Great Mazurian Lakes
Mazury (Masuria) is an historical and ethnographic region in northern Poland, encompassing the Masurian Lake District, a vast land subdivided into several smaller lake districts like the one around Suwałki and Augustów.
The area is often referred to as "a land of a thousand lakes", which hardly does it justice as the actual number of lakes is about four thousand. The largest are Śniardwy (113.8 sq km) and Mamry (104.5 sq km); the deepest is Hańcza (10,8108.5 m) in the Suwałki Lake District, and the longest is Jeziorak (27 km) in the Iława Lake District. Most are linked by rivers and canals, of which the main tourist attractions are the Augustów and Elbląg canals. Another very popular waterway excursion along the Great Masurian Lakes covers a distance of 88 km.
The name "Masuria" means pretty much the same as the Land of the Great Masurian Lakes, which covers some 1,700 sq km, of which over 15% is water (this is one-fourth of all the lake water in Poland), and includes Lakes Śniardwy and Mamry. North-east of the Great Masurian Lakes lies the Suwałki region, stretching to the border with Lithuania and Belarus. This corner of Poland is outstanding for its scenic postglacial landscape, bizarre geology, climatic features, vegetation, wildlife, history of human settlement and ethnic structure.
Masuria and the Suwałki region are a paradise for yachting enthusiasts, canoeists, hikers and walkers, and everyone who loves tranquilllity. Extensive woods, including the Pisz Forest and the Augustów Forest, provide a network of ramblers' trails ideal for hiking, biking and horse-riding. More attraction come with the numerous Gothic castles and churches built by the Teutonic Knights who once governed this land.
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Masuria is extremely popular with Polish holidaymakers, so it has a good network of accommodation, restaurant and water-sports facilities. In summer the major resorts (Mikołajki, Mrągowo, Giżycko, and Augustów) hold many sports and cultural events.
NATURE: WATER, WATER, WATER...
The Masurian landscape is extremely diversified, with lofty, steep-sided hills, rocky valleys, troughs and large lake-filled synclines carved by the Scandinavian glacier which retreated and returned here several times. The effect of this "indecisiveness" are the frontal-moraine deposits in the form of ridges parallel to the ice front. Long, narrow trough lakes formed between the ridges. When it was retreating more steadily, the glacier exposed plains and ground moraine which became strewn with peat bogs, marshes and large, shallow lakes with numerous peninsulas, islets and coves.
In the early Middle Ages the entire lake district was covered by impassable woodland. As a result of human settlement, the forests have shrunk substantially over the centuries, yet Masuria still has more wooded terrain, water and lakes than any other region in Poland. The most valuable sections of the forests are protected by several natural landscape parks and one national park.
Read more: www.poland.gov.pl