Pultusk Market Square

The market square at Pultusk runs about four hundred metres end to end, narrow and cobbled, with a brick town hall tower of the sixteenth century standing in the middle of it, and the town claims it as the longest market square in Europe - a claim you will see repeated locally and which depends on how you measure. The old town sits on an island in a branch of the Narew, which is unusual in Poland and gives the place a moat-like setting; boats run on the water and there are bridges at both ends. At the northern end is the castle of the bishops of Plock, rebuilt and now a hotel and conference house known as the Polonia House. The other thing Pultusk is known for is the meteorite: on the evening of 30 January 1868 a shower of thousands of small stones fell over the town, one of the largest recorded falls by number of fragments, and pieces of it are in museums worldwide and in the local collection.

What you actually see

• A four-hundred-metre square - narrow, cobbled, with the claim of being Europe's longest.
• The sixteenth-century tower - the town hall standing in the middle of it.
• An island old town - a branch of the Narew around it, with boats on the water.
• The 1868 meteorite - thousands of fragments fell here; some are in the local museum.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

The longest-in-Europe claim is a local one and disputed. Many of the buildings around the square are post-war rebuilds. The castle is a working hotel and access to parts of it depends on events.

Nearby

The Narew runs north towards the Bug confluence; Warsaw is south.