Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Poland

Wizz Air (Luton Airport to Wrocław)

It was a very enjoyable weekend in Oxford with the LDWA, but it was time to get a National Express coach from this historic city to the charms of Luton Airport.

Parked up in Milton Keynes Coachway and I wonder whether travel can get any more exciting than this. I was pleased that I got the emergency exit row seat on this coach as it has more legroom, although it wasn’t particularly busy on board. The one excitement about sitting in this seat is that it seems to require the occupant to assist anyone who can’t work out that the coach toilet door slides rather than opens inwards or outwards.

I accept I didn’t try too hard to get an outstanding quality photo here, but safely at Luton Airport on time.

I cut this incredibly fine by arriving at the airport just three hours before my flight. Mine was the third last scheduled departure from Luton Airport that day.

Using my Priority Pass card to get some chicken tenders and a pint in Big Smoke.

And a Limoncello Spritzer in Nolito with the same card. I felt really quite decadent.

The screens indicated for a while that the flight would be 20 minutes late, but all ended up operating on time.

The boarding process was yet again efficient and free from drama, despite it being a relatively full flight. The aircraft is 9H-WBU which I don’t think I’ve been on before.

Here’s a nice blurry photo of London. I had a window seat assigned by the seating Gods, although astute readers will have guessed that because of the photos taken out of the window. The crew was efficient and they seemed to have very few sales when they walked up and down the aisle, but perhaps passengers were just tired.

I don’t know if the Blood Moon impacted this, but the water had a strange sort of glow.

We landed safely on time and I was ready to catch my bus to the airport.

I didn’t catch the intended bus to the airport as I then had an exciting hour-long wait in the airport whilst there was a detailed check of the stamps in my passport. The end conclusion was that I had lots more days left in the EU as they thought some countries hadn’t stamped their stamps very clearly, but the wait was sub-optimal when I wanted to be in my hotel.

And finally on the bus to the hotel, where I arrived at just before 03:00. Marvellous….

September 9, 2025
Wrocław – Mango Mama OVO

Unlike in the UK, most Indian restaurants seem to open for lunch in Poland and this was a well reviewed option that I thought I’d try. It’s also next to PINTA which is perhaps my favourite craft beer bar in the city.

The interior felt modern and welcoming, with the design feeling on-trend and the atmosphere inviting. It’s part of a small chain and the delivery element of the business seemed to be thriving.

As it’s now getting colder and I’m less likely to be attacked by insects, I accepted the offer of sitting outside. The service during the meal was particularly friendly and the menu was clearly presented. There was a small group of Germans, an Italian and someone who seemed to be French, with English being the offered language for everyone, although I think that was just what the customers spoke in rather than anything else.

I went for the special of chicken biryani which was 27zl (or around £5) along with some roti and a mango lassi. The portion of biryani was generous, as was the chicken which was tender and full of flavour. The rice was cooked appropriately, the roti had a depth of flavour and the mango lassi was creamy and fruity. The whole arrangement came to around £9 which I thought was really rather decent value for a city centre restaurant.

I was surprised and delighted with the whole experience, with the staff being friendly, the service efficient, the food being decent and the prices being reasonable. I’d certainly come here again, but there is so much choice in Wrocław that it’s becoming ever harder to know where to go and I’m forever getting distracted by new shiny places. I suspect my two loyal blog readers have no idea just how much stress is involved with making such decisions…

September 9, 2025
Gdansk – Forum Shopping Centre

[I originally posted this in June 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

Since I last came to Gdansk a huge new shopping centre has opened up near to the city centre, and it’s rather substantial in size with two McDonald’s (that’s how a shopping centre size can be judged). I do quite like shopping centres, as it means free toilets and food courts, which are both useful things to have available.

I also have an exciting theory (well, it’s not exciting at all really, but I have to make things sound as interesting as I can) that a city’s economic situation can be measured to some degree by what is happening with their shopping centres. In Norwich, the Castle Mall seems to be looking ever emptier every time I go into it. There appear to be more closed up units than open units, and I do wonder whether the Castle Mall is actually going to be a viable shopping unit in a few years.

Anyway, I digress. In Gdansk, as in much of central and eastern Europe, they’re building shopping centres at some pace. And I rather like this new one, the Forum Gdansk, and it’s an impressive building in terms of its design and its size. Apparently there were some teething troubles and the opening launch got delayed, but all these little snagging issues (I use that word for Liam) seem to have been resolved.

The food court. One of my favourite places in any shopping centre. And, unlike many other centres around the world, they’ve actually got enough tables even for when I came here at a busy time (ie, not when I took the above photo).

Much of the shopping centre has three storeys of shops.

Big and airy….

Some sort of dance event being held outside of the centre.

The exterior area, and one of the centre’s two McDonald’s. The whole centre appears popular in terms of the number of people here, although since it’s just opened it might still have a novelty factor. The opening hours are long and it’s easily accessible from both the main railway station and the main street.

September 8, 2025
Gdansk – Westerplatte

[I originally posted this in June 2018 regarding a visit to Gdansk in November 2016, but I’ve reposted it to fix some broken image links]

Back to November 2016, when I visited Westerplatte which is where the first military conflict of the Second World War took place. Of all the places that I visited on that trip, this is the one that stayed with me for the longest, as the area is now so serene and peaceful that it’s hard to imagine the horrors of what happened there.

For such an important historical site, it’s not particularly easy to get there. There are buses which go to and from the site from Gdansk city centre, but they’re not that frequent. The buses were though quite busy, so perhaps in time the frequency of the buses might increase. For the moment, buses 106 and 138 go the site and they’re the standard bus ticket price.

The site is substantial in size and it contains a large memorial to the battle, as well as numerous buildings in various states of repair. Some of the buildings are nearly entirely destroyed, a few are still standing, but most are badly damaged. There’s no entrance charge to enter the site and there are numerous information boards placed around the location to allow visitors to interpret the site. My investigation of the area took just over two hours, although I could have done with just a little more time, but was constrained by the bus timetable.

Back to the importance of Westerplatte…. Gdansk was at the time known as the Free City of Danzig and was technically run by the League of Nations to ensure that it was protected. However, the League of Nations wasn’t a particularly effective or strong organisation, and it was soon railroaded into positions which weren’t in the interests of Poland or its people.

Danzig had a majority German population, so it found itself as a bastion of empire in what was now an area surrounded by Poland. The compromise agreement of being managed by the League of Nations was never really tenable, as German nationalists wanted it back. With the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, that desire of seeing a German Danzig became an important point of principle for Hitler.

On the 1 September 1939 the German ship Schleswig-Holstein fired upon the Polish troops at Westerplatte and the war had begun. The Polish resistance surprised, and I think horrified, the Germans. The Poles were also holding other locations in Gdansk that the Germans were to attack, and the strength of the defence was respected by the German troops. However, the Nazi control saw it as a substantial threat, and so perhaps took a much more aggressive line to how they treated the Polish military.

The defence of Westerplatte did delay the Germans by many hours, which was the initial point of building these defensive structures. Around 15 Poles were killed during the battle, but around 250 Germans lost their lives. The Germans soldiers at the site were so impressed at the bravery of the Polish defence that when the Poles surrendered, the commander of the site was allowed to keep his sword.

One of the badly damaged buildings which the Germans attacked. It was impressive to me that the building still stayed standing, let alone they had managed to secure it so that visitors could walk around it. They must have done complex civil engineering things to strengthen and support parts of the collapsing concrete and masonry. Or they just left it and hoped for the best…..

More photos of the interior of the same building. There are ramps which have been added to the structure to get in and out of the building, but none of it was closed off to visitors. I didn’t like to explore too closely though, just in case random bits of building fell on me.

The exterior of the above building, with the ramp to access it visible on the right hand side.

Another damaged structure at the site.

This today is the bridge at the end of the main street that so many tourists walk over and the Żuraw (or crane) building is visible on the right hand side of the photo. It’s rather haunting to be reminded that the Nazi party was so warmly welcomed into Danzig by the mostly German inhabitants.

The Westerplatte Memorial which was contributed to mark the bravery of those Poles who defended this site, and to all of those who defended freedom.

The flags of Poland and the European Union fly at the site. Freedom prevails.

September 7, 2025
Flixbus – Wrocław to Munich

As I’m meeting up with Richard in Munich later today, I needed to get from Wrocław last night and the most efficient way of doing that was the direct Flixbus between the two cities. I’ve had mixed experiences with Flixbus, but I thought that it would be worth the risk as the timings worked out well to save me getting a hotel for the evening. Here’s the rather glamorous bus station in Wrocław, although it’s more a shopping centre than a bus station. It’s relatively new and it apparently replaced a ramshackle and disorganised bus station that was previously on the site.

And here’s the grand central area of the shopping centre element, which was rather nicer than the bus station. Ridiculously, the bus station toilets are chargeable and the shopping malls ones are free, so I walked the extra 50 metres to go to the latter.

The coach stops are in the downstairs of the building, but everything was clearly signed. I was pleased that it seemed logical, it’s not always the case.

There we go, stand 7 and I discovered something that I didn’t know, which is that Monachium is the Polish name for Munich.

The coach comes sweeping into stand 6, but that’s near enough. There were two drivers (well, one driver and one helping) and they were friendly and personable.

On board and I had a compulsory free seat reservation which I sometimes think are more hassle than they’re worth. Some people were put next to others despite the coach being nearly empty, but I was fortunate to have no-one next to me for the entire journey so there was plenty of space. There were only two stops which were Dresden and Nuremberg (well, and to fill the thing up with diesel and for the police check).

It was clean on board, but the tray was sticky.

The charging point being down there was a bit of a hassle as neither of my cables were long enough to even tuck my phone into the seat pocket. Instead, I charged my power bank and then charged my phone from the power bank.

Leaving Wrocław I tried to take a photo of the sunset, but, having thought about it, the foreground doesn’t look very decadent.

The police board at the German border, which I’m not sure is entirely commonplace, but it’s why Flixbus has to check passports and ID documents before anyone boards a cross-border route. The policeman was particularly interested in my passport with all its stamps, but not concerned enough to hold the coach up. There was a stop for diesel just before we crossed the Polish/German border and there must have been some sort of issue as there was lots of shouting about and moving the coach about the place. Someone wanted to get off for a cigarette, but this was refused in the middle of a petrol station.

And safely in Munich after the stops at Dresden and Nuremberg. The coach was always on time, or within a couple of minutes, and it was clean and comfortable. The free wi-fi was a bit limited in terms of the amount of data, but I had free roaming so it didn’t matter. The drivers were friendly, there was plenty of space and it was a reasonable experience for the £45 I paid. This was I accept a little bit expensive for a coach trip, but it saved a hotel and didn’t seem unreasonable. I got a sufficient amount of sleep on board and it was a generally very quiet coach which made that easier. Based on this experience, I’m becoming a little more confident to use Flixbus a little more often rather than just as an operator of last resort. Oh, and the coach station at Munich wasn’t as new and shiny as the one in Wrocław and it did look a bit like it might fall down soon.

August 20, 2025
Wrocław – Whiskey in the Jar

Whiskey in the Jar is a small national Polish chain of bars focusing on steaks and burgers. I decided to pop here as I’ve been to, I think, every other Whiskey in the Jar outlet in Poland so thought that I would complete the set. It’s relatively well reviewed online and they operate on a system of QR codes that customers scan rather than use printed menus.

I sat outside as that’s the only option they offered and there was no-one else inside. The service was polite and efficient, with everything feeling organised and well managed. There were no seagulls, pigeons or smokers in sight, so all was well with my outdoors bravery.

Here’s inside when I popped in for a look. I visited on a Tuesday afternoon and, unsurprisingly, it wasn’t busy, although it seems that it can get packed during the evenings.

Decorative….. The venue had a decent mix of different customers, including younger and older, families and tourists. There’s something of a rock theme going on, but I was pleased to note that there wasn’t any loud and intrusive music to annoy me.

Free popcorn, which I ensured that I completed.

They only had the standard Żywiec beer which was a little sub-optimal but it was cold, refreshing and generic. The burger was OK, served medium which is fine by me, although it didn’t really have a huge depth of flavour. The rest of the ingredients in the burger were OK, but it all combined to be an entirely satisfactory arrangement rather than one that surprised and delighted.

All told, this was a rather pleasant visit, although I’m not sure that the chain is quite as exciting as it once was. Not that it made any difference to me, but it has to groups that I’ve been with in the past, is their refusal to split bills at a table. There’s not really any reason that they can’t do this and it’s not ideal. But, I digress, and returning to the most exciting theme, they have free popcorn….

August 20, 2025
Lodz – Three Creators Statue

[I originally posted this in August 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image link]

Known in Polish as Twórcy Łodzi Przemysłowej, this is the statue of the three creators of industrial Lodz. The men represented are Izrael Poznański, Karol Scheibler and Henryk Grohman, who were all involved with the cotton industry and who collectively brought great wealth to Lodz.

As an artwork, I think it’s brave to have created such a large sculpture, and the intention was that the public can be seated at the table with this manufacturing titans.

August 19, 2025
Lodz – Szpulka

[I originally posted this in August 2018 about a visit in February 2018, but I’ve reposted it to fix some broken image links and I’m pleased that the restaurant is still trading]

I visited this restaurant in Lodz’s Manufaktura retail park in February 2018 as it was well reviewed for its traditional Polish food. Many of the food options at Maufaktura serve international cuisine, and I had worked my way around most of them during the time I was in the city.

Although I hadn’t realised before I got to the restaurant, there was a fixed price lunch menu available, which was an interesting option. I arrived at 11:50, and the staff member said that I could either order breakfast or wait ten minutes for the lunch menu to start, so I went with the latter. It all felt rather friendly, although the downstairs area is relatively small, so it was fortunate to get a seat in a convenient place.

The fixed lunch menu cost 25zl (about £5) and included a drink, a starter and a main course. There wasn’t a choice of dishes, as they were specially made, but the staff member was keen to explain what the dishes were and the ingredients which were being used.

The starter was a soup, which had a pleasant flavour and the croutons added some texture to the dish.

The main course was similar to wiener schnitzel, which I think in Poland is known as Kotlet schabowy. It’s battered pork in breadcrumbs and in this case it was served with vegetables and on a bed of mash potatoes. It’s not something I’d normally order, but the meat was tender and the vegetables had a depth of flavour to them.

I decided against having a dessert, although a drink seemed a very good idea.

Overall, I felt that this was a friendly and welcoming restaurant. I liked how they had a set lunch menu where there weren’t any options, as that meant I didn’t really have to think about anything. The entire meal, including food and drink, came to under £7, which I thought was perfectly good value.

August 19, 2025
Wizz Air (Luton Airport to Wrocław)

Another day, another train from Norwich to Luton Airport. I went via Cambridge and St. Pancras, but everything ran like clockwork so no delay repay today….

Lunch at Big Smoke.

A snack at Nolito.

And the evening meal at My Lounge.

At the boarding gate.

The boarding process was efficient and well managed. The aircraft hadn’t even arrived when they started checking boarding passes, but the aircraft seemed to be turned around quickly. The aircraft is HA-LGW and I haven’t been on this one before, although that’s not entirely surprising as it’s only been in service for just under eight weeks.

Happy passengers during the flight. The announcements during the flight were helpful and informative, the crew were friendly and everything was beautifully uneventful. The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat near to the front, which was handy for border control as well as being decadent as it wasn’t a middle seat.

And safely in Wrocław on time. There wasn’t much of a wait at border control as most of the passengers had EU passports, although there was quite a lot of checking and counting my passport stamps. As I used Multipass, the flight was just £8.99, a whole arrangement that I thought was marvellous value for money. As we arrived on time and the border control checks were efficient, it meant that I was able to catch the 00:06 bus and had a 40 minute journey to the city centre, a trip which costs under £1.

August 19, 2025
Lodz – Szmigiel

[I originally posted this piffle in August 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image link]

Just as an aside, this is a Polish company that deals with road works and road safety. But I couldn’t help thinking of an episode of Friday Night Dinner and the gift of the schmoigle…..

August 19, 2025