PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Galicia Tour 2025, Aug 30 - Sep 10

Zenon — Thu Apr 24, 2025 5:03 am

Author: Zenon

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2025 5:03 am

Since 2013, the Galicia Tour has been our most popular group experience.

This year edition will take place : August 31 – September 10, 2025 and there are still spots available.

Whether you have ancestors from this region – once a vibrant province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – or you're simply interested in its rich, colorful past, this tour might be something for you.

- Small groups (max 15 people) ensure a personal, friendly atmosphere where everyone feels included and supported.

- You enjoy direct, meaningful interactions – not just with your fellow travelers, but with local people, traditions, and places.

- Expect more than sightseeing: from country-style parties to hands-on cultural experiences, we bring history to life and make it personal.

- Our experienced tour leaders are with you every step of the way, creating a space for deep connection, shared discovery, and plenty of good laughs.

It’s a journey for the curious, the thoughtful, and those who love exploring with kindred spirits. Every year, participants return home not just with beautiful memories – but with a deeper understanding of the past and a renewed sense of belonging.

Learn more and book your spot: https://polishorigins.com/galicia-tour/

And watch the video from the previous editions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqYyvXFl_nM

Galicia Tour, September 2023

Zenon — Thu Jun 29, 2023 8:47 am

Author: Zenon

Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2023 8:47 am

This year September 3-13, 2023, edition of Galicia Tour is confirmed.

At the moment it is a small private tour (5 persons) which means that if you don't like big group tours and would like to join you have time till July 10 when the bookings will be closed.

Check archives of the group Galicia Tour group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/galiciatour to see what other experienced in the last years and visit official website of the tour: https://polishorigins.com/galicia-tour/ to learn more about the Tour.

Best wishes from sunny Galicia!

Zenon

Galicia Tour in 2022

Zenon — Thu Jun 02, 2022 3:59 am

Author: Zenon

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 3:59 am

After two years break we scheduled the Galicia Tour for August 21-31, 2022.

Details available here: https://polishorigins.com/galicia-tour/ .

If you have any questions please contact us at tours@polishorigins.com .

PO Galicia Tour 2019 - video

katarzyna_t — Fri Feb 07, 2020 5:31 am

Author: katarzyna_t

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 5:31 am

Today we invite you to watch our video from Galicia Tour in 2019

[html-link]

For this year we planned two editions:
April 19-29, 2020
September 20-30, 2020
Do not hesitate to join us! All details are available here: https://polishorigins.com/tours/galicia-tour/

Lemkos and Boykos

KHHardy — Wed Apr 11, 2018 4:36 am

Author: KHHardy

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 4:36 am

My grandfather Franciszek Jozef Zalot (b. 1896) who was NOT Lemko was from Brzozow, but his wife Mariam Pearl Krapko *was* Lemko--although I can't figure out where the family was from. My grandma Mary's parents immigrated to America 3 years before her birth: My g-grandfather Antony Krapko (could be Chrapko/Chrapko transliterated?) was born in 1872 and emigrated to America in 1900, two years before his wife, Baska Drahuszczak (b. ~1869). Their oldest children "Steve" and Katherine were born prior to emigrating. The family was Greek Catholic.

Any help on finding *any* information would be appreciated: my mother regrets being utterly uncurious before her parents died--and knows nothing about the family. Since my parents' home was destroyed in the floods of hurricane Harvey (including my grandfather's original Austrian passport), I don't have much to go on, and it would make my mom really happy to have any info on the family.

Dziękuje bardzo!

Galicia Tour in 2017

Agnieszka Pawlus — Mon Mar 27, 2017 1:23 pm

Author: Agnieszka Pawlus

Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2017 1:23 pm

Since 2013 our guests participating in Galicia Tour are hosted by the Cultural Center in Strzyżów and "Kłosowianie" folk group. These country parties became the tours highlights! Watch some of the best moments from 2016.

The May Galicia Tour is approaching fast and we will close the sale of it soon.

That's why we have special promotion: the first 2 people who will book the May 28 – June 7, 2017 tour till March 30, will receive the 500 Polish zlotys discount (for each reservation, 1000 Polish zlotys total).

More details about the tour: http://galicia.polishorigins.com
Reservation form: http://polishorigins.com/tours/galicia-tour/#deposit

Martin Pollack's lecture in English! "The Myth of Galic

rsowa — Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:00 pm

Author: rsowa

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:00 pm

I agree...the lecture is something every descendant of someone from Galicia needs to listen to and learn from. In my reading, I found a lot has been written about Galician poverty and how hard it was to live there. However, there were exceptions. Of my ancestral families, about 90% were subsistence farmers and lived in poverty, were illiterate and (as best I can tell) never left their home villages. The other 10% were a lot different. They had marketable skills (carpentry, butchers and tanners, cobblers, etc). In addition, they were literate and traveled around quite extensively. Nonetheless, they still left Poland and came to America where they did pretty well for themselves.

Regarding the time during Communism, I am not sure what life was like. What I do know is that my grandfather had a sister that married and stayed in Poland. From 1930-1960 he often sent her money. I have no idea if it made a difference in her life, but apparently it did, because he continued to do it for quite a few years.

The Stories of the Magura Region 1930-1960

Agnieszka Pawlus — Tue Jun 28, 2016 4:44 am

Author: Agnieszka Pawlus

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 4:44 am

Today I found this old thread showing the filmed stories from Magura region (it is in Lower beskid - Beskid Niski in Southern Poland).
it is definitely worth refreshing and re-watching.

Among older people there are sometimes amazing story tellers. This is the rare talent nowadays. Sometimes listening to them is like seeing the stories happening in front of our eyes!
"The Stories of the Magura Region 1930-1960" are just made like this.

I wish they recorded more, but on the Youtube channel there are only 8 videos.

Here is another one, "Fucha" (The odd job)

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Have you ever met such storytellers? Maybe you have this luck to have them among your relatives? During our Galicia Tour you will have the opportunity to meet such people from your ancestors area. We will be also visiting Beskid Niski and Magurski National Park on the day 3. See the itinerary: http://galicia.polishorigins.com and read more about the tour's details.

We still have the openings for October 9-19, 2016!

PO Galicia Tour 2016 - new October term!

Agnieszka Pawlus — Fri Feb 05, 2016 4:16 am

Author: Agnieszka Pawlus

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 4:16 am

PO Galicia Tour is our well-known proposal designed for, but not limited to people whose forefathers once lived in Galicia, before immigrating to other lands.

We've been organizing it, refining and smoothing every single detail of the itinerary since 4 years!
For our September term this year (September 11-21) the booking is almost closed. We have only 1 last opening available!
Because of the high interest in this tour we will have another term in 2016: 9-19 October.

See the detailed itinerary on our website: http://polishorigins.com/document/galicia_tour. The bookings for October tour will be available soon.

[html-link]

The Myth of Galicia - exhibition in Kraków

Agnieszka Pawlus — Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:43 am

Author: Agnieszka Pawlus

Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:43 am

Are you planning to visit Kraków this winter?
From 10th October till 8th March there is wonderful exhibition in the International Cultural Center in Kraków: The Myth Of Galicia.

"Galicia no longer exists. It disappeared from the map of Europe in 1918 together with the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, whose province it had been. Yet, it still lives as a imagined space in the collective imagination and memory. The Krakow exhibition seeks to answer the question about the source and contemporary condition of the myth, trying to find out why literature, visual arts, and film still refer to it, while Galicia itself is used as an attractive brand."

Read more about the exhibition: http://www.herito.pl/en/news/the-myth-of-galicia

And, of course, we invite you to our PO Galicia Tour in 2015. We will also try to give you the insight to Galicia's history and its traces in contemporary culture of this part of Poland.

http://polishorigins.com/document/galicia_tour

"Austrian talk" by M. Czuma and L.Mazan

KKempa — Thu Oct 02, 2014 10:27 am

Author: KKempa

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 10:27 am

Henryk, Aga, I remember Bata shoe stores when I was young. There's a Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto; I haven't visited it yet but my daughter and granddaughter did a few years ago and had fun, said it was interesting.

http://www.batashoemuseum.ca/

PO Galicia Tour 2014 - details available.

Zenon — Mon Jun 02, 2014 3:11 am

Author: Zenon

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 3:11 am

Our PO Galicia Tour, in September 7-17 and October 5-15 , are confirmed and there are still openings available for both September and October dates.

What is important to make any travel plans is the fact that the flight fares from the USA to Europe are about 20-30% lower for September and October.

See the latest newsletter A telegram from the road to learn also about our current Genealogy Tours.

Kraków yesterday and today - Kraków wczoraj i dziś

Henryk — Thu Dec 19, 2013 3:19 pm

Author: Henryk

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 3:19 pm

Take a look at the two WWII images with Swastika flags.

Galicia Tour offer details

Agnieszka Pawlus — Fri Nov 22, 2013 10:29 am

Author: Agnieszka Pawlus

Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 10:29 am

There are two new articles, where you can see some pictures and videos from October Galicia Tour:

October Galicia Tour. Day 3: Polish Nobility Day: http://blog.polishorigins.com/2013/11/21/october-galicia-tour-day-3-polish-nobility-day/

October Galicia Tour. Day 4: Ancient History and Nature. Heading for the Tatra Mountains: http://blog.polishorigins.com/2013/11/22/october-galicia-tour-day-4-ancient-history-and-nature-heading-for-the-tatra-mountains/

"The Three Sisters Trip" blog by Gerre

Agnieszka Pawlus — Fri Nov 15, 2013 10:55 am

Author: Agnieszka Pawlus

Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 10:55 am

Thursday July 25th

"Zenon started knocking on doors to find us relatives to meet. Sure enough he found them. They in turn called another relative who had accumulated my grandmother’s family history back years and years and published it in a book. We were taken to the grave of our great grandparents, where we left a token of our visit..."

The story of the three sisters trip in Poland is coming to an end. Today we are publishing also the material prepared by Kasia and Marcin Hałat; authors of the website www.zaleze.com, a couple that hosted Gerre, Carol and Virginia during their stay in Załęże.

Read the whole story and the article "In Search of Roots – the Visit of the Bal Sisters in Załęże" on our blog: http://blog.polishorigins.com/?p=2163&preview=true

After PO Tours 2013 season

Agnieszka Pawlus — Tue Nov 12, 2013 12:16 pm

Author: Agnieszka Pawlus

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 12:16 pm

For those of you who haven’t seen yet our latest newsletter: ‘The wonderful memories behind us, the exciting challenges ahead of us.’ there is a link to it here: http://polishorigins.com/12all/index.php?action=message&c=61&message=69

“We would like to thank all our dear guests who decided to uncover their roots, to discover present-day life and the history of Poland with us, the PolishOrigins team. All of the tours we have organized were precious and memorable experience for us, we hope that we will have possibility to meet you again! Thank you for the nice words as well as the insightful, very valuable, suggestions for improvements we are receiving form you after the tours. We try to learn from each of you.

Here are some of our guests recent testimonials:

Curt (PO Genealogy and Family & Friends Tours):
“Overall, I think you did an outstanding job. There is an old expression we use in the USA and that is: If the Queen is happy, there is peace in the kingdom. Believe me, there was peace in the kingdom and she was happy. (...) I have been to Canada, Mexico, Argentina, France and Italy and my trip to Poland has been the best, thanks to you and your staff. Hats off to all of you.”

To read whole content of this newsletter click here: http://polishorigins.com/12all/index.php?action=message&c=61&message=69 .