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The name Malopolska - literally Little Poland - in fact applies to a large swath of the country, for the most part a rolling landscape of traditionally cultivated fields and quiet villages. It's an ancient region, forming, with Wielkopolska, the early medieval Polish state, though its geographical divisions, particularly from neighbouring Silesia, are a bit nebulous. The bulk of Malopolska proper sits north of Krakow, bounded by the Swietokrzyskie Mountains to the north and the broad range of hills stretching down from Czestochowa to Krakow - the so-called Szlak Orlich Gniazd (Eagles' Nest Trail) - to the west. North of Krakow, into the Malopolska heartlands, towns such as Pinczow, Szydlow and Jedrzejow offer rewarding insights into the Jewish-tinged history of the region, while Kielce , a largish industrial centre and the regional capital, provides a good stepping-off point for forays into the Swietokrzyskie , called mountains but really no more than high hills, though still enjoyable walking territory. The ruins of the once grand Krzyztopor Castle, near Opatow, are among the best and most memorable in the country. Czestochowa , the only other city of the region, is famous as the home of the Black Madonna, which draws huge crowds for the major religious festivals and annual summer pilgrimages from all over the country. Pope John Paul II is a native of the region, too, and his birthplace at Wadowice has become something of a national shrine, while the Catholic trail continues to the west at Kalwaria Zebrzydowska , another pilgrimage site. Due west of Krakow at Oswiecim is the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, preserved more or less as the Nazis left it.
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