Routes to Polish Roots

About Tour

The history of Poles in Romania is certainly linked to the history of Bucovina, a region in the north of the medieval state of Moldova annexed and named as such in 1775 by the Austrian Empire.

At the time, Bucovina was a buffer zone between Eastern and Western civilization, located in an area where the Ottoman, the Russian and Austrian Empire, have exercised their influences as well as the Slavic, Byzantine and Central European ones. Polish communities began to grow during the 18th century in Bucovina, with Polish immigrants who came from Galicia. The region attracted ordinary people, where they found better conditions of living, people such as officials, priests, teachers, and few nobles. Let us not forget the so-called "mountain people" in the region Czadec, now belonging to Slovakia. These people inhabited all the cities in Bucovina.

During the Second World War, Poland suffered most from the two evil empires, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Following the invasion of Poland by the Nazis and Soviet armies in 1939, over 60,000 Poles took refuge in Bukovina and other regions of Romania. After the war, Poland and Romania have agreed to repatriate thousands of Polish families, both refugees and descendants of the ancient colonies. This process has been one of great magnitude, but not entirely destroyed the Polish communities in Bucovina and Romania. If considering today Republic of Moldova we can find polish roots in it's northern districts, where the Polish landowners had land and established even localities. So let’s discover two wonderful countries, their culture and history, but also look for some traces the Polish people left behind.

What People Say

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Victoria, Just a short note to say thank you very much for everything on Sunday. Despite the long and tiring journey caused by the road closure in Ukraine, we thoroughly enjoyed our day, and learned so much about Moldova, Transnistria and Ukraine. We particularly enjoyed discovering Tiraspol, as it's such an unusual place and gave us a glimpse of how life was under the former Soviet regime. Because British history is relatively simple, with few invasions and no changes of borders, we struggle to understand the complexities of European history. 

We were very impressed with your understanding - and with your excellent English language skills in explaining it all to us. It certainly brought to life our visit to your country. I hope your journey back home was a little easier than the one to Odessa. Please give our thanks to our driver on the day - I'm afraid we do not recall his name but we appreciated all he did to negotiate the way through the border crossings for us and to get us to Odessa as quickly as he did despite the obstacles. Good luck for future success in your career. If you are ever in England and are able to visit our area, do not hesitate to give us a call. We could show you the historic city of Winchester and the busy port and waterside areas of Portsmouth, which I'm sure you would find interesting. Thanks again for everything.

Hello Victoria, Thank you again so much for the tours last week! I had a lot of fun, and you are an excellent guide. Orheiul Vechi was really beautiful, and some of the photos came out very nice. I also really liked Chateau Vartely, so thank you for coming up with the idea to visit there. 

Tiraspol was quite interesting and bizarre, and I'm glad we went, even with the cold and rain. The Kvint distillery was very good. I had to resist finishing the whole bottle. I hope I'll be able to visit Moldova again sometime before too long. I will also let you know whenever I come to Romania.

I am very glad and thankful with the cooperation that we have had during these 3 years. All our tourists – groups and individuals – were satisfied with your work. One of the main things that I appreciate in you is the following: it does not matter what category clients are – tourists, VIP, government delegations or even international organizations (as OSCE) – you can find the best words, the best way, the best “direction” to each of them to make them interested in given information. 

In each review which we had from our clients there were words of thankfulness to your services. Some of our partners even in advance ask us to choose you as a guide for their groups. Thank you for your professionalism and waiting for the future cooperation!