To get an understanding of the central role that Catholicism still holds in contemporary Poland, a visit to CZĘSTOCHOWA is an essential and, for many people, extraordinary experience. The hilltop monastery of Jasna Góra (Clear Mountain) is one of the world's greatest places of pilgrimage, and its famous icon, the Black Madonna, has drawn the faithful here over the past six centuries – reproductions exist in almost every Polish church.

The special position that Jasna Góra and its icon hold in the hearts and minds of the majority of Poles is the product of a rich web of history and myth. It's not a place you can react to dispassionately; indeed it's hard not to be moved as you overhear troupes of pilgrims breaking into hymn as they shuffle between the Stations of the Cross, or watch peasants praying mutely before the icon they've waited a lifetime to see. One thing that will strike you here, as the crowds swell towards an approaching festival, is the number of excited teenagers in attendance, all treating the event with the expectation you'd find at an international rock concert.

Central to this nationwide veneration is the tenuous position Poland has held on the map of Europe; at various times the Swedes, the Russians and the Germans have sought to annihilate it as a nation. Each of these traditional and non-Catholic enemies has laid siege to Jasna Góra, yet failed to destroy it, so adding to the icon's reputation as a miracle-worker and the guarantor of Poland's very existence.

The regular influx of pilgrims to Częstochowa means that you might have problems finding somewhere to stay in town. Luckily it's an easy day-trip from Kraków thanks to good rail connections. Buses also run daily from Katowice, Kraków, Łódź and Warsaw.