There are many unique towns in this world, but I think very few of them could rival the town of Suloszowa, in Poland. The town was nicknamed “Little Tuscany” because of its unusual layout. Suloszowa is located in southern Poland, 29 kilometers northwest of Krakó. The one thing that makes Suloszowa so strange is the fact that the town has one street in it…an almost 6-mile-long street, on which the only turns are into someone’s property. Any stores in the town are located on that one street as well. The main street of Suloszowa is called Olkuska. It is such a strange thing to have only one street in town, and by the way, it also forms Route 773, which crosses the town from end to end.
Think about the neighbors you have. Are their yards messy? Do they play their music too loud? Are their vehicles too loud? Now imagine that your “neighbors” are everyone in town. Imagine the local motorcycle “speed freak” who is always screaming down your little block-long street. Now imagine that the local “speed freak” had almost 6 miles to get through the block…lots of time to pick up speed. If your neighborhood was one in which the irritations never end, a street like Olkuska could be a nightmare, but the people of Suloszowa seem to get along!! All the 5,819 (as of 2017) people in town live in harmony with each other as they share the single road that stretches through the town. How’s that for strange?
The town of Suloszowa is what is known as “a linier settlement, which is a (normally small to medium-sized) settlement or group of buildings that is formed in a long line. Many of these settlements are formed along a transport route, such as a road, river, or canal. Others form due to physical restrictions, such as coastlines, mountains, hills or valleys. Linear settlements may have no obvious center.” On both sides of the Olkuska Street, or the only street in the town of Suloszowa, people have built houses adjacent to one another. They all have rectangular gardens or fields that stretch far away from the main road of the town. The view from the air is…stunning, and a photo of it recently went viral on social media. With that, the people of the town decided to share their experiences of living in the single-street town. One said, “I wouldn’t trade this place for anything else. It has its own charm and atmosphere. As the saying goes, there’s something about it.” I think that all the people share the same sentiment.
As for Suloszowa, the route predated the settlement. Then when the settlement grew, no other roads were added. I’m sure that when people purchased the land behind their homes, it made the idea of additional streets even more difficult, and since the people all got along so well, the town was just left it as it was. Adding additional streets soon became a non-issue, and new purchases were just added to the ends of the street. The people added, “The whole place looks the same: there is a house and then a strip of field, hence the beauty of the photos. One has grain, the other has rapeseed, and the third has something else. The colors look beautiful from above.” I must agree…the aerial photo is beautiful.
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