Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Poland

Wizz Air (Warsaw to Genoa)

After a few hours in Warsaw, it was time to get the train back to the airport for my onward flight. The S2 railway line takes around thirty minutes to get from the city centre to the airport, with a 24 hour ticket to use all public transport in Warsaw costing around £3.

The Preludium Executive Lounge was at near capacity, but I found a quiet spot which was helpfully next to a power point. Here’s the chicken kebabs with green beans, alongside an espresso, beer and Fanta.

And salad is my middle name is healthy.

Mine was the 17:30 flight to sunny Genoa.

I allowed thirty minutes to walk to the gate, although it took me around fifteen seconds such is the delight of Schengen. I like being early…

Just for reference, the price of things at the vending machine (divide by 5 to get the approximate GBP cost). I had some time to kill at the gate as I had arrived early.

Over half of passengers, including me, were sent to another queue for additional document checks. It transpired that the Italian Government had decided to reintroduce border control checks because of the football game between Napoli and Eintracht Frankfurt. The staff dealt with all this admirably, it was quite a lot of extra work performing extra checks on tens of documents.

The document process meant that we departed around thirty minutes late. The aircraft is 9H-WNN, another new one for me.

The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat, but I noticed that the row of three seats in front of me was clear when boarding was completed. Some other passengers started to eye them up, but I planned to move forward so that the two passengers on my row had more space. And also because I would have more space if I’m being entirely honest….

Most lovely.

The pilot made an announcement that passengers on the left hand side of the aircraft could look out the window at something. He said it in Polish so I didn’t know what exactly I was looking at, but I think this is Venice. ChatGPT thinks it’s New York, but I’m relatively confident from my knowledge if geography that it isn’t.

The flight, yet again, was comfortable and well managed. The crew were friendly, organised and the service was quiet which worked well for my little nap.

And safely into Genoa Christopher Columbus Airport…..

The flight cost me £9 as usual as part of Wizz Air’s Multipass arrangement, which I considered to be decent value for money.

November 4, 2025
Wizz Air (Luton Airport to Warsaw)

After an uneventful rail journey to Luton Airport, I popped in Big Smoke where I get £18 to spend with my Priority Pass card. There has been another price rise, which is the fourth of the year to my knowledge, which makes menu ordering slightly more difficult each time.

I opted for the dirty fries with beef brisket, the latter of which is just about hidden in the photo but there was a big lump of it at the bottom. It was entirely adequate, with the service being friendly and helpful.

And a quick visit to My Lounge to see their collection of dirty crockery and to try their Heineken 0%. They’re really nailed the flavour of it, it tastes just as bad as Heineken so that’s a win for the brewery. The Mexican chicken and spicy rice is actually decent, the food standards do seem to have improved here over the last few months. Or my standards have dropped, either is possible.

I was moderately amused as the customer in front of me asked for two Birra Moretti beers. They’re quite tight here, so every customer gets 2/3rds of a bottle, unless you have the 0% Heineken where they just give you the whole thing as I don’t think many people want that. This whole thing just makes matters more faffy and the bar server ended up with one glass of Birra Moretti full and the other 90% full. The customer complained he wanted 100% in each and the barman actually just tutted in response. The customer looked annoyed and the glass was topped up begrudgingly. Lounge entry here is nearly £40 (unless you have a lounge card or similar) so this tightness does them no favours. But, since I get free entry with Priority Pass, I won’t complain about anything else in here…..

They started boarding twenty minutes earlier than advertised, but Wizz Air are efficient and everything here was under control during the boarding process. One customer got charged £70 for having a large bag, he had got confused which bag sizer he was meant to use and I thought he was very gracious about it all. We were on the aircraft at the time that the gate was meant to have closed, something that British Airways always struggles to manage as customers faff about with their bags.

Boarding the aircraft which was HA-LGO which I don’t think I’ve been on before. The seating Gods gave me a window seat and it also transpired that there was no-one in the middle seat despite the flight being around 90% full.

The flight was, yet again, peaceful and uneventful. The crew were efficient and polite, sweeping down the aisle selling things without waking everyone up. The aircraft was clean, I had plenty of space and I was rather pleased with my £8.99 flight cost.

We were put on a bus to get the 75 metres to the airport terminal and they really struggled to get everyone on two buses, I think they’d usually use three. It felt slightly sub-optimal, but it was hardly a long bus journey so I was only briefly annoyed.

My shiny new passport, which doesn’t have around 120 stamps in the bloody thing, is allowing me to sweep through border control so I was able to get one of the last trains of the evening into Warsaw. I don’t have much leeway here, although there are plenty of night buses which serve the airport if required.

It’s always good to be back on public transport in Warsaw, peaceful and efficient.

Arriving into Warszawa Zachodnia (Warsaw West) railway station, which is currently being upgraded. However, it feels at times that Warsaw is constantly being upgraded, such as the fast rate of change here.

And there’s the Ibis Budget, hidden behind road works. This was only a ten minute walk from the railway site, and I’ve stayed at the adjoining Ibis several times, and fortunately I found a gap in the road works to actually gain access to the hotel.

All in all, I was once again pleased and content with the whole airport and flight experience.

November 3, 2025
Warsaw – Metro System : C14 Stadion Narodowy (Visiting Every Station)

Continuing on my theme of visiting every metro station on the Warsaw network. This is Stadion Narodowy, namely the National Stadium.

The station, located on the M2 line, opened on 8 March 2015 which was a few years after the stadium itself opened, but there is also a national rail network station here. The stadium was built on the site of the Tenth Anniversary Stadium, which opened in 1955 and was built on rubble from the Second World War. The stadium was a bit sub-optimal, it was a ten minute walk for football players to get back to the dressing rooms, so half-time had to last for half an hour. It closed in 2008, ready for the development of the new site.

Here is the lovely shiny stadium, which is used by the national Polish football team amongst others.

It’s possible to walk around the perimeter, it doesn’t seem to be closed off at all.

This is the Ryszard Siwiec (1909-1968) Memorial and is one of the heroes of the Polish nation. On 12 September 1968, he set fire to himself in front of the country’s leaders and 100,000 spectators. The communist authorities were livid, it took the shine off their day and they pretended that he was an alcoholic who was mentally unstable. They seized the letter that he sent to his wife and tried to pretend that the whole thing didn’t happen. But it did, his vision for Poland took a long time to come about, but it has.

The neighbouring rail station.

A tunnel under the railway line which gives access to the stadium.

There’s a nearby park to the metro station, Skaryszewski Park.

A long path through the park, which was built on the site of a floodplain in 1905. Some beavers made the park their home in 2006, but they caused so much damage that they removed the little angels and plonked them in the nearby zoo.

This memorial needs repair as it’s nearly impossible to read, but it commemorates the lives of those Poles who died in the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers in New York.

A sculpture outside the park of Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) who served as the Prime Minister of Poland for most of 1919. He was perhaps more well known as a pianist and he served as part of the Polish Government in exile between 1940 and 1941. The entire park has now also been named in his honour.

Apparently, if AI is to be believed, the circular wheel is a telecommunications mast.

The old looking building is one of the towers constructed as part of the bridge which was designed to be ornamental and it also houses the staircases.

This Adam Roman (1916-2013) sculpture is named ‘The Relay’ and is located outside of the stadium and it dates from the previous 1955 structure. It was originally meant to be located at the Central Park of Culture in Powiśle, with the artist adding a third runner to his initial plans to have just two.

Back into the metro station, which is also planned to be one of the ends of metro line M3 which is currently under construction. There is another island platform and two tracks already in place for this, but they’re not currently in use. Hopefully by the time the first section of the M3 line opens in around five years I’ll have actually finished visiting all the stations that are currently open….

November 3, 2025
Wrocław – The Gnomes of Wrocław (Trójkuć / Radio 3 Reporter)

Nestling in the leaves at Pawła Włodkowica 10-12 is the reporter gnome which takes its name from the adjacent Kładka Radiowej Trójki (Radio 3 Footbridge) which crosses the former moat.

October 22, 2025
Wrocław – Women’s Suffrage Memorial

It took me a little longer to work this out than it should perhaps have done, but it marks when each country gave women the right to vote.

There was a group of people sitting around the monument at one end, so I focused my attention on the middle bit.

There’s the right for women to vote in Benin, Gabon and Comoros (all French colonies) as well as Egypt in 1956, followed by Lebanon, Mali and Malaysia in the following year.

It’s quite an understated artwork in many ways, but if it makes people have a think about what it represents, that seems sensible and actually quite positive. It’s located on Słoneczny Boulevard and the artwork (or monument, whatever feels the best description) consists of 162 paving slabs. It was installed in 2018 as part of a redevelopment of the area.

October 22, 2025
Wizz Air (Wrocław to Gatwick Airport)

And another Wizz Air flight, this time from Wrocław to Gatwick Airport once again. It’s a handy flight time this as it’s in the early afternoon, making it much easier to get back to Norwich without having to rush for trains.

There’s my flight, the 14:45 to Gatwick Airport South. This is a spacious and well organised airport, with the security process only taking a few minutes.

A quick visit to the lounge. They have a decent choice of craft beer, a rather good Greek salad and lots of meat products.

I didn’t experience any issues with my new passport, so that’s one less burden to have to deal with when arriving or departing from a Polish airport. They haven’t introduced the new entry and exit system yet, but I don’t think it’s long away from introduction and the kiosks are already set-up and just roped off.

The boarding process was efficient and easy, another smooth Wizz Air operation here, although we had a wait of around fifteen minutes on the air bridge.

We then had a nice wait in the rain. The aircraft was G-WUKV, it’s the third time that I’ve flown on this plane in case anyone wanted to know that.

The seating Gods had allocated me a window seat, so that was a positive for the journey, giving me a lovely view of the now rainy Wrocław. The flight was only around 75% full which meant that passengers could move themselves around a bit, so I probably wouldn’t have been stuck on a middle seat.

Some clouds. This was taken near Gatwick Airport, but we were caught on yet another series of loops as we waited for our landing slot. The flight was quiet and the crew members were efficient and polite, the whole arrangement as once again well managed. There was no queue at the border control at Gatwick Airport, so I was able to get straight through the kiosks there.

The flight cost £8.99 which is quite clearly excellent value, with the aircraft landing on time and there were no eventful moments during the flight. I had a quick nap during the two hour flight and I’ve again been surprised and delighted by Wizz Air.

October 22, 2025
Wrocław – The Gnomes of Wrocław (Adwokatka / Advocate)

Although most of the famous Wrocław gnomes are male, there are also representations of females and this is the Advocate, or Attorney, gnome. It’s located at Bolesława Prusa 1/50 and it’s hear because there is a legal office (or advocate office) inside the building.

October 21, 2025
Wrocław – The Gnomes of Wrocław (Googlak / Googler)

This little gnome is located outside of the Google building in Wrocław and I initially didn’t realise that the word ‘Google’ is spelled out in the rolls by his feet. I rather like this one, a combination of traditional and modern all at once, I suppose that fits what Google were looking for here.

I am slowly working my way around finding the gnomes in the city, although I’ve now forgotten which ones I’ve found which is making things a little more disorganised. Luckily I have this blog to try and restore order.

October 21, 2025
Wrocław – Browar Stu Mostów Taproom
The last time that I was in Wrocław I visited the Browar Stu Mostów bistro in the city centre. This time I headed out on the tram to visit their taproom and brewery, located to the north of the city.

The taproom offers views over their brewery and it all feels modern and organised.

I was the only customer throughout the entirety of my visit and I thought it might be slightly busier on an evening, but at least that meant it was peaceful. Well, peaceful in the tap room, they were busy in the brewery itself which was quite loud, but that adds to the authenticity.

The beer list is on Untappd and it’s also displayed here behind the bar, although I found it easier to just look at the online list. It’s a very competent brewery and I’ve had their beers many times in Poland and the UK, although I confess that I only relatively recently realised that they were based in Wrocław.

I ordered a flight of beers from the brewery and these were from left to right:
- WRCLW Schops which was an intriguing beer as it had caramel and banana notes, but was a wheat beer with hints of being a brown beer. It’s not a beer style that I’ve tried before, but that’s not entirely surprising as this is an historical recipe which the brewery are using, bringing back something from the past and I found it very agreeable.
- Lush Lime which was a nicely balanced pastry sour with a lot of gentle lime flavour, even pushing towards being decadent.
- Coco Drift which was my favourite of the four, it was thick like a smoothie with tropical fruit flavours, it was quite a robust pastry sour with just a little tartness.
- The Pumpkin Spice Sour tasted of cinnamon and apricots to ne, it was smooth, rich and pleasant.
The four beers were excellent, all of them of a high standard and I was impressed at the broad range of beer styles that the brewery was producing.

I very much like tartare sauce, so this was an agreeable amount to serve with the fish and chips I ordered. The meal was fine, I’m not sure what kind of fish it was and it was a little bland, but the batter had a depth of flavour, the chips were fluffy inside and the coleslaw added texture. It went well with the beers and the pricing for the whole arrangement was reasonable.

It’s worth the trip out to visit this brewery, it’s a clean and comfortable little taproom and the staff were friendly and engaging. I thought that it would be busier, but I’m sure that it gets quite packed on weekend evenings as it isn’t that large. They also have Concept Stu Mostów next door which is open from 08:00 until 21:00 every day of the week and is more of a restaurant. I think they offer the same beers there, so this is another option for those who don’t want to visit the taproom.
October 21, 2025
Wrocław – Warnings from 1933 Breslau (Burning of Books)

This is from the British press in May 1933, so early on in the Nazi party’s attack on freedoms. Breslau was then part of Germany, but is now Polish Wrocław, and the warning signs of the terror are apparent very early on. The burnings were organised by Deutsche Studentenschaft, a Nazi controlled umbrella organisation for students, and there were around 34 of them across the country on the same evening.

The book burnings were attended by an alarming number of younger people, this wasn’t just a stage managed event, with the whole process being turned into something of an evening out with procession and nationalism along the way.

The Nazi Alfred Rosenberg apparently tried to save sections of Jewish libraries. He didn’t have motives of tolerance and understanding though, he wanted to seize them so that he could use them as research material for his ideological “studies” into why the Jews needed to be destroyed.

Rosenberg was executed by the allies after the Nuremberg trials, but there’s one interesting story relating to him which also took place in May 1933. Rosenberg came to the UK and tried to show that the Nazis weren’t a threat and he laid a wreath at the cenotaph with a swastika on it. James Edmond Sears, a Labour Party candidate for South West St. Pancras, cut it up and had it chucked in the River Thames. He was fined and Sears was widely condemned in the media for his actions. History perhaps now shows that he was one of the forward thinking heroes, one of the few to call Rosenberg and the Nazi regime out so early.

October 21, 2025