Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Poland

Wrocław – National Museum in Wroclaw

I’ve been to this museum before, back in 2017, but I can’t remember much about it and I seem to have taken relatively few photos to try and remind myself. Unfortunately for my two loyal blog readers, I decided to take rather more photos today and, given that, I feel a need to write about some of artworks. That means there might be a heap of rather less then riveting posts as I’m hardly an art historian, but it’ll keep me amused for a while.

The welcome was friendly and a security guard gave me an introduction of where to go. It’s a well-laid out museum and surprisingly well signed as I often find myself getting a bit muddled up.

The museum was opened in 1948 in a building that was built between 1883 and 1886 and was previously used as the Silesian Regency Office. The city was known as Breslau until the Germans lost it following the Second World War and many of this museum’s collections are from the part of Poland that became Ukraine when European borders were redrawn. Located in a different building which has now been destroyed, the German equivalent at the time was the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts, but most of those holdings were lost in the conflict, although some have made their way here to this museum.

The museum is substantial in size and I meandered around for three hours before I felt that I had seen enough. It would be possible, and my friend Susanna would do this, to stay there all day to properly see all of the collections.

There are a lot of staff here monitoring the collections and they were all professional with the exception of one younger female staff member who decided she would follow me about the rooms that she was responsible for. It neared the point that I was going to question what she was doing, but I decided against it to avoid any diplomatic incidents and just left those rooms rather quicker than I would have liked. It was very odd, I can’t recall it happening anywhere before and I thought at first she was just looking to find an opportunity to engage about some of the artworks.

The view from the museum. Anyway, there may now follow a few posts about certain artworks in the museum until I get bored.

March 18, 2025
Poland – Otwock

I’m aware I’m jumping around topics a bit at the moment, this is from when I was in Poland a week ago.

Otwock is at one end of the S1 line in Warsaw and I thought I’d go there to distract myself for the day. The town dates back to the fifteenth century, but it expanded quickly in the late nineteenth century when the railways arrived here. Located in a forested area it became a popular place for people to take the air and the wealthy Poles came here for rest and relaxation. There was a large Jewish community here (around 5,400 out of a population of 8,500) before the Second World War, but their population was decimated, with most ending up at Treblinka extermination camp. There were five synagogues in the town at the outbreak of the war, but they were all destroyed in October 1939. A ghetto was set up here by the Germans and there’s a plan of it at https://museeholocauste.ca/app/uploads/2017/03/plan-ghetto-otwock-1947.jpg.

It does have one of the most beautiful railway stations that I’ve seen in Poland.

I think this is really rather lovely and it first opened in 1877 as part of the Vistula River Railroad project, although this building is later and dates to 1910. The line was electrified in 1936 as part of the plan to improve the rail services to suburban Warsaw.

There’s a news report in August 1906, when Otwock was part of the Russian Empire, that reads:

“Last night, at Otwock near Warsaw, a band of revolutionaries, all of them Russian Jews, attacked the railway station, firing revolvers. They stole 800 roubles and shot a railway employee dead. During the night troops searched the neighbourhood and arrested eleven suspects. This morning, as the train carrying the prisoners approached Warsaw, it was stopped by fifty men, who fired revolvers at it”.

I’m not sure I entirely understand, as in 1906 there were pogroms across Russia against Jews, although they did defend themselves. There’s another reality that newspapers at the time may or may not have reported accurately anyway.

The town’s Christmas tree was still up in late January.

As noted on the sign, Warsaw is around 25 kilometres away.

I’m not sure that I’d go quite that far. However, Michael Jackson applied to lease a property here in 1997 (in Otwock, not this playing field) so it has attracted many over the years.

I was less interested in this sign than wondering where those Five Guys stickers came from, as I don’t think that they’ve reached Poland yet. Monterock have got the rights to open the brand across the country, but I’m not sure any have opened yet.

Otwock is known for its architecture and this shows some of that off. The style is quite located and took off in the late nineteenth century, primarily formed of quite complex wooden construction, rich ornamentation, verandas, balconies and an attempt to blend in with nature.

As another aside, and as more riveting content, why are the seats like that?

That swing looks like something I’ve arranged. Although something I’ve obviously got some help with as otherwise it wouldn’t be level, nor would it be attached to the trees still.

A water tower.

Just as a note about the railway line that I travelled on from Warsaw, this goes through a town called Wawer. In February 1940, the Germans killed 138 people in reprisal for someone shooting at their police officers and that included a train they stopped which was going to Otwock and they just shot dead one in five of the passengers as a reprisal punishment. This reached the news internationally, it was clear to the world just what was happening in Poland very early on.

In March 1941, the Germans killed seventeen Poles in Otwock because they were dis-satisfied with the number of volunteers who had put their names forward to work in Germany. In late July 1944, the Russian troops liberated Otwock, but it took until January 1945 for them to liberate Warsaw. This was deliberate, they wanted the Polish resistance crushed in Warsaw and were happy for the Germans to do it and this strategic inaction is part of the dislike of Russia that pervades the wider region.

I must admit, I meandered around for a while and this was all that I could find that looked interesting and exciting. The restaurants were mostly not open yet and as I had to get back to Warsaw so I didn’t miss my flight, I limited myself to a three mile walk up and down the streets of Otwock and then went back again.

January 28, 2025
Warsaw – Popeyes

I’d better add the caveat here that I’m aware that there are better restaurants available in Warsaw, and I’ve gone through probably hundreds of them over the last decade, but I was moderately surprised to see an outlet of Popeye’s opening in the Polish capital. They opened their first venue in Wrocław in July 2023, which is a reminder to myself that it’s years since I’ve been to that rather lovely city and I must go back. They now have around ten venues and are rolling out more across Poland at the moment, as part of an international expansion. I first tried Popeyes in New Orleans around a decade ago and have kept fond memories of it.

One of the reasons I found it handy to pop here was that I needed to charge my devices up and they have power points. Everything seemed clean and ordered, with team members visibly cleaning the venue on a regular basis.

I ordered via a kiosk, but you can order at the counter if preferred.

Served promptly and looking delicious, the chicken tenders in the bag were moist and tender. The chicken wings were cold so I took those back, but they politely immediately made me more without querying the matter, and they were much better, although not anything to write home about. I’m not sure that things are quite as smooth as in their UK and US outlets, but I suspect that they’ll give KFC something of a run for their money. The reviews are a little mixed here and there are a few people disappointed that they’ve made the menu a little Polish orientated rather than offering some of the US options such as shrimp.

Anyway, there’s some more food content as I’ve been writing too much about bridges.

January 26, 2025
Evening Meal in Warsaw, Breakfast in Rome and Lunch in Guildford (Wizz Air Multipass)

Firstly, I didn’t quite intend this odd way of getting back to the UK, but I had gone to Warsaw for a few days and needed to get back for something. I’ve been using my relatively new Wizz Air Multipass, which I’ll post an update about soon as I’m rather pleased with it, and the only way of getting back was via Rome.

So, I started yesterday evening from Warsaw’s central railway station.

There’s the flight at 20:40.

Always a delight to be in the Preludium lounge, which is the Schengen lounge so it’s one I’ve only been in a couple of times over the years (and I think one of those was because of Covid and they only opened a couple of the lounges). Thanks to Priority Pass for this.

Boarding.

I had been randomly given an aisle seat, but a cabin crew member came over to me and said they were looking for an English speaker to sit by the emergency exit door. It’s always odd this, a Hungarian airline flying from Poland to Italy, but I was an ideal choice I decided. I certainly had enough space and the flight was less than half full.

Safely into Rome and there was a little collection of artefacts to look at.

I was genuinely impressed at Rome Fiumicino airport, it’s been well designed, it’s spacious, modern and functional. I have been to Rome before, but this reminded me that I haven’t been in several years and I must go back.

I found a seating area and I thought it was interesting that the police checked the passports of most people in the seating area. The airport says that only those with tickets can stay overnight, so perhaps this is their way of checking someone isn’t there rather too frequently. The police were very polite and the time passed quickly.

I went through security at 03:00 and it remained quiet in the non-Schengen zone for some time after that.

A rhino.

There are a range of times for the Plaza Premium Lounge and most suggested that it opened at 05:00. I meandered nearby so I knew where to go, but it seemed open at 04:40 and I asked about the opening time and the friendly staff member said I could come in immediately. Thanks once again Priority Pass.

I didn’t have any of them, but the hot food options.

Just delightful. I’ll write a fuller report of this lounge, but this is very much the sort of breakfast I was hoping for.

And then pastries came out, and they were delicious.

And a double espresso to keep me awake. Rich and decadent. With several meringues (I kept getting more) to provide the sugar boost.

Second flight and I was fortunate to have an aisle seat again, with no-one in the middle seat.

Into Gatwick Airport.

A quick coffee stop in Redhill.

And then Wetherspoons in Guildford.

All really rather lovely, but longer reports to follow for my two loyal blog readers.

January 20, 2025
Wizz Air (Poznan to Luton Airport)

Back to Poznan Airport and this is a sculpture by Henryk Gida Bakalarczyk, it makes quite an impact in the departures area just before security.

There’s my flight to Luton Airport, using the Wizz Air all you can fly pass that I decided to get to try it out, so that means it’s £8.99 for the flight.

After visiting the lounge and going through border control, the non-Schengen area of the airport is quite sizeable with plenty of seating.

They were boarding the aircraft early and, as ever, it was all efficient and organised.

And boarding.

I take these photos in the hope of capturing the registration of the aircraft, otherwise I have to look it up. And it isn’t visible, so I did have to go and look it up, it’s G-WUNA, I don’t think it’s an aircraft I’ve been on before. By chance, it was the first anniversary of Wizz Air bringing this aircraft into service, but they didn’t provide us with cake or anything to mark that milestone.

And safely back into Luton Airport. It wasn’t the most comfortable journeys as I was in the middle seat and felt a little cramped on this journey, but it’s a relatively short flight and I amused myself watching stuff on my phone. There were some winds from Storm Darragh which added some extra excitement in terms of the landing, although it was otherwise uneventful. There was absolutely no delay at all with getting through border control as there was no queue, so plenty of staffing once again at Luton Airport.

It was very lovely, thank you Wizz Air. I still like this all you can fly pass, it wasn’t the longest stay in Poznan, but there seemed to be a suitable choice of destinations that I could go to. I’m already occupied with other things this week, but hopefully I’ll get to use the pass again in December and perhaps quite a lot in the new year.

December 8, 2024
Poznan – Poznan Airport Business Executive Lounge

With a couple of hours to kill, I popped into the airport’s business lounge using my Priority Pass card.

It wasn’t overly busy by any means, there was a couple in the lounge who were sitting at the far end. There’s a range of seating areas with a choice of high and low seating, although some areas of the lounge felt just a little dark. There were plenty of power points and since it was so quiet, I opted to sit near the food. I do that quite a lot actually….

It’s not a hugely decadent selection, primarily a few baguettes, some slightly unexciting cold cuts and quite a lot of chocolate.

And biscuits. Those chocolates are lovely incidentally, they appear a lot in Polish lounges.

Even I wasn’t going to have a beer at 08:00 in the morning (well, not today), I instead went for coffee and orange juice. And an overly sweet, but still tasty cookie type thing, and a fair few chocolates alongside a yoghurt.

For walk-ins there would be a charge of just under £20 for entry and that’s towards the lower end for what lounges charge. That’s not actually that bad compared to restaurants at the airport, you could have had a few drinks, some light snacks, coffees and the like for that money, so it’s not unreasonable. I’m not sure it’s worth that in the morning, which explains perhaps why it was nearly empty during my visit, but since I’ve got an unlimited pass it doesn’t make much difference.

The reviews are broadly quite poor, people aren’t thrilled by the lack of food choice, but the lounge isn’t really ever offering anything like that, they describe their offering as:

“Passengers will be able to take advantage of the catering offer, which includes hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, sweet and salty snacks, and a wide selection of alcoholic beverages.”

And I thought that the lounge delivered on that.

One customer a few weeks ago was far from impressed….

“It really is one of the worst if not the worst lounge I have ever visited. Basically there is nearly nothing there, no food, some candies, nothing is replenished by the staff who just walks around and pretends there is nothing to be done. Coffee machine was broken, wine tap broken, sandwiches ran out, toilets were dirty and wet. I could hear people paying for the at the exit and seriously they paid for nothing. This place demands a clear fix from the bottom up to the staff itself”

I wouldn’t go that far, I liked that it was very clean if nothing else. The team members looked a little bored, but they were friendly and I can’t imagine that they had a great deal to do. And they would have had to get up very early to come here to work, so they were probably exhausted already. I think there has to be some recognition that Poznan isn’t that busy an airport, so a lounge here is inevitably going to have limitations in what it can offer. Anyway, a positive experience and I appreciated having a little quiet spot to sit for a couple of hours.

December 8, 2024
Poznan – Hotel ibis Poznan Polnoc

I’m restarting my project to start visiting every Accor hotel in Poland (I mean, everyone has to have a hobby?), something which I was half-way through, and I might bring back my little Accor web-site that got a little bit lost in a server upgrade. Here’s the list that needs updating about which Accor hotels I’ve got to in Poland (which I accept isn’t riveting for anyone, but it’s handy for me to know). Or server downgrade as it evidently became. This hotel is located around six miles from the centre of Poznan and cost £34 for the night, although I got it free with rewards points from previous stays. I didn’t eat at KFC, but it’s certainly got a handy takeaway option nearby for those who want it.

The check-in process was a bit convoluted as it took a little while to be welcomed, but the team members were friendly and helpful. Unusually I didn’t get a keycard wallet, they just put a small post-it note with the room number on the keycard which seems an interesting way of going about matters. The room is the older style of Ibis design, but it’s one that I don’t dislike and it’s better than some of the newer designs in my mind. It was clean and organised, everything worked and there were no noise disturbances either internally or externally.

I had to ask about the welcome drink as although I wasn’t overly in need of one, I’m interested to see what the options there are. As expected as this is now commonplace, they’re using the app to do this, which makes matters easier. I noticed this list at reception which seems to be implemented at a few Accor hotels in Poland, which is odd as I thought they were all operated by Orbis, which limits the choice that others offer.

I went for the Żywiec Białe, which is a very agreeable wheat beer that I’ve had on a few occasions. For a small beer there was quite a faff about the procedure to get one, involving me signing a bit of paper, getting a receipt from reception and one from the till.

The reviews for the hotel generally are positive and I thought it represented a suitable and lower priced stay in Poznan. It’s not the easiest hotel to get to as it’s not located in the centre of Poznan, and it’s perhaps better for people with cars, but there is public transport there for those who want it although it requires a tram and a bus (or a tram, three buses and a walk if you decide to do things differently like me). And that’s another Accor Hotel ticked off the list, a list which I’ll get updated and fixed so my two loyal blog readers can follow along. Anyway, all suitably uneventful and a pleasant evening.

December 8, 2024
Poznan – Thali Indian Restaurant

I very much like Indian food and have enjoyed tracking how it is served in countries around the world. I mean, it’s fairly obvious to say that the best Indian food that I’ve had is in India, but the service style and quality varies enormously by country and watching that evolution is interesting. There are some locations, such as when I went to Carcassonne with my friend Liam earlier this year, where there were no Indian restaurants at all (there had been one but it shut), but the situation has been improving in Poland for the years that I’ve been coming here.

It was a welcoming and cosy environment, some effort has been made here to do something nice without needing to spend a fortune. I was initially surprised that the English spoken by the staff was fluent, but then I realised that the staff actually don’t really speak a great deal of Polish. Three Polish groups came in during my time there and they switched to speaking English, with a number of reviews commenting on this. It’s an interesting dynamic, I know there is concern from some people in the UK that the British culture is being eroded through migration. I don’t happen to agree with that, but I don’t want to dwell on that here, but in Poznan it surprises me just how much is in English.

This is the chicken Kadai, with peshwari naan and rice, alongside a small Cobra. It was served quickly, after five minutes, which is usually not really a good sign but it was relatively quiet when I visited so it makes that more understandable. The chicken was tender, the sauce had some depth of flavour and the portion size was generous. The rice clumped slightly which is marginally sub-optimal, but tasted fine, whilst the naan was a little bit drab if I’m being honest although again served as a generous portion.

I thought that this was all quite agreeable, and it came to a total of £12 which is hardly unreasonable for curry, rice, naan and a beer. The service was polite without being over-attentive, which isn’t something that I particularly enjoy, although my friend Richard loves that kind of attention. The curry could have had a greater depth of flavour perhaps, but the chicken had some taste and it all came together well. The restaurant is one of a small chain across Poland, I’m not sure whether it’s a franchise type arrangement or they’re managed restaurants, but they’ve got a fair number of these.

Anyway, it was a welcoming and comfortable experience, good value for the money and everything felt efficient. The restaurant was clean and organised, with the thalis themselves looking interesting but it appeared that the curries they served as part of that were random and I try and avoid lamb. The reviews for restaurants are all generally positive and they seemed to be serving a fair few meals that were going out to takeaway drivers (to take to customers I mean, not eat themselves), so they seem to be doing well.

After that I popped to the Christmas market in Poznan, but my phone hasn’t dealt with this very well, but it was raining. I’m not really one for Christmas markets, so I didn’t linger for very long. Poznan isn’t far from the German border, so there was something of a degree of authenticity to this arrangement that I didn’t see in Preston last week…..

December 8, 2024
Wizz Air (Luton Airport to Poznan)

The sun was shining and Luton Airport glistened once again with its raw beauty and charm. I find this one of the better airports to fly through, it’s not necessarily the most decadent in many ways, but it does tend to have sufficient staff. It took just four minutes to get through security, although as ever I’d allowed for it to take an hour. The flight was the first one that I had booked with the All You Can Fly pass.

A quick visit to Big Smoke using my Priority Pass card, it’s a handy place to charge devices and sit in relative comfort and peace. The card really is a useful little thing and I like that they’re generous with how it can be used at a number of restaurants at some airports. The staff at Big Smoke are helpful, although they don’t like card holders sitting in the bar area which is where I’d naturally default to, just because it’s QR code only ordering there. Card holders get £18 to spend there, which covers these chicken tenders and this time I went for the Medicine Man IPA, which is hoppy, juicy and with a taste of pineapple. It was better than I remember it being a few weeks ago, but maybe I was just in a good mood. This location is very fast paced, but the staff never give the appearance of being panicked, even when they have some customers who seem to be quite challenging.

When the server came along, I mentioned that I would wait ten minutes for the lunch menu to start, but the server mentioned he’d take the order immediately and send it through to the kitchen and the chicken tenders arrived promptly. They taste decent and along with some craft beer, it’s a comfortable place to wait.

Then off to Avalon to use the Priority Pass card again. I could have also gone to the lounge and the Italian Nolito, but I felt this was more than enough. They stack the amount up to the full £18, but it was handy to have a sandwich for later on. Always friendly staff at Avalon and the coffee tastes good. Incidentally, I always thought that Cawston Press had some sort of presence in Norfolk, but reading the can (I don’t get out much) its Head Office and centre of operations is Kettering. Now, I know Kettering (permanently linked with James Acaster now) is perfectly acceptable as being the home of a drinks company, but it’s just not quite what I expected. If not Cawston, I’m sure they could have opened a little place in Aylsham.

Mine was the 12:25 to Poznan, so I meandered off to the gate content that I’d had a coffee, beer and chicken tenders. This seems to me to be the very basis of a balanced diet.

A view of the area in front of the airport that I’ve never much noticed when walking to the gate. I can’t say that this is exactly riveting, but it amused me for about three seconds.

And safely at the gate. Even though I did work for British Airways for a long time and so have a natural bias, they never really sorted out the efficiency of their check-in process, it varied enormously even within the same airport. Wizz Air are very precise, timely and it works for me to stay seated until the queue has nearly gone through and I join the back. No stress, no faffing about in groups and just easy boarding.

The aircraft sitting there ready. It’s G-WUKO, the same aircraft that took me to Belgrade a few weeks ago.

Boarding, again all efficient and most passengers worked out which door they had to board through.

I’m a little cheap and so I refuse to pay for seat selection, but the airline Gods smiled upon me and I ended up with a window seat anyway which was handy.

Safely in Poznan and it was raining, which made my decision for me, I wasn’t going to walk to the hotel. I rarely have much to write about these flights, partly because I fall asleep and partly because they’re so standard because they’ve got the processes sorted. The crew are welcoming, they do their swoop down the aircraft selling food and drink, then they have a go at selling other things and then we land. They’re very alert to safety issues and manage the take-off and landing processes well, they never really give me any cause for concern or annoyance.

December 8, 2024
Katowice Trip – Katowice to Krakow and Coming Home

I have something of a backlog of posts, once again, and I still haven’t excited and delighted my two loyal blog readers about my trip to Belfast, let alone the group trip to Tallinn last week. So, I’ll speed things up somewhat. And, not wishing to panic my collection of readers, but there will be a lot of posts about Tallinn.

I left the hotel early to get the train from Katowice railway station. I’ve written about this many times before, so I needn’t dwell.

Mine was the 09:38 service to Krakow.

A beautiful train, marking 20 years since Poland joined the European Union. It wasn’t though the train that I’d be going on.

A view of the railway station, something I had time to do as my train was running ten minutes late. I didn’t understand the station announcement, but I knew the train must have been delayed as there were some sighs and annoyed faces when the Polish announcement was being made.

Here we go, the arrival of the train!

I’ve edited out the passenger, but I loved the cat who was very well behaved and kept poking her head out to see what was happening. I had a reserved seat, something which works on Polish trains in a way that it completely fails on British trains.

Safely into Krakow.

The main square. I’ve explored Krakow many times before and I only had an hour here so I decided not to do anything too fancy. I was flying back from Krakow rather than Katowice as it was much cheaper.

Back at the railway station after my perambulation around the city centre. It was a little early for a beer (beers early in the day are only allowed on trains and in airports, that’s the rule I’ve set myself), so I thought a nice walk around Krakow would be in order.

And safely at Krakow Airport after a short train journey. I had bought a train ticket on-line, one elderly English couple were cut some slack by the ticket inspectors and they sold them a ticket even though they could have fined the pair.

There we go, a short and sweet post. “Brevity is the soul of wit” as Shakespeare said…..

October 14, 2024