The beauty of medium size cities and surrounding nature

Zamość - my hometown

The first shrine I want to add to this site will be about my hometown and about small cities in general. There is something special about medium or small cities that have some iconic but not widely recognizable monuments. My hometown is Zamość, a city with 60 thousands people, that consist of the ring of standard Polish city districts with commie blocks, schools, supermarkets and so on. However the central old town district that is just like an Italian renaissance city fortress. The photo above shows the heart of Zamość, the Town Hall standing next to Great Market square that is so iconic for me that every time I see this place in person, I'm just so proud of it!

I love maps of old districts of European cities, especially when they feature fortresses like that! Zamość was founded during The Reneissance, around year 1580 and was designed by Bernardo Morando, Italian architecture experienced with fortresses in Italy, then brought by Jan Zamoyski far north to Poland to build this beauty. Both guys are not a household names, but every student of architecture in Poland, and everyone in Zamość was taught about them numerous times at school, that's the only reason I'm bringing this up. They had an idea for the ideal city, with the shape that supposed to mimic human organs: the Main Square was the heart, the palace of the landlord Hetman Zamoyski was head and surrounding bastions were arms and legs. For me however the map looks like a cool fucking heptagon and that's what matters.

I can't embed my youtube video for some reason so here's the link to the
20 second clip of me recording the Main Square in winter

The city might be considered 'ideal' today as it fits into the modern fashionable concept of 15-minute city, which Zamość absolutely was at the time. The entire old town district can be walked across by 10 minutes. The main square is fully pedestranized as well as adjacent alleys, in other places cars drive slowly. In some of the most prominent alleys there are arcades that you can walk through protected from the rain or sun which is kinda cool and was useful a number of times. The rest of the city is accesible within 15 minutes too, but only with car and it's not peak hours, which are not that annoying. Public buses are frequent enough only in certain major corridors to be useful all day, I hardly ever ride them, especially if you have a car or my beloved way of transport in Zamość - bike. The city is flat with very few gentle hills, the weather is quite mild all year (it used to be a lot more snow when I was little for some reason hmmm...) and the cycling network is methodically extended which made cycling all around Zamość very comfortable.

I used to ride a bike through the old town everyday to my high school that is hosted in the historic building Zamość Academy, private 'college' founded at the end of XVI century for nobility, nowadays a high school with slightly higher required marks in elementary school to enroll. Inside the old town district there is also music and art schools so that place is a great meeting space for artsy people. Lovely parks in place of former moats, it's an awesome place to ride a bike, buy Zapiekanka or Cebularz and chill. The moats that I've mentioned used to be very cool place for teens like me to jump on mountain bikes, nowadays there are no secluded places, the park around the old town is tide up, organized and fully lit.

I also love the fact that the most iconic building of my hometown is not a church or king's palace, it's a town hall, the symbol of local governance, that still serves its purpose everyday for everybody. The five colorful tenements on the right side of the Town Hall, called Armenian Houses, were owned by the most affluent citizens back then, and they are a symbol of rich foreign people next to the government I guess, but they are pretty now and make great background for occasional fairs or open-air concerts.

All of it may sounds like some tourist guide at times but really, it's just a pleasant place to live and even visit, although one or two days are enough to see everything. It's not an overwhelming hustling and bustling metropolis, nor a rusted industrial settlement or insignificant village, it's just mid and I love it. There is no way to live in smaller city like that without occasional trips to the actual city if you need amenities like university, high paying job, special medical treatment or IKEA, but living in mid-sized city is in a way relaxing, and when it also features monuments like Zamość, pretty endearing.

LGBTQIA+ Situation in conservative parts of Poland

That been said, it's not all roses and champagne out here, and as Neocities is a safe haven for every queer folks in the cyberspace, people are concerned and needs to know this. It's not that bad... to just visit, Zamość is super safe, especially the old town, the city wants to present itself as one of the major historic UNESCO attraction and since the mayor affiliated with conservative Polish party is gone, everybody is welcome (at least for money, politics you know).

However, actually living there as LGBTQIA+ person probably sucks, as in any conservative leaning places in the European Union. I mentioned EU because otherwise the whole place would probably be worse off without it, the money that many roads, parks, cycle lanes, schools and so on were renovated, comes from EU so politicians can't just push whatever inflamatory laws like "LGBT Free Zone"... What's that? That shit was so whack it even get to the international news and my city was visible at 2:42 timestamp, what a shame. It was in fact just a political stunt rather than the actual law, but that's enough to hurt many people. After major shift in national parliament in 2023 it was never mentioned again in the national medias.

I personally have befriend a couple of queer people at school and they all, as majority of young adults, move out to bigger cities to pursuit education. I don't know the details of their experience, I heard just a snippets of some depressing stuff happening, but now all the people that would look and act totally different if they had more progressive environment, usually thrive in big Polish cities. Quick shoutout to my friend from elementary school that slays as a hairdresser. There is simply nothing to do in smaller cities with no community and the demographics is much older and less diverse. As far as I remember, violence in schools is not prevalent, but verbal abuse in elementary school was. In high schools it directly depended on the level of school, the higher required marks to enroll, the more open minded and chill people usually were.

On the bright side, back in my days there were safe havens for "non standard kids" overall as I was a regular visitor and one time volunteer in Zamość Fantasy Convention, with all fans of board games and cosplays coming together. I don't know if the initiative is still alive after pandemic tho.

Overall I might just talk bullshit and the experience of an actual queer that lived there might be completely different. My point is, I guess it sucks, but I can only assure you that no one is running to gay people with pitchforks here. At least the old town is really nice and the nature don't discriminate which brings us to another section below.

Zamojszczyzna - region of Zamość

That's a very old map of a former Zamość Voivodeship, first level administrative unit, eventually absorbed by Lublin Voivodeship in 1998. You may have noticed the map is old, because Ukraine is signed as USSR, and I frankly don't like. I got to make an updated version of that map as I really like the aestetics, but I need to mark new roads and more villages that are also important to me and relevant to this shrine.

I think that one of the main reason why smaller cities are attractive is that it's easy to take a short trip to the forests or rural areas, and Zamość definitely has a nice nature surrounding it. It allowed me to easily get on a bike, ride one hour through uncongested village roads and get to the Roztoczański National Park. I'm not going to talk about specific natural wonders that this place have or what kind of animals lives there because frankly there are no super prominent natural monuments like giant waterfalls, volcanos (lol volcano in Poland would be fun) or a soaring mountain peak there. The park at a glance is mid, and mid is good. I'm also just writing straight from my mind, so I'm not going to bring up some random tourist informations. That was never the point for me travel into the woods. The point was that I only knew about how this place look on the map, ride there and explore on my own with an open mind. To roam around the wilderness with wonder and look out for hints where to go next. If I found some infoboard about woodpeckers that lives nearby, awesome I love infoboards, especially when they feature maps and images. But unfortunately my brain is wired to remember mostly 'the people stuff' like politics, entertainment, wars, job, problems, worries, responsibilities so there is no place to much cozy trivias. I was in Roztocze countless times and I still can't remember what kind of trees grows there, but would love to jump on the bike one more time and find out! Maybe I could encourage you too, if you have some kind of protected pristine area nearby, try to find out what's there on your own!

The photo above was taken in May 2011. In order to see views like this I had to ride at least 15 kilometers by bike but oh boi it was so worth it. And I am fully aware that this particular view is nothing special, way prettier nature can be found all across the world, but it is special for me because that's what I could access on my own, with just my bike, as a teen, without any special permissions or money.

The city of Zamość is surrounded by numerous small towns and municipal villages in the radius of about 20-30 km, this makes easy to reach and visit within one day even on a bike. The most worth visiting ones are:

Szczebrzeszyn

The birthplace of a tongue twister known by all users and fans of Polish language:
W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie
meaning: ‘In Szczebrzeszyn, a beetle buzzes in the reed’
The town also features a nice town square and nearby pride of Szczebrzeszyn, the statue of that famous bettle that buzzes with the violin. Naturally those atractions aren't worth visiting enough to draw massive crowds of tourists all around the country, but the town used to be (or maybe even still is) a prominent destination of elementary school trips from Zamość, I suppose every kid from Zamość paid a visit there at least once, myself included. So it was fun when I was there first as a kiddo, with strictly organized group and teachers nervously watching us out so everyone would jump back to the bus on time, and then just a few years laters I was there by myself on a bike, no supervision to have a bit more time to admire that national celebrity beetle statue. The central town square is also nice, but except that, there is absolutely nothing there, so we can move on...

Zwierzyniec

The capital of Roztoczański National Park, a bustling place on weekends with the famous church on a tiny island on the lake and mill with pizzeria inside. The town is almost fully surrounded by the park and it acts as a tourist hub, with campings and all other amenities like Biedronka store. It's also a place where I got a ticket because I was goofing around the empty parking lot at night by a car with friends in the open trunk. Oh and get kicked out from the religious festival because the alcohol of any amount was strictly prohibited. Fun times.

Krasnobród

Another town in the region that invested heavily in the local tourist industry. It's one of the place with the highest hills in the area so the lanscape and the view on the central lake is quite nice. I was invited there to the wedding party and to the kayaking, not at the same time.

Łabunie

A bit larger municipal village nearby Zamość that is known by its very popular dancing club in the region, Gorzelnia Łabunie. Never been there to visit, always just pass by a car.

Jacnia

The village features a popular local ski resort with the t-bar ski lift and two tier slopes, for adults and the gentler slope for kids. That's the place where I learned how to ski, the hard way.

Skokówka

Just a suburb village of Zamość, a row of rich houses and reknown local rapper, gangster and mafioso KZU🔫

Mokre

A village adjacent to the Zamość city limits, local Zamość-Mokre airstrip is located and a large open market is organized every Sunday.

Nielisz

Man made lake was created there, it's the largest body of water in the near distance so it counts as attraction. When I was there at least 15 years ago, no fun tourist infrastructure whatsoever was organized, nowadays I guess it's better, I don't know. However I was lucky enough to see that lake 800 meters up from the sky, when I got the chance to fly as a passenger of a motor hang glider from Mokre airstrip. I was flying about 20km away from the lake and on a sunny day it looked like a giant mirror in the distance, reflecting all the afternoon sun rays, magnificent.

Izbica

I don't know anything special about that town that a few years ago didn't even have the title of a city. In the region it's reknown as a village with a narrow and winding section of a national road from Zamość to Lublin. For me however every single time when I'm going through that town, I sing in my mind famous song of Venga Boys:
Whoah! We're going through Izbica (Ez-bee-tsah)
Whoah! Back to the Zamość!...
I don't know the rest of the song, I lost my summer mixtape cassette to find out, but if you listen Venga Boys carefully enough and watch the music video with one eye closed, you can clearly hear that the song is not about some random Spanish island, it's about that phenomenal tiny city in the eastern Poland.

Skierbieszów

A bit hilly village that holds annual Kilian festival with hundreds of years of tradition, and often surprisingly well known artists are giving concerts there, given the scale of the party.

I got a speed ticket there once, the police often stands behind the bushes next to a large slope with the steep speed limit decrease, watch out where the urban areas signs are placed in Poland, the road police love places like that.
Oh and my ex is from there, fine place, fun times.

Komarów

Very unimpressive municipal village, someone can say the church is quite nice and noticable, but overall the only thing that put that place on historical relevance is a field where a historic battle was won by Polish troops agains Bolshevicks. I'm not sure what specific events are held there nowadays, a lot has change after pandemic, even very popular historical reenactments in Zamość Old Town Fortress were suspended and still can't get back with the full show.

The thiniest bike lane that I've ever seen was the funniest and most vivid memory of mine from Komarów. I have no clue whether it was a joke, or is it still there, painted just to complete some kind of required political initiative that no local government cared about enough.

Any other places

Outside of aforementioned towns and villages within 30km distance there is nothing noteworthy except the cozy rural landscape.

Cities and places reachable within one day

Wojsławice

All the budget of the municipal beautification probably must go the the town hall, the village is average, the hall is surprisingly picturesque. Another thing that the village is known for by some fantasy book fans is the annual summer festival called Dni Jakuba Wędrowycza (roughly translating: Jacob The Walker's Days). Jacob is a fictional character from a series of fantasy books by Andrew Pilipiuk. Unfortunately I don't read that much books to know the lore of it, but I was there two times, a fun convention held in a school with a football field, ideal for fireplaces. The nature overall is very pristine out there, the whole area is sparsely populated.

Krasnystaw

The city is about 3 times smaller than Zamość, but the ecomony and fame is somewhat comparable, thanks to its significant dairy industry, strategic location, famous annual beer festival Chmielaki ('Chmiel' means 'Hop', so it's Hop Party roughly speaking) and I guess that Jesse Eisenberg's A Real Pain movie.

Chełm

Among football club fans of Hetman Zamość club, Chełm is apparently an enemy city, but for everybody else: who cares. In a way I think about that city as an alterative universe: it's the city with the similar in size to Zamość, it also used to be the capital of its own voivodeship, it's located on the major road to Ukraine, the standard of living is comparable, have a national park nearby and it's also considered very provincial. I wish I have an opportunity to finally see the city center of Chełm, I was there only once, I embarked on a senseless lonely bike trip from Zamość to Chełm, within 7 hours I made 65 kilometers back and forth (130km in total) and get only get a glimse at the suburbs, if it wasn't too late and some sensible railway connection were available, I could spend a few hours in the city center, look around and pack my bike to the train.

Biłgoraj

Biłgoraj is the city that is viewed in the region as the most business-savvy city in Lublin Voivodeship. The largest furniture company in Poland - Black Red White was founded and still operates in Biłgoraj Poviat. Yeah, another Polish company with the English name, with the word 'Red' included, like CD Projekt Red, so proud of them. The city is also place where famous politician Janusz Palikot comes from, I don't know should I be proud, kinda progressive, kinda liberal capitalist, kinda goofball that made a stunt with a dildo.

For me personally however Biłgoraj was percieved as an desirable destination to reach by bike, which I finally did. Let me explain, Biłgoraj is 50km away from Zamość, with my tempo that's about two and a half hour bike trip. It was years 2011, I was 15 and my goal was to go to Tesco, buy some Tesco Value snacks and go back to Zamość during one daytime. 100km trip in total. It was a silly, but special achievement because Tesco never built a store in Zamość. The nearest one was either in Krasnystaw, which was not the safest option to reach by bike as the national road is quite busy and cars are usually on hurry. Biłgoraj is a bit further away but I also genuinely wanted to visit because, there was never any reason to go there with family, school or anybody else, unlike Krasnystaw which is frequently visited pit stop. The Tesco Value brand snacks (for some reason I wanted fudges candies the most) was an indisputable proof that I travelled at least 60km or more to get them. In fact, I will never be able to do that because Tesco pulled off from Poland entirely so... I made it lol.

Frampol

Never been there, I guess it's just a regular small town, but with a bit of special episode of the history of The World War II. Frampol's road network is unusual by Polish standars, from the cabin of an airplane it looks like a squarish shooting shield, and the town square is the central target.

Janów Lublelski

Never been there too, it's quite far away to go there by bike, but I wish I could, given the vast forests that borders the town from the south.

Tomaszów Lubelski

I can't tell anything special about that town, I don't have any special connection or memories with it, except that one time I was in a local annual fantasy convention called Uherkon and as far as I know, it's no longer held.

One of the silly things that a smaller city Tomaszów Lubelski have and the larger Zamość doesn't is at least one publicly available escalator.

Bełżec

Sometimes organized groups from Israel visit Zamość. I've met once a group of students from Israel when our high school facilitated a meet-up and group activities with them, mostly ladies and we talked a bit, nice guys and gals. But the staple place in my region that every Jewish tourist pays the visit is actually Bełżec, a village where Germans operated another concentration camp during WWII.

Hrubieszów

A gateway town to Ukraine, place of birth of Polish writer Bolesław Prus that made surprising not that bad book 'The Doll' that is a required reading during high school. I passed the town only once in a way to the other place and the only reason why I ever need to visit that place is its unusally shaped city center, like, the old town is inside a giant roundabout.

Dołhobyczów

A village on the border with Ukraine that is not connected by a national road, but before Euro 2012 football tournament the new border crossing was opened.

Przewodów

I want to make a quick paragraph to the place still in the region, but virtually on the edge of the country. Przewodów is a tiny settlement few kilometers away from the national border, where the tragedy related to the war in Ukraine happened. In 15th November 2022 stray missle flying from Ukraine killed two farmers. Even though that place is very distant from any large city of Zamojszczyzna, about 60km away from Zamość, that instantly became a wake up call for everyone in the region about how close that war is actually going.

Connectivity to the big cities

Lublin

Zamość and Lublin are connected by a busy national road DK17, it usually takes at least one hour depending on the situation and starting point in Lublin. Microbuses are popular and widely available, coach buses like Flixbus are gaining popularity. A railbus service (looks like a short train with a continuous car) operates between Lublin and Zamość with a usual frequency of once per hour. It's a bit slower than car, two hours to travel between Lublin Main Station and Zamość Old Town, but it's very comfortable and cheap, especially for students. If you like carpooling option, many people are travelling or even commuting between cities, at all days of the week. It's possible by either Blablacar or by facebook groups if you're Polish savvy. Hitchhiking is the option that I've never tried and haven't seen anybody trying for a long time. I'm guessing it's much less popular since the online carpooling became the default option.

From travelers afar, Lublin Airport is paired with a few European cities, most frequently London and Dublin.

Warsaw

The route to Warsaw is the same as to Lublin, but about 200 km further north. Back in the my childhood it took 5 hours by car or bus and god knows how long by train, but thanks to the recently upgraded road 17, now the expressway S17 and some railway modernisation it takes 3 hours by car and 4 or 5 hours by train, depending on a schedule and if there is a transfer. It's also a popular route of carpooling.

Rzeszów

Rzeszów Jasionka Airport used to be the second best option to for travellers from Zamość, but since Lublin modernised its airport to handle international flights, in some cases is not as convenient because it takes one more hour by car and there are much less buses and trains from Zamość. Rzeszów's airport however have way more city pairs and charters, For example I once travelled from there to Tunisia.