A Polish city where a cat is a top-rated tourist attraction

Muscat: It is rare to have a feline becoming a top-rated tourist attraction. But a cat, named Gacek, has claimed the honours as she has become a celebrity in her own right in the city of Szczecin in Poland.

Gacek, pronounced as gats-ek which means ‘long-eared bat’ in Polish language. The free-roaming black-and-white cat lives in a box on Kaszubska Street and has a perfect five-star rating on Google Maps.

The feline has beaten the city's other tourist hotspots including a Pomeranian Dukes' Castle built in 1346. According to a local news outlet wSzczecinie, the feline lives in a wooden box and gets plenty of snacks from passers-by.

According to a blog, Notes From Poland, the cat started drawing attention in 2020. Visitors from neighbouring Germany published a video about the cat on social media which attracted 4.5 million views. Since then, travellers from across the world have travelled to Poland to see the cat.

According to the blog, a sign alongside his home asks that if anyone wishes to give Gacek snacks, they should leave them in a closed packet which will then be opened by his owner.