5 attractive places in Upper Silesia for a weekend – 4 familoks and one palace

The plan was simple: get in the car, drive to Katowice (Silesia) and see something new for us. Without crowds of people. Something we hadn’t been to before, but which was worth seeing.

So we quickly booked our favourite room in Nikiszowiec. It just happened to be free.

Palace and Park in Plawniowice

A lovely place looking like a fairy tale castle, we looked around hoping to see a princess. Plus a well-kept park with snowdrops and magnolias already getting ready to bloom.

The palace now holds a formation centre for the Diocese of Silesia, if not COVID it would be possible to visit it.

Worth a visit in so-called better times.

Familoks in Czerwionka

Housing estate built for the Dębieńsko mine. 84 red brick buildings. With various details, either half-timbered or decorated with glazed bricks. Everything aesthetically pleasing and well-kept. In the middle of the square with a fountain, playground and other amusements. It is a pity that the builders of contemporary housing estates do not follow the example of the models that were created at the beginning of the 20th century.

Ficinus workers’ settlement

Two-storey sandstone houses, in total one side of Kubina Street (even side). Nice, aesthetic houses, unfortunately, surrounded by modern blocks of flats. All in all, the oldest housing estate we visited this time. The neighbourhood is nice and safe.

Kaufhaus, Ruda Śląska

A housing estate built for the workers of the nearby Huta Pokój steelworks. Somewhat gloomy, identical brick buildings. An interesting point of the colony is an elegantly decorated L-shaped building – a former department store. This building was constructed in 1904 and is said to have been the first department store in what is now Poland. You can see that it has recently undergone renovation and looks very good. Generally, it is a bit scary after dark.

Nikiszowiec, Katowice

A housing estate for miners of the Giesche (now Wieczorek) coal mine. A compact block of buildings forming a coherent set of buildings. A special, unique place. With a soul. We recommend it! We were particularly enchanted by the details decorating each building, be it a brick pattern, an interesting balcony or miners’ hammers above the entrance. And the obligatory red window sills and frames.

Interestingly, the colony was a self-sufficient entity, with a laundry, mangle, shops, school, inn, and a home for single miners. Something like Warsaw’s Miasteczko Wilanów :>

For cakes, we go to Cafe Byfyj in the market.

Familok’s map

Marcin has lived in Silesia since he was a child, a bit of a pretend one as he lived in Tychy, and used to say familioki. On this trip we learned that these are Familoki! Below we share a map of these estates in Silesia.

It was only a weekend. You can read about our longer trip around Poland here.