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Category: Poland

  • Poznan – Old Zoo

    Poznan – Old Zoo

    This zoo opened in 1874 and it remained the city’s main zoo until 1974, when the New Zoo partly replaced it as it no longer offered enough space for the animals. This location is much nearer to the city centre and I rather liked it, primarily focused on reptiles but still with plenty to see. It was relatively quiet when I visited, with plenty of space for the animals and reptiles that remained, with entry today being free to enter the park area and it was just over £1 to see the reptile house. I don’t like snakes in general, but I like looking at them through glass.

    Anyway, this post is primarily photos from my visit in 2016…..

           

  • Poznan – Lech Brewery Tour

    Poznan – Lech Brewery Tour

    These photos are from my visit to the Lech Brewery in Poznan back in 2016, although I’m disappointed to see that they have now been permanently discontinued.

    I managed to arrive a few minutes late due to circumstances beyond my control (I got a bit lost) and was rather nervous that I had kept around 50 people waiting when I saw the assembled crowd. It transpired that this group was for the Polish tour, whereas the tour English had just me and two Irishmen on it. They seemed to drink a lot of Guinness.

    There was a walk across the brewery site to start with and the tour guide was enthusiastic and keen. He didn’t actually work for the brewery and was instead trained by them to offer the tours, but he was very engaged with the whole thing, so it was a good choice. However, he admitted that the brewery had told him that real ale wasn’t really going to take off in mainland Europe and it was becoming less popular in the UK. I suspect that was more wishful thinking from the brewery management, and I’m not sure that Lech has made much progress in the direction of real ale or craft beer at all.

    My knowledge of the brewing process is limited, primarily as I seem to fail to be able to grasp anything scientific. I think I just like looking round factories and then having a drink, but I remember it was sufficiently interesting.

    A model of the site.

    At the end of the tour there was a drink provided at the brewery’s own bar.

    This is a very poor photo, especially as I must have forgotten to take one when the glass was full (and that’s how it started off). I was also given a Lech bottle opener which I still have and is one of my favourite bottle openers (insomuch that I have favourites….)

    Anyway, the tour was cheap to go on, the guide was engaging (and spoke English fluently), everything look sparklingly clean everywhere and the beer was as good as Lech gets. Since I visited the company has been taken over by Asahi Breweries and it’s disappointing they’ve chosen to stop tours entirely. I can’t confess to being a huge fan of Lech beer (and their reviews on Untappd are painful to look at) but I was impressed at the professionalism that was visible at the brewery itself.

  • Poznan – Restauracja Ratuszova

    Poznan – Restauracja Ratuszova

    This not being able to travel thing means I’ve decided to resort to looking at old photos, these ones are of my visit to Restauracja Ratuszova in September 2016. Located in the heart of Poznan, this was, and still is, a well reviewed traditional Polish restaurant. Obviously I was in an exotic mood at the time, as I opted for an outdoors table.

    Zywiec is OK, I prefer Zywiec Porter, but needs must…. All was as expected on this front.

    I think I was still going through my cider phase at this point, this is a strawberry cider from Kamron (a cider producer from Kielce) as clearly my half litre of Zywiec wasn’t enough.

    I have been asked why I keep ordering non-Polish food when in Poland. That’s because for my first ten or so trips to Poland, I did keep eating local food, and in this case, the national dish that is pierogi (or dumplings). They are very lovely, but, with the best will in the world, quite a lot of Polish food can be stodgy, and hence why I often veer off towards other cuisines. But, I do revert to these traditional Polish dishes from time to time and am rarely disappointed.

    In the case of this restaurant, the dumplings were filled with wild boar and they were rich in flavour, served with spinach, Chanterelle sauce and cranberries. There were helpful English speaking staff, it was a comfortable location and so all rather lovely. The meal came to £10 which included the two drinks, so given the central location, this seemed entirely reasonable.

  • Poznan – New Zoo

    Poznan – New Zoo

    This was my visit to Poznan’s New Zoo (the Old Zoo is still open and in the city centre) in 2016 and I remember it primarily as I only saw two other visitors there). I went on a weekday morning in September and the zoo is huge in terms of the amount of walking required, although there’s a little train service for busier times of the year. There were quite big gaps between the enclosures, but this is deliberate to give the animals as much space as possible.

    The one benefit about there being so few other visitors (other than no kids shouting about) is that the animals seem more interested in coming to have a look. Perhaps they’re hoping that they might be fed, but it was a handy advantage to get so much solitude. The admission fee is low, just a couple of pounds. Everything at the zoo seemed well cared for, not just the animals, but also the enclosures and public areas.

    Anyway, here are some of the photos….

     

     

  • Warsaw – Caffè Dell’Amore

    Warsaw – Caffè Dell’Amore

    Looking for a little cafe in Warsaw last week, this one was well-reviewed and is located between the central railway station and the Old Town.

    The fridges in the cafe with the cakes looking rather sparse, although they were reasonably priced.

    It’s not perhaps the most sophisticated of interiors, but it’s clean and organised with an Italian feel to the whole arrangement.

    The latte really was rather lovely, a richness of taste and at the appropriate temperature, ie, one which isn’t so hot it burns the mouth. The meringue was light and probably far too sugary for my health, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The environment was comfortable and relaxed, although not particularly busy. It’s larger than it looks from the front, as there are some seats at the rear, as well as the outside seating.

  • London – Lambeth – Imperial War Museum (Warsaw Uprising Graves)

    London – Lambeth – Imperial War Museum (Warsaw Uprising Graves)

    Returning to my little theme of the wonderful on-line photo collection of the Imperial War Museum….

    © IWM HU 105736

    This is quite a raw photo, showing a little girl in what was likely late 1944 and she’s passing by a number of graves. There were hundreds of these plots of graves in Warsaw as people didn’t know what to do with the number of dead. It was only after the end of the Second World War that they were mostly exhumed and moved to the Warsaw Insurgents Cemetery.

  • Warsaw – Holiday Inn Express Warsaw Airport

    Warsaw – Holiday Inn Express Warsaw Airport

    I stayed in Poland for ten nights on this trip and this was the only one not in an Accor hotel. This hotel isn’t the easiest to get to from the city centre, but it was cheap, coming in at under £25 for a room and breakfast. I had quite low expectations for the hotel, primarily as I don’t often stay in Holiday Inn Express hotels and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

    My first impressions weren’t marvellous as there was no-one on reception, but everything was clean and organised. And when the receptionist came along, she was friendly and helpful, so my general impressions were restored.

    The room was better than I had expected, all clean and sufficiently large. The desk is bigger than it looks in the photo and there were no noise issues either internally or externally.

    The welcome drink voucher.

    Unlike a few Accor hotels, there was no issue here with me having Zywiec Porter. I was now very impressed at this hotel, a reminder of just how easily pleased I am…..

    The breakfast in the morning was still self-service, the first one I’ve had since March, as other hotels have had staff serving customers. I liked the set-up and it was nice and quiet, so I felt it was all still safe.

    They’ve made the process safe by removing the serving spoons, which I’m not entirely sure is the best solution here, but there we go. There was a sufficiently wide selection to chose from, including cold meats, cheeses and best of all, hot dogs. And I’ve missed those, they were a staple of mine when I went to the Ibis Budget in Torun earlier in the year.

    The reviews for the hotel are generally very positive, although someone was livid earlier this year:

    “I chose the HIE since I love the IHG brand. The night prior i stayed at the Intercontinental in Budapest and had an incredible experience. I stay in IHG hotels 60+ nights a year. I rarely if ever complain but in this case, I have no choice and I must alert other business travelers to this hotel. I will also send a certified letter to the CEO of IHG it was so bad. Once I landed at the WAW Airport, I called the hotel to have a pick up at the airport.”

    The problem was that the shuttle wasn’t there and the receptionist insisted it was, so there was a misunderstanding. I’m not sure that the CEO of IHG would be too concerned at the misunderstanding, but there we go…..

    Overall, I was suitably impressed at this hotel and thought it represented excellent value for money given the price being charged. I wasn’t going to or from the airport when I stayed, but it is conveniently located for that and I think that there’s a free shuttle available (although it might be late judging from the above review). I’d certainly stay here again, my initial low expectations were certainly surpassed. Very lovely.

  • Warsaw – Warsaw Zoo (Jan Żabiński and Antonina Żabińska)

    Warsaw – Warsaw Zoo (Jan Żabiński and Antonina Żabińska)

    This house at Warsaw Zoo is where the head-keeper and his family used to live, an otherwise unassuming building. But, during the Second World War, this is where Jan Żabiński and Antonina Żabińska hid Jews to save them from being killed or sent to concentration camps. Jan Żabiński served as the Director of the Zoo between 1929 and 1939, when he was given the role of looking after the city parks. This gave him access to the Warsaw Ghetto and he helped many Jews escape, placing himself in huge danger.

    Some of the Jews were hidden in the cages where the animals were once held, now most of them had been killed by the Nazis for fear that they would escape. A few Jews were also hidden in the cellars of Żabiński’s house and there was a cellar which linked to a tunnel. This tunnel came out in an area of trees, so if the Nazis raided the house then the Jews could escape and hide above aground.

    Both Jan and Antonina were later awarded the huge honour of Righteous Among the Nations, those who had taken a substantial risk to try and save members of the Jewish community. Jan returned to his role as Director of the Zoo in 1945, where he continued until 1951. The regime of Józef Cyrankiewicz saw an end to that, Jan who had fought courageously with the Home Army in the Warsaw Uprising was fired from his role because of that loyalty to his country, which conflicted with the communist influence from the Soviet Union.

    However, the bravery of Jan and Antonina came to the attention of the world primarily after the publication of the Zookeeper’s Wife, which was turned into a film in 2017.

  • British Airways (Warsaw to Heathrow T5)

    British Airways (Warsaw to Heathrow T5)

    This was the British Airways aircraft in Warsaw, G-NEOY, one of the new Airbus A321-Neo aircraft and this was only delivered to BA on 15 June 2020. It wasn’t the aircraft that they expected to use, but the UK Government announced an end to the travel corridor from Poland and this was one of the last flights back to the UK that avoided this issue. So, the aircraft was entirely full.

    The gate was busy and the announcements were hard to hear as the tannoy wasn’t very loud. There was boarding via seat row and this seemed sufficiently well managed.

    The free snacks provided en route, although three customers near to me tried to order food and drink from the Buy on Board service which has been suspended for some months. The crew explained that it was unsafe to serve customers food at the moment, and one customer asked why they were serving food then. It isn’t an unreasonable question (and the crew member couldn’t answer it), although I’m happy with the current set-up.

    This was one of the tensest flights that I’ve been on with British Airways and it’s clear that some passengers were on edge throughout. A passenger opposite me who reclined his seated immediately and then hugged the seat in front of him was one of the more selfish I’ve seen, but I was pleased he wasn’t near to me. This same customer also irritated a member of cabin crew who ordered him over the tannoy to sit down after we had landed otherwise he’d suspend the disembarkation process. It was the same customer who talked over the safety announcements and ignored the crew throughout, then seemed confused why he was being called out for standing up whilst taxiing to the gate. I quite liked the drama to be fair.

    Overall, this wasn’t an expensive flight as I booked early, although the last few seats were costing hundreds of pounds each for those who needed to return home before 4am on Saturday when the travel corridor option was slammed shut. The problem with this new aircraft is that it’s not very comfortable when it’s at this capacity. There’s not enough space and things such as the at-seat power didn’t work, which it really should have done given how new the aircraft was.

    But, having written that, I was just pleased to get back out of Poland given the travel corridor issue, and British Airways didn’t let me down there. The flight was around thirty minutes late in departing due to a delayed outbound flight to Warsaw, but our aircraft arrived just one minute later than timetabled as they were able to make the time up. It was a slight shame that the aircraft landed at C-gates, as that’s a bit of a trek back, but the airport wasn’t particularly busy. So, all sufficiently pleasant, but not my best flight with BA.

  • Warsaw – Chopin Airport Preludium Lounge

    Warsaw – Chopin Airport Preludium Lounge

    The Bolero Lounge at Warsaw Airport is currently closed, with British Airways customers being asked to use this lounge instead. It’s at the other end of the terminal, but it’s not a particularly onerous walk back to the Schengen area. I had a five-minute wait or so to enter the lounge as it was at capacity, but it seemed to stay a little quieter for the rest of my visit. There might be a few extra customers at the lounge today from the BA flight, now that Poland has been removed from the travel corridor, and perhaps a few paying or Priority Pass customers from the WizzAir flight to Luton.

    Everything in the lounge is now handed over by staff, rather than being self-service. It’s not perhaps ideal, but there wasn’t ever much of a wait to ask for anything. The lounge was clean and comfortable, although it doesn’t have any windows which always makes these places feel just a little forlorn. Staffing was efficient if not always entirely engaging, but I imagine the staff are growing just as tired of this situation as everyone else.

    The food and drinks menus, I thought that this was quite a reasonable choice.

    I couldn’t resist the chocolate and beer….. Incidentally, it’s not craft beer, but it’ll do as it’s free. Amazing how less picky I get when things are free.

    The Greek salad and tuna wrap, the former of which seemed fresh and was sufficiently tasty, the latter was just a bit moist and I’m not a huge tuna fan. But, it was perfectly edible and I had no cause to complain about it.

    So, it’s positive that the lounge is open and in operation, with pretty much the full food and drinks options that they had before the health crisis. I think I preferred the system at the BA lounge at Heathrow, but it’s a comfortable enough place to wait for a flight. Perhaps next time I fly from Warsaw the Bolero lounge will be open again and fully self-service, but that feels a long way off at the moment.