Nowa Huta
Europe's largest new town outside the USSR, now a suburb of the city of Cracow, separated from it by green belt. Nowa Huta, or 'New Foundry', was began in 1949 to serve the Lenin Steelworks, built at the same time. The works, the largest in Europe, produce 9 million tonnes of steel a year. The town has modern church - called after its shape 'The Ark'. The authorities did not want the church built, and it took several battles with the police before it could be completed, in 1977.
Population 219 900
Auschwitz (Oswiecim)
Chemical producing town 54 km (33 miles) west of the city of Cracow. It was the site of the largest Nazi concentration camp, which operated from June 14, 1940, to January 27, 1945. Auschwitz was actually a group of three main camps - Oswiecim, Brzezinka (Birkenau) and Monowice (Dory) - with 39 smaller camps nearby.
More than 4 million people of 39 nationalities were shot, gassed, starved or tortured to death in Auschwitz, and its crematoria burnt up to 12000 bodies daily. Today it is preserved as the National Museum of Martyrology, which, with the world's largest burial ground, at Brzezinka, is a place of pilgrimage.
Locals hypothesize that the legacy of Italian blood and culture in Cologne, colonized by the Romans more than 1500 years ago, makes the people more jovial and lighthearted. Cologne is the largest city on the Rhine.
Kolsch is not only the dialect spoken here but, also the name of their own top-fermented beer. There are more than 4,000 pubs, restaurant's and brewery taverns in Cologne.
Unlike many of the world's large cities, Cologne, with a population of over a million, gets better every day, there are more things to do and see, more new and innovative buildings... more
Travel is an opportunity to learn, whether geography, languages, history or other subjects.
Cologne is situated on the beautiful Rhine River.