8 Kolobrzeska, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Poland is famous for its silver jewellery especially the one made of amber, called the gold of the Baltic Sea; and striped flint called the stone of optimism. Amber jewellery can be find in all Baltic coast towns and villages but the most famous centre of production and craftmanship is located in Gdańsk. Striped flint jewellery is especially popular in St. Cross Mountains region and its capital Kielce.
Cepelia chain of shops located in all bigger towns and cities trades handiwork items and traditional Polish souvenirs. Customers can find here high quality Polish linen products and intricate hand made embroidery. Hand embroidery from Łowicz town is especially beautiful and famous.
Glass, porcelain and faience are also Polish specialities. The area around Wałbrzych is the place to buy Silesian porcelain, the same Ćmielów village has Live Porcelain Museum where tourists can learn how porcelain is made, see the most precious Ćmielów porcelain collections and purchase souvenirs. For glass you need to go to Krosno and for cut glass to Szklarska Poręba, A great number of cut glass items is also available in Cloth Hall shops in Kraków and many Cepelia shops. The cobalt-cream faience from Boleslawiec has also its devoted fans and special festival. Poland is also famous for hand painted Christmas tree baubles. The factories of such baubles are located all over Poland and usually can be visited before Christmas to find out production secrets and purchase these colourful works of art.
It is also worth buying traditional, organic food products in Poland: delicious, world famous sausages; oscypki sheep cheese or apple wine. In Toruń you should buy spicy gingerbread, in Warsaw, sweets from Wedel, in Poznań St Martin’s Croissants, in Kazimierz Dolny rooster pie, in Kraków obwarzanki which are traditional parboiled dough bans and in the Suwalki region – a jar of linden honey. One of our export successes are luxury liquors: Krzeska vodka with the addition of herbs from the Podlasie region, sweet liquors and high percent alcohol mead.
There are many famous regional products. You can buy traditional leather Highland shoes and socks made from that itchy, sheep’s wool in Zakopane, in Kaszuby you can buy pictures painted on glass, handmade snuff-boxes from horn (with the snuff as well of course!) and tablecloths embroidered with beautiful, vivid colours and folklore designs, and in Koniakowa, intricate traditional lacework (even lacework strings as aged lacework artists appear to be very modern in some respects). In Kraków a small figurine of Wawel’s Dragon is a must, the same as salt from Wieliczka Salt Mine.
Summing up, it is really worth to visit Poland with shopping in mind. There are numerous bargains and prices are good. Moreover, Poland has some very interesting souvenirs that can remind you about unforgettable time in Poland and become your favourite items. If you want to visit Poland in the near future with a group check ITS Poland travel agent offer at our website or contact directly one of our group coordinators. If you want to check our previous tours of this type you will find them here.
Author: Agnieszka Szwedzińska
Date: 5.01.2021
