Polish Travel Research Articles

Three travellers or how to “translate” Holland to Polish readers: An approach to the image of the Netherlands in Polish travel books

Ryszard Kapuściński believed that a journalist was a translator from one culture to another. Therefore, the idea of the paper is to analyse the way contemporary Polish travellers write about the Netherlands. The analysis will focus on the stances adopted by them in relation to the country and the way they determine their perspectives. The authors of the analysed books use keywords as metaphors that permit them to translate complex characteristics of the Dutch. The paper concentrates mainly on three aspects: titles, landscape and mentality.

Persuasive linguistic tricks in social media marketing communication-The memetic approach.

The paper reports the results of a study into the use of linguistic cues defined as Persuasive Linguistic Tricks (PLT) in social media (SM) marketing communication. It was assumed that the content shared on Social Networking Sites (SNS) could be perceived as specific sets of meanings (memeplexes), where a single component, also PLT, may function as their part. Following an original typology of PLT, created based on an emotional factor, the research focused on whether and how the number of positive, neutral and negative PLT used in Facebook posts impacted the behaviour of content recipients. These activities, including liking, commenting and sharing, are strictly connected with post spreading and range. The data analysis focused on 167 Facebook posts shared by five leading Polish travel agencies and 1911 responding comments. The quantitative content analysis method and Spearman's correlation tests were used. A relationship was observed between the number of emotionally positive and neutral PLT and the increase in the range of content with these PLT. The use of PLT by post recipients was also observed in their comments. This phenomenon is possibly related to the memetic nature of PLT. From the perspective of marketing messages, the obtained results contribute to and guide the textual content-building with a high spreading potential owing to the memetic capability of PLT. Further elaborations were made on the assumption for the evolutionary approach in social media content transfer and its processing.

Railway experiences of Poles and Serbs in China before 1949: an analysis of travel writings about the Middle Kingdom

ABSTRACT The railway is often characterised as one of the crucial innovations of the nineteenth century which transformed patterns of space and time, exposed people to the mechanical power of the industrial revolution, led to the formation of a panoramic perception of the world, and changed the economic circulation. In China, the new technology was adopted later than in Europe and America, and its development took place in a semi-colonial context. As such, the railway experience took on a different dimension there. Based on a corpus of Polish and Serbian travel writings about China, this article examines how travellers represented railways in the Middle Kingdom. Five main topics are discussed: (1) the railway as an icon of modernity; (2) the railway as a “purely European invention”; (3) Polish and Serbian patriotism as linked to the Chinese Eastern Railway; (4) the train as a space of interactions; (5) panoramic visions of China.

Polacy w Baden na przełomie XVIII i XIX wieku w świetle wybranych austriackich źródeł archiwalnych

The article summarizes the 2020 query in the archives of Vienna and Baden. Its subject was Poles who came to Baden at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. It included: Stadtarchiv Baden, Österreichisches Staatsarchiv (Vienna), the archives of the City of Vienna, Diözesanarchiv Wien, and materials available in the “Wiener Zeitung”. Over 400 names of Polish travelers to Baden have been established. The query proved that at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, the social status of Polish tourists was reflected, inter alia, in democratization of the phenomenon of travel spa resorts.

“Patavium virum me fecit” – Padova come luogo di formazione delle antiche élite polacche

Using the Atti della Nazione Polacca at the University of Padua as a main source, the author describes the role that this university played in the education of students from the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth from the 16th to 18th centuries. According to the author’s research, this role was crucial in the 16th century, when a significant part of Polish elites included a stay at this university in their curriculum. In the 17th century, the number of students from Poland-Lithuania studying in Padua decreased slowly but continuously, and in the 18th century, the number was marginal. In the period under discussion, the social structure of this group significantly changed: students looking to acquire knowledge that was necessary for their future professional career were gradually replaced by young men of aristocratic and noble families, for whom a visit in Padua, be it long or short, was only a stage in their educational European Grand Tour. According to the author, this can be explained by intellectual changes in Polish-Lithuanian society: a general and rather superficial education was gradually preferred to university-based and professionally-provided knowledge. A study of selected travel diaries supplemented and confirmed the results of the presented statistical analysis. All Polish travellers visiting Padua in the 16th and 17th centuries described the University and considered it as the most important institution of the city; meetings with compatriot students were also often mentioned. Later on, the University was no longer the obvious subject of the descriptions and 18th-century travellers often did not even mention it at all. Nevertheless, there is still available evidence that the Polish presence in Padua, although reduced, was visible and important for the city.

Przedsiębiorczość wybranych biur podróży prowadzonych przez brazylijską Polonię w Rio de Janeiro

Powstanie oraz intensywny rozwój przedsiębiorstw turystycznych, w szczególności biur podróży, wiązały się z żywiołowym rozwojem ruchu turystycznego oraz tworzeniem się zrębów rynku turystycznego w pierwszej połowie XIX w. Ówczesne natężenie ruchu turystycznego skłoniło osoby fizyczne do podejmowania działalności gospodarczej, która polegała na sprzedawaniu usług takich jak wyżywienie, nocleg czy transport, a także na przygotowywaniu kompleksowych ofert usług turystycznych. W artykule omówiona zostanie krótko historia Polonii w Brazylii, historia powstawania biur podróży na świecie oraz działalność biur podróży w Rio de Janeiro, prowadzonych przez brazylijską Polonię. Biura te w dużej mierze specjalizują się w obsłudze Polaków przybywających do Brazylii na wakacje. Badania, na wynikach których opiera się artykuł, prowadzone były w roku 2019, a dzięki danym z biur podróży opisane zostały kierunki turystyczne najczęściej wybierane przez Polaków przybywających do Brazylii i korzystających z ofert lokalnych biur podróży. W artykule scharakteryzowano dwa prężnie działające polskie biura w Rio de Janeiro: Brazylia Tour oraz Samba Smile Travel. Omówiona została oferta turystyczna tych biur podróży, liczba obsługiwanych przez nich klientów oraz specyfika funkcjonowania polskich biur podróży w Rio de Janeiro. Przedstawiona została również oferta wycieczek po mieście obsługiwanych w języku polskim przez lokalnych przewodników.

Dresden in the Accounts of Polish Eighteenth-Century Travellers. A Reconnaissance

The article analyses descriptions, memories, and notes on Dresden found in eighteenth-century accounts of Polish travellers. The overarching research objective is to capture the specificity of the way of presenting the city. The ways that Dresden is described are determined by genological diversity of texts, different ways of narration, the use of rhetorical repertoire, and the time of their creation. There are two dominant ways of presenting the city: the first one foregrounds the architectural and historical values, the second one revolves around social life and various kinds of games (redoubts, performances).

Krajobrazy post mortem. O Sołowkach, Kołymie (i nie tylko) we współczesnej polskiej prozie podróżniczej

Post-Mortem Landscapes: Regarding the Solovetsky Islands and Kolyma River (and Others) in Contemporary Polish Travel Prose The aim of this article is to demonstrate how contemporary Polish reporters describe the areas of former labor camps located in the Russian Federation, especially near the Kolyma River and on the Solovetsky Islands. The interest of Polish visitors is aroused by the “landscapes of death” associated with the Gulag in their geographical, natural, cultural, and mental aspects. The essence of the traveler’s interest lies in the Russian attitude towards the victims and perpetrators of Soviet terror as well as the daily life of the inhabitants of these sites. The source materials include, among others, the works of Ryszard Kapuściński, Mariusz Wilk, Jacek Hugo-Bader, and Michał Milczarek.

Waloryzacja turystyczna i ocena wykorzystania potencjału dziedzictwa materialnego Ukrainy Zachodniej dla turystyki sentymentalnej

Potential of material cultural heritage of the Western Ukraine, its valorisation and evaluation of the use for sentimental tourism The article presents a valorisation of material cultural heritage for sentimental tourism of Poles and an analysis of the use of this potential in tourist offer. The analysis of values included defensive buildings and residences, religious buildings, cemeteries, as well as other architectural and technical monuments that can be used for the purposes of Polish sentimental tourism in the Western Ukraine, a territory that belonged to the Second Polish Republic. The analysis based on the point bonitation method showed that the Lviv and Ternopil regions have the greatest potential. However, the tourist offer of Polish travel agencies to the Western Ukraine covers only part of the potential of Polish cultural heritage.

Image of the Post­Soviet Countries in the Polish travel writing (1989–2019). Introduction

Image of the Post­Soviet Countries in the Polish travel writing (1989–2019). Introduction

„Nie tyle reportaż, ile wyznanie miłości” – o tendencji do idealizowania kultury gruzińskiej we współczesnym polskim reportażu podróżniczym

“Not so much reportage as confession of love” – about the tendency to idealize Georgian culture in contemporary Polish travel reportage After 2008, Georgian culture has become the subject of many Polish travel reportages. It is idealized, resulting from the need to reproduce the myth of Polish­Georgian friendship. This myth arose from Russophobia existing in Poland and Georgia. Two of the three narratives studied are strongly Russophobic. The analysis of the content of the reports was carried out in reference to the model of cultural differences by G. Hofstede.

Działalność wybranych polskich biur podróży w Greater Toronto Area

Powstanie i rozwój biur podróży należy wiązać z żywiołowym rozwojem ruchu turystycznego w pierwszej połowie XIX w. Pod wpływem postępującego w tym czasie uprzemysłowienia, postępu technicznego i organizacyjnego sprzyjającego wzrostowi wydajności pracy i stopniowemu skracaniu czasu pracy, ustawowego wprowadzenia płatnych urlopów i wzrostu dochodów ludności, doszło do zmian w strukturze konsumpcji ludności, czego wyrazem było ujawnienie się nowych potrzeb w zakresie wypoczynku i turystyki. Intensywność zainteresowania oraz możliwości finansowe potencjalnych turystów spowodowały powstanie biur podroży, które zajęły się zaspokajaniem nowych potrzeb, polegającym na tworzeniu ofert dotyczących turystyki i wypoczynku (Cook, 2008). W artykule omówiona została działalność polskich biur podróży w Greater Toronto Area. Przedstawione zostały dane zebrane od 18 z 23 biur podróży działających na terenie objętym badaniem. Badania prowadzone były w latach 2016, 2017 oraz 2018. Głównym celem było ukazanie specyfiki funkcjonowania polskich biur podróży w Greater Toronto Area oraz pokazanie oferty turystycznej wybranych biur. Dzięki uzyskanym informacjom opisane zostały: destynacje najczęściej wybierane przez Polaków, liczba klientów oraz ilość wydawanych przez nich pieniędzy. Jak wykazały badania, głównymi zagranicznymi kierunkami podróży Polonii korzystającej z polskich biur podróży w Greater Toronto Area są: Kuba, Meksyk, Karaiby oraz USA. W artykule dokonana została charakterystyka największych i najprężniej działających polskich biur podróży w Toronto: Piast Travel Inc., Orbis Vacations & Travel LTD., Polimex Travel oraz Queen Syrena Travel, ich specyficzne formy organizacji podróży (zwłaszcza do Polski) oraz oferowane przez nie wyjazdy pielgrzymkowe.

Romantyczne wędrówki Polaków po Szwajcarii Saskiej

Romantic wanderings of Poles across Saxon SwitzerlandThe history of Polish tourism in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains as well as the literary and artistic reception of the landscape and culture of Saxon Switzerland have never been discussed in detail. The present article is a research reconnaissance. The beginnings and development of tourism in the region came in the late 18th and early 19th century. The 1800s were marked by the emergence of the first German-language descriptions of Saxon Switzerland, which served as guidebooks at the time. From the very beginning Poles, too, participated in the tourist movement in the area. The author of the article seeks to follow the increasing interest in Saxon Switzerland and the appearance of the first descriptions of the region in Polish literature and culture. She provides a detailed analysis of Polish-language accounts of micro-trips to the Elbe Sandstone Mountains by Andrzej Edward Koźmian, Stanisław Deszert, Antoni Edward Odyniec, Klementyna Hoffman née Tańska and a poem by Maciej Bogusz Stęczyński. As the analysis demonstrates, in the first half of the 19th century Poles liked to visit these relatively low mountains in Central Europe and tourism in the region is clearly part of the history of Polish mountain tourism. Thanks to unique aesthetic and natural values of the mountains, full of varied rocky formations, reception of their landscape had an impact of the development of the aesthetic sensibility of Polish Romantics. Direct contact with nature and the landscape of Saxon Switzerland also served an important role in the shaping of spatial imagination of Polish tourists, encouraging them to explore other mountains in Europe and the world, including the Alps. On the other hand thanks to the development of tourist infrastructure in Saxon Switzerland, facilitating trips in the region and making the most attractive spots available to inexperienced tourists, micro-trips to the Elbe Sandstone Mountains marked an important stage in the development of mountain tourism on a popular-recreational level. Polish-language accounts of trips to Saxon Switzerland from the first half of the 20th century are a noteworthy manifestation of the beginnings of Polish travel literature.

Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in a group of Polish travelers returning from South and South-East Asia, June 2017 - June 2018. Environment- or healthcare-associated?

Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae have spread rapidly through the countries and continents to become a global concern. One of the main reservoirs of NDM-1 positive strains from the Enterobacteriaceae family is the Indian subcontinent (Bangladesh, Pakistan, India). During June 2017 - June 2018, rectal swab samples were collected routinely in all patients returning to Poland from South and South-East Asia. During molecular examinations gene blaNDM-1 encoding NDM-1 carbapenemase was detected. 31 patients were examined after returning to Poland from a trip to South and South-East Asia. The presence of New Delhi Metallo-β-lactamase-1 producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae was confirmed in three patients (9.7%) returning to Poland from travels to India. All the positive patients were hospitalized during the trip in a New Delhi hospital. Digestive tract carriage of NDM in a group of Polish travelers is a significant health and epidemiological problem. The study confirms the necessity for screening for carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE), particularly among travellers. Rectal swabs should be collected in every case of patients returning from international trips, and the possibility of environment-associated infections should be emphasized.

Selected arboviral diseases imported to Poland - current state of knowledge and perspectives for research.

Arthropod-borne viruses are important causes of human morbidity worldwide. However, the available literatur and the epidemiological data concerning the importation to Poland of globally emerging arboviral infections, such as DENV, CHIKV, WNV, or ZIKV, are scarce. Only few seroepidemiologic studies concerning WNV in animals or humans in Poland have been published. The aim of this review paper is to summarize and present the current state of knowledge and the perspectives for research concerning the importation and the risk posed by the introduction to Poland of the four above-mentioned arboviral diseases. Climate change may facilitate the northward expansion of both the vectors for diseases previously unseen in Europe, as well as of the viruses themselves, resulting in autochthonous cases of diseases previously exclusively imported. Little is known about the importation of arboviral diseases to Poland because of the frequently asymptomatic or self-limiting course of the disease, lack of epidemiologic studies or effective disease reporting, as well as inadequate access to diagnostic methods. Further epidemiologic studies in Polish travellers are necessary in order to prevent importation or introduction of the above-mentioned viruses, and to act against potential problems related to blood transfusion or organ transplantation from infected donors.

Mutual images of Poland and Belarus in the travel photo structure

One of the key aspects of contemporary society is intercultural communication that is important mainly due to the relations with such trends in the development of an open society as the erasure of boundaries, visualization, virtualization, and massification of social life. Self-organized travel as one of the forms of tourism is a combination of social practices that implement interaction of various types of everyday life (one’s own and others’). In various disciplinary fields, including sociology, throughout the twentieth century, everyday life was always in the focus of interdisciplinary research. However, the question of how signs and reality are connected in the daily interactions of the traveler was not considered separately. The article presents the results of an interdisciplinary research based on the analysis of travel representations posted on the tourist Internet forums and on the methods of semiotic and structural analysis to characterize the ways of constructing mutual images of Poland and Belarus. The structure of these visual images is analyzed in several perspectives: new and social-typical values and interpretations; expressive signs; type and genre of representations; their general characteristics and differences; social norms and lifestyle; city and nature; past and present; holidays and weekdays. The study revealed substantial and structural originality of the everyday life images reproduced in travel representations: the image of Belarus presented by Polish travelers is based on various combinations of relations between the signs “countryside”, “simple life”, “preservation of traditions”, “quiet lifestyle’; Belarusian travelers construct visual images of Poland based on the interconnected ideas of “urban lifestyle”, “modern and old city”, “preservation of historical objects”.

TRAVEL NARRATIVES IN CONTEMPORARY POLISH LITERATURE. ETHICAL, CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ASPECTS

Purpose. The presentation of results and analyses regarding on the journeys of ethical, cultural and social provenance in narratives available in contemporary Polish literature illustrated by chosen examples. Method. To prepare the presentation, qualitative methods were used together with the analysis technique of the content/plot of novels of autobiographies of contemporary Polish prose writers and travelers. The author analysed representative texts of such highly-regarded figures as philosophers by profession – Marek Kamiński, Joanna Bator, Krzysztof Środa – and wellknown writers: Andrzej Stasiuk, Krzysztof Varga, Ziemowit Szczerek and others. Findings. Research showed the authors’ great interest in history, culture, ethical and social issues during their numerous peregrinations all over Poland, Southern Europe and Central and Eastern Europe. The narration of the chosen author-travelers contains numerous reflections of existential-philosophical and cultural-social nature, focusing on sociological analysis. The interpretative framework in the works of the discussed authors fluctuates around local, global and glocal problems. Research and conclusions limitations. The study concerned only the works of Polish authors and concentrated on their journeys all over Poland, Southern and Central and Eastern Europe; borderlands, peripheral and cross-border areas. The phenomenon of the journeys of the analysed authors lies in the fact that their experiences are subjective, and their expeditions are undertaken to a considerable degree in mental space, a depicted world; they are unique imaginary adventures. Practical implications. Reading the works discussed in the article expands knowledge on culture, history and the society of countries where the authors undertake their ethically responsible travels. Their books can successfully become an element of literary/cultural tourism. Originality. In literature on the subject works concerning individual authors discussed in the article are dispersed. The advantage of the presented text is the depiction and analysis of the creative output of the examined authors in one place, including the characteristics of their journeys: spiritual, culinary, pilgrimage, cognitive and escape. Type of paper. The article is a review and a scientific, reflective essay.

CZY INTERPRETACYJNA „ZEMSTA” TRWA? ROSJA W POLSKIEJ PROZIE PODRÓŻNICZO-REPORTAŻOWEJ OSTATNICH LAT

The essay aims at showing which ways an interpretation of literature can turn towards. A proposed way is based on how to functionalise post-colonial criticism tools for the purpose of today’s polish literary studies. The author discusses concept of post-colonial researches connected with polish literature about Russia and Russians. The article presents ways of an interpretation of Russia in polish travel literature after 1989. The author writes about three books, witch are a representation of different perspectives of thinking and writing about Russia. The first way is concerned with polish recolonization of the former USSR. Second is connected with a position of a wanderer, who travel from place to place with no permanent home in Russia. The last way shows thinking about Russian Federation in very innovative way, it is perspective of a settler. All those concepts of seeing and describing Russia is infected by an interpretation “revenge”.

Exposure of Travel Destinations on the Front Covers of the Magazines National Geographic Traveler and Podróże

The article presents the results of the analysis of destinations presented on the front covers of Polish travel magazines: National Geographic Traveler and Podróże. The author accomplished two research goals: firstly, she examined the scale of popularisation of travel destinations in two contexts: the geographical one (division into continents, countries and cities) and the chronological one (investigating changes in popularising particular travel destinations and referring them to the broader political or social context of a given time). Secondly, she indicated the differences or similarities in the selection of the destinations at the macro-level (among magazines, i.e. their editorial policies or affiliation to publishing companies) and at the micro-level (between the main and supporting cover stories).

Vittorio Alfieri w kontekście włoskich podróży literackich Polaków ostatnich dwóch stuleci

The article concentrates on the analysis of mostly unknown memories of journeys through Italy and their role in shaping the literary and cultural awareness in Poland at the turn of 18 th and 19 th century, and at the turn of the 19 th and the 20 th century. The texts contain interesting insights on the father of Italian drama, Vittorio Alfieri. Alfieri, well-known in Poland in the first three decades of the 19 th century as an inspiration for Polish playwrights (Boguslawski, Felinski, Slowacki), is virtually forgotten nowadays. In the article I shall attempt to present the perception of the memories and accounts on the Italian journeys by members of Polish intellectual elite, starting from 19 th -century diaries by Stanislaw Dunin-Borkowski, Łucja Rautenstrauchowa, Michal Wiszniewski and Lucjan Siemienski, and finishing with 20 th -century texts by Stefan Żeromski and Herling-Grudzinski. A review through different periods poses some formal difficulties related to defining the term of travel diary, but if the character’s (Vittorio Alfieri’s) role is perceived as the key, it allows to grasp the dynamics of the genre, as well as observe the role of edition of particular memories in creating the history of reception of Italian literature in Poland. A thorough analysis proves that one can boldly claim the existence of the phenomenon of “set texts”, in this case by Alfieri, since it seems that an unknown and unread author was also- apart from Dante and Machiavelli- a summarized history of Europe at that time, which was enabled by various editions of Polish travel texts (editions of collected works by particular authors, multi-volume editions of travel notes, memories included on occasion of publishing a separate work).