellent interiors, orangery, and extraordinarily interesting collection of horse-drawn carriages. The palace complex is surrounded by an old and picturesque park in the English style filled with pavilions and farm buildings, all part of the former daily life of the castle.

As the photography is not allowed in the castle, we are presenting some pictures from the museum’s website:

Łańcut Castle. Picture source: http://www.zamek-lancut.pl/en/CastleToday/Gallery

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The 2nd day of our tour is dedicated to the very old, historic town of Sanok. Group visited a famous ethnographic open-air museum with the rural architecture of the region and the representation of a 19th century Galician town.

A short stop on the way to Sanok to see one of the churches protected by UNESCO list. Picture: Zenon, PolishOrigins

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Finally this big day came: our regular tour in Poland, which we had been planning  for a long time, has begun.

On 6th of October our 12 guests arrived  in Rzeszów from different directions and using different modes of transport.  Our guides took them to the hotel in the countryside (about 10 miles from Rzeszów).