Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Poland

  • Wizz Air (Katowice to London Luton)

    Wizz Air (Katowice to London Luton)

    [Apologies I published this early if anyone saw a half finished post!]

    I was connecting at Katowice Airport to fly to London Luton, although there was no airside connection available. I also discovered that the security area at Terminal A wasn’t open for thirty more minutes, so the process was hardly rushed.

    Mine was the 19:45 flight and I had the advantage of popping to the airport lounge, but I wrote about that separately.

    The boarding process was all efficient, but there was a particular focus on checking bag sizes on this flight. The lady was walking down the queue and she spoke to me briefly before telling me that my bag was fine, but a fair few were being stopped and charged extra money. One guy was charged four times for his family, so around £320, so it was a profitable exercise for Wizz Air. Although, the rules are very clear, so the customers took a risk.

    This lady was charged £80, she might have been a little unlucky. It’s fair to say that she wasn’t very pleased and she asked a couple of us whether we’d been charged as well.

    The aircraft is 9H-WAD, yet another one that I haven’t been on before and this has been part of the Wizz Air fleet since 2022.

    Everything was smooth and well managed yet again, although the seating Gods had given me a middle seat which wasn’t ideal. However, the flight was only two hours so it’s hardly traumatic. The flight cost the usual £8.99 with my Multipass and the aircraft was clean, the crew were friendly and everything worked as it should.

    We landed into London Luton on time and I had a hotel just a short walk away from the airport, which is always something that I look forward to. This marked the end of my one week stay in Poland, Romania and Germany, another successful trip that was made a lot easier with my cheap Wizz Air flights.

  • Katowice Airport – Business Lounge (Terminal A)

    Katowice Airport – Business Lounge (Terminal A)

    With around three and a half hours before my flight from Katowice to London Luton, I thought I’d see how busy the lounge was. Fortunately I was flying on a non-Schengen flight departing from Terminal A, as the lounge at Terminal B has now stopped accepting Priority Pass. I hadn’t realised I had been to this lounge before, but it seems that I came here in 2019. I am a creature of habit sometimes.

    There was a friendly welcome from the team member at the reception desk and it was evident that there weren’t any capacity issues as I was the only customer in the lounge. Indeed, that was the situation for nearly two more hours. That gave me a choice of seats, so I sat near the runway to look out. I’m easily pleased.

    This was the limit of the food (other than for some yoghurts and sausage rolls) and the Caesar salad on the right didn’t look entirely fresh, but the Greek salad was entirely acceptable. And those jelly sweets on the left, let’s just say that the team member in the lounge had to refill those.

    I was impressed at the beer fridge with five different local options from the Cieszyn brewery, which is the longest continually operated set-up in the country. I tried a couple of the beers and it’s a shame that more UK airports don’t offer a local beer, even if they can’t manage five of them.

    This wasn’t a bad set-up, there was a decadent 9% beer, coffee, salad, sausages with insufficient pastry and jelly sweets. This pleased me…. And there were also plenty of power points in the lounge which was handy.

    The facilities were a little limited with just one toilet, but when you’re the only person in the lounge, that proves to be less of a challenge. I’m not sure that it would be worth paying full price for, unless you wanted to drink several beers, but I found it a useful resting and working place for the few hours that I was in there.

  • Wizz Air (Dortmund to Katowice)

    Wizz Air (Dortmund to Katowice)

    Dortmund is one of the older airports which is simply too small to deal with the number of passengers it currently has to handle. There are over three million passengers using the airport every year now and they have been creative about using the space that they have.

    Mine was the 13:25 flight and I took this photo just after I went through security, showing how perilously close I was. Well, by my standards. The security process was slightly problematic as some drunk, mostly older, Polish football fans barged by a few of us in the security line. I decided to take the opposite security line to them and managed to get through quite a bit quicker, and certainly had a quieter time.

    And the aircraft arrives, albeit a little late. The seating arrangement at the airport wasn’t dreadful, but they do need more seats for passengers as quite a few just opted for the floor. There were no power points and the general facilities at the airport were quite limited, but everything seemed to work efficiently.

    I was slightly nervous of a delay as I had a flight from Katowice four hours after this one arrived, but fortunately, there was no impact of note.

    This is aircraft HA-LVD, yet another one that I haven’t been on before, with this one in operation since 2019. The seating Gods had given me a window seat near the back, which suited my needs entirely for a flight of a little over one hour.

    Somewhere over Dortmund.

    What looks like a pretty town, this is Soest in Germany.

    And safely into Katowice and we we hardly late at all, giving me more than enough time at the airport to sit in the lounge for hours….

    The flight cost £9 with my Multipass and was another competently managed operation, with the aircraft being clean, the crew being friendly and the pilots sounding professional. It’s becoming a bit samey I know with Wizz Air, but routinely good isn’t a bad thing…

  • Wizz Air (Warsaw Chopin to Bucharest Băneasa)

    Wizz Air (Warsaw Chopin to Bucharest Băneasa)

    Safely back at Warsaw Chopin airport and ready for my next flight to Bucharest. As usual, there was a minimal wait for the security process and it took under five minutes from scanning my boarding pass to being airside.

    That meant a quick stop in the lounge.

    It was all clean, comfortable and spacious as usual, with plenty of power points available.

    Very healthy.

    The spring rolls didn’t look entirely appetising as they were quite broken up, but it transpired that they were really quite agreeable.

    The boarding process was efficient and I was flying within the Schengen zone, I didn’t have to wait for an hour for the EES system like last week.

    Oh good, a bus gate.

    And ready to board. It’s aircraft 9H-WDS, which entered Wizz Air’s fleet in late 2023 and appears to be yet another aircraft that I haven’t been on.

    Unusually, I was first to board the aircraft. The excitement of it all….

    So here’s a photo of an empty cabin, I don’t get to post these very often.

    The seating Gods had given me a window seat and also no-one sitting next to me, which was all very handy. Wizz Air seems to pad their schedules to cover a small delay so the estimated one hour fifty minutes flight time was actually only eighty minutes. The crew were friendly, the aircraft were clean and, once again, there were no negatives for me to mention.

    Safely in Bucharest on time and able to walk to the terminal.

    I’ve written about Bucharest Băneasa airport before and it’s beautiful, although rather small.

    The central dome of the airport.

    The bus stop is a short walk away on the main road although not overly well signed. Anyway, with that I was on the bus to the hotel.

    The flight cost £9 because of my Multipass, again representing excellent value for money.

  • Warsaw – Warszawa Śródmieście Railway Station

    Warsaw – Warszawa Śródmieście Railway Station

    I was only in Warsaw for a few hours before it was necessary to return to the airport for the next part of my little expedition. In the centre-left of the photo is Warszawa Śródmieście railway station.

    Down to the platforms.

    The station was built between 1955 and 1963, initially using the Spanish solution of platforms (where passengers disembark from one side and get on from the other side) although they had abandoned that by the 1980s.

    It would not be unkind to say that the station is past its best.

    The station was modernised a bit in 2006, but has remained fairly unloved since then.

    This book stall hasn’t been open in the years that I’ve been using this station.

    The station is useful for S2 connections to Chopin airport, and this journey means that it’s the end of another Warsaw trip. This one was really quiet brief.

  • Warsaw – Royal Castle (Then and Now)

    Warsaw – Royal Castle (Then and Now)

    I’ve written about the Royal Castle in Warsaw before, but this is what it looked like in around the 1850s.

    And this is what it looks like now. There are some changes that are evident if counting the number of windows, but this remains an impressive rebuilding of a structure as it was entirely demolished by the Germans during the Second World War. Well, other than a couple of small sections of walls, but otherwise the destruction was complete.

    There’s one hero in all this, namely Stanisław Lorentz (1899-1991) who was a museum official who was able to take numerous exhibits to save them, including from the Royal Castle. He continued to rebuild the museum service in Poland after the end of the Second World War and he was later involved with the committee that rebuilt the structure between 1971 and 1984. There must have been something very satisfying about being able to watch the rebuilding of not just the rebuilding, but also galleries and museums across the city.

  • Warsaw – Metro System : C08 Płocka (Visiting Every Station) PART 2/2

    Warsaw – Metro System : C08 Płocka (Visiting Every Station) PART 2/2

    Carrying on from the first part of my post, this is Kościół św. Wojciecha or the Church of St. Wojciech. St Wojciech parish in Warsaw’s Wola district was established in 1927, though plans to build the church itself began in 1898.

    It was heavily damaged in September 1939 and during the Warsaw Uprising the Germans used it as a transit camp for civilians expelled from the city, where clergy tried to help those imprisoned there and some were killed. The church was rebuilt following the end of the Second World War and it’s hard to imagine the terrors, such as those in the above photo, that took place here.

    This is a German photo from around 1941 showing the damage which had been done to the church in 1939.

    The grotto outside of the church.

    This memorial reads:

    “At this site, during the Warsaw Uprising from 1 to 5 August 1944, German forces murdered and burned many residents of nearby homes. Among those killed from 7/9 Syreny Street were members of the Korzeń family: Bolesław, 69; Ludwik, 65; Piotr, 60; Artur, 33; and Hanna Niewiadomska, 21. Unveiled on 1 August 1995.”

    This memorial reads:

    “In memory of 30 Redemptorist monks and about 2,000 inhabitants of Warsaw’s Wola district who were murdered by the Germans in the Kirchmayer and Marczewski factory on 6 August. They remained faithful to God, the Church and their homeland.”

    When I was taking this photo, an elderly lady came up to talk to me. She was putting flowers down and telling me something in Polish about her family, but unfortunately that was the limit of my understanding. Realising I was British, she pointed to other monuments, thanking me several times for what I assume she thought was my interest in the heritage of the city. If it’s the case that this monument represents members of her family, that would have been something of a privilege, so I’m going to assume that it’s that.

    This memorial reads:

    “This place is consecrated by the blood of Poles who died for the freedom of their country. Here, on 6 and 8 August 1944, German forces shot around 4,000 Poles, including participants in the Warsaw Uprising and residents of nearby homes.”

    The Wola Massacre was one of the worst war crimes of the Second World War. I’ll leave this with a quote from a mother who lost her son as part of the murders.

    “We were halted, ordered to stand facing the square where the machine guns were positioned, and immediately the first bursts were fired. Hit people fell, shrieking and screaming.

    I saw my husband and children go down and I collapsed myself, unhurt; already on the ground, I got a bullet in my left arm. Lying motionless on the corpses, I played dead.

    After a while, the bursts died down; both nearby and farther away, I heard heavy steps and single shots. I understood that it was soldiers walking among the bodies, looking for survivors and finishing them off with handguns.

    I lay there, quietly, for a long time, maybe two hours, and when I opened my eyes, I saw that the ‘Ukrainians’ were still in the square. My little son crawled up to me, wounded. I begged him to lie still and be silent, but he’d been shot through a lung and was in too much pain. An untimely move gave him away.

    I heard heavy steps and a shot, and after that, my boy did not move anymore. From the town hall building a burning window frame fell to the street, and I saw the clothes on my son’s dead body catch fire.”

    That little boy could well still be alive today if not for the German massacre.

    And some street art near the metro station to bring a little positivity to proceedings.

  • Warsaw – Metro System : C08 Płocka (Visiting Every Station) PART 1/2

    Warsaw – Metro System : C08 Płocka (Visiting Every Station) PART 1/2

    I haven’t forgotten my plan to visit every station on the Warsaw metro project, it’s just taking me a little longer than expected to actually finish it…

    A very jazzy sign on the platform of Płocka, which is located on the M2 metro line. It’s all relatively new, the station opened on 4 April 2020 and is the first station of the extension to the existing line.

    It’s not immediately evident what this is in the floor near the entrance, but it’s actually a copy of forest elephant bone that was found here during the construction of the station. The bone that was uncovered dated back around 130,000 years and this was the European elephant which was twice the size of the existing Asian ones.

    The whole station feels modern and clean, with the usual lack of visible staff anywhere. But ticket prices for public transport in Warsaw are very cheap, just a fraction of London, and the network feels efficiently run.

    My plan for writing about each station is to find elements that are interesting nearby, but there are so many for Płocka that this is something of a challenge to narrow it down. As such, I’m going to have to split this one into two separate posts. There are plenty of residential properties here, which is in the Wola district of Warsaw.

    The National Centre of Culture building.

    This area was very badly impacted by the German atrocities during the Second World War, particularly towards the end of it. This memorial reads:

    “Here, on 5 August 1944, on the grounds of the Ursus factory, at a site of mass execution, the Nazis shot about 7,000 prisoners.”

    This is part of what became known as the Wola Massacre and was a response to the hugely successful Warsaw Uprising which shocked and terrified the German high command. The Polish resistance and insanely brave locals fought back and made the situation in Warsaw almost unmanageable to respond to. The Germans responded with mass killings. Now is the time to mention Heinz Reinefarth (1903-1979) who was one of the most evil war criminals of his time, but was shockingly allowed to get away with his crimes after the war. Poland hasn’t forgotten him and his involvement here.

    This is the Ursus factory at 55 Wolska Street where the massacres took place of thousands of local residents. Local men, women and children were rounded up and shot, sometimes after being tortured or sexually assaulted.

    On 10 August 1944, the Germans murdered around twenty Poles here, outside where the pasta and instant coffee factory was located known as ‘Bramenko’.

    When I first came to Warsaw, getting on for 15 years ago now, there were many more derelict buildings like this, but most of them have now been developed.

    This memorial on Wolska Street was a little obscured, but it notes the mass killing of many Poles on 23 December 1943 with the full text reading:

    “The place sanctified by the blood of Poles who died for the freedom of their homeland. Here, on 21 and 23 December 1943 in mass executions, the Hitlerites shot many Poles”

    The plaque commemorates the victims of the street executions conducted in the period completed on the orders of SS-Brigadeführer Franz Kutschera (1904-1944). It’s been noted that following further research that the dates on this are slightly wrong, but that takes nothing away from the murder.

    To be continued as they say…

  • Wizz Air (London Luton to Warsaw Chopin)

    Wizz Air (London Luton to Warsaw Chopin)

    After the train journey from Norwich, I had managed to arrive five hours early for my flight. So, that’s just right, no point in rushing these things. The security process was well managed and only took me a few minutes. I was slightly amused as a woman pushed in front of me, which didn’t concern me as I had five hours spare, but I was directed to another security line which had just opened so I went through much quicker. Karma and all that.

    There’s a new menu at Big Smoke, this is the sort of exciting drama that keeps me inspired during travel…..

    And very nice, the chicken tenders with hot honey sauce, alongside a non alcohol Stella. Definitely a menu upgrade.

    Coffee acquired….

    The food selection in My Lounge, which does seem to be getting better. They had the usual dirty cutlery there though, I’m never entirely convinced about their food hygiene standards, although I’d note that they hold a five star rating.

    That’ll do as a snack, with a tea and a non alcohol Heineken which tastes of ditch water. A completely pointless beer, but I won’t go down that rabbit hole at the moment.

    The lounge was pleasant enough, it was quite quiet, but all of the power points worked and there was food and drink.

    That’s my flight at 19:45.

    And safely at the gate where everything was clearly signed as usual.

    The boarding process was smooth and efficient, with a friendly welcome from the cabin crew. As usual for Wizz Air aircraft, it was all clean and looked in a decent state of repair. The seating Gods gave me an aisle seat, but they also gave me an elderly lady in the seat next to me who fidgeted far too much and spent the flight tearing up bits of the in flight magazine so that she could keep the articles. It would have been easier to take the in flight magazine rather than leave the mutilated copy that she did.

    One person clapped as the flight landed, but I was pleased to note that other passengers just looked annoyed at him and so hopefully he won’t do that again. The flight was otherwise as usual for Wizz Air, no drama and no delays, with the crew being friendly and efficient as they completed their service.

    The aircraft was HA-LGI, yet another one that I haven’t been on before. This is an Airbus A321 which Wizz Air has had since early 2024. I could have done without the bus gate as I had just 32 minutes from landing to get the last train. This took longer than I would have liked if I’m being honest.

    The border was relatively quiet, although there was a problem with the passenger in front of me and his European Entry System arrangement. Fortunately another desk was opened up and I was asked if I was aware I could only spend 90 days out of the last 180 days in the EU. I’m very aware of that and it annoys me, but it’s nice that the border control staff remind people. I did think for a while that the delay would mean that I missed the train, but I was fortunate on this occasion.

    With that, I scuttled off to buy a 24 hour day ticket for the public transport in the city and meandered quickly to the railway station at the airport.

    With around five minutes to spare, I made it, the last train into Warsaw city centre. This saved me faffing about with night buses…. And for £8.99 for the flight, I was once again pleased with the whole Wizz Air experience.

  • Wizz Air (Warsaw Chopin to London Luton)

    Wizz Air (Warsaw Chopin to London Luton)

    I’ve already mentioned that there was a bit of a delay getting to the Etiuda lounge, but it was peaceful and calm when I got here.

    The food selection which was all looking nicely presented and appetising.

    Delicious.

    With all my devices charged and having had enough food and drink, I departed for the gate. The bad news is that it was a bus gate.

    The good news was that I was nearly the first to board the second bus to the aircraft, which meant I had some space to stand in the corner. Little victories and all that.

    There was a group of quite loud British people who were excitedly telling each other what marvellous drugs they’d taken in Poland and they were going to get drunk on the plane. More of that soon.

    Anyway, the aircraft was 9H-WNY and I haven’t been on it before, but it’s yet another new aircraft having only been delivered to Wizz Air in 2025. Their fleet is certainly mostly new and shiny….

    The flight was smooth and, yet again, free of any issues. The seating Gods gave me a middle seat, but the people either side were both quiet and didn’t fidget about, so it was a smooth flight.

    Back to the lads who claimed that they were going to get drunk on board…. They didn’t expect the Polish crew to reject their demands. Impeccably handled by the crew, the whole arrangement felt safe, well managed and professional.

    And back at Luton Airport….. Wooo. We were actually slightly early and there were minimal delays at the border, which meant that I was rather early for my train.

    The flight cost £8.99 and Wizz Air didn’t let me down here. A clean aircraft, efficient boarding, a friendly crew and everything felt well managed.