Podhale (literally "below the mountain pastures") is

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

's southernmost region, sometimes referred to as the "Polish Highlands". The Podhale is located in the foothills of the Tatra range of the

Carpathian mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretche ...

. It is the most famous region of the Goral Lands which are a network of historical regions inhabited by

Gorals The Gorals ( pl, Górale; Goral dialect: ''Górole''; sk, Gorali; Cieszyn Silesia dialect, Cieszyn Silesian: ''Gorole''), also known as the Highlanders (in Poland as the Polish Highlanders) are an indigenous ethnographic or ethnic group primar ...

Local folklore

The region is characterized by its unique

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, rangin ...

, which is distinct from other folk cultures in Poland. Its folklore was brought there mainly by settlers from the

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska ( la, Polonia Minor), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a ...

region further north and partly by Wallachian (Vlach) settlers in the centuries during their migrations. The name Podhale literally translates as "below the mountains" in English. The various Goral dialects as well as Polish are spoken in the region.

Regional attractions

Among the region's attractions are the popular

mountain resort A mountain resort is a place to holiday or vacation located in an elevated and typically at least relatively isolated area. The term resort implies integral hotel or inn accommodations, restaurants, and either or both sports facilities or sc ...

Zakopane Zakopane ( Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been ...

and the lake known as Morskie Oko ("The Eye of the Sea"), which local legend claims, is connected to the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to the ...

by subterranean passageways.

Nowy Targ Nowy Targ (Officially: ''Royal Free city of Nowy Targ'', Yiddish: ''Naymark'', Goral Dialect: ''Miasto'') is a town in southern Poland, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is located in the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin at the foot of the Gorce Mounta ...

along the

Dunajec The Dunajec (); Goral dialects: ''Dónajec'') is a river running through northeastern Slovakia and southern Poland. It is also regarded as the main river of the Goral Lands. It is a right tributary of the Vistula River. It begins in Nowy Targ at t ...

River, located in the valley beneath the Gorce Mountains, is the capital of the region. Ludzmierz is home to the area's oldest shrine,

Our Lady of Ludźmierz Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a government utility regul ...

also known as the Hostess of Podhale or in Goral ''Gaździna Podholańsko''. The people in this region are particularly famous for their

oscypek Oscypek (pronounced , Polish plural: ''oscypki''), rarely Oszczypek, is a smoked cheese made of salted sheep milk exclusively in the Tatra Mountains region of Poland. Oscypek is made by an expert named "baca", a term also denoting a shepherd in ...

, a cheese made from a mix of cow's and sheep's milk, their music, and their ski slopes. In the winter, it is the number one tourist site in Poland.

References

{{Authority control Geography of Lesser Poland Voivodeship Highlands

Local folklore

Regional attractions

See also

References