Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Warsaw

  • Warsaw – Museum of Warsaw (Kazimierz Palace Garden Fountain Remnants)

    Warsaw – Museum of Warsaw (Kazimierz Palace Garden Fountain Remnants)

    And another in my series of items on display in the Museum of Warsaw that I think are interesting, this post is about a remnant which is on the ground floor display of architectural features. Warsaw’s near destruction towards the end of the Second World War meant that there were no shortage of remnants like this and so it’s positive that at least some have survived. The destruction of this item wasn’t down to the Germans on this occasion, it was looted by the Swedes in the sixteenth century. They were extracted from the Vistula River in 1906 as the barge they were on sunk during the transportation to Sweden.

    It’s Cupid with a baton which was part of a garden fountain from the Kazimierz Palace, a structure now part of Warsaw University and which has been knocked about many times over the centuries (more information on Wikipedia’s page about the building). It dates from the first building which was constructed on the site between 1637 until 1641, designed to be lived in for some of the year by King Władysław IV. Apparently made from Carrara marble, Cupid would once have been holding a club which would have been hitting a dolphin. Apparently this wasn’t meant to be an aggressive act (although it doesn’t sound ideal), just showing that Cupid was stopping excessive dolphin behaviour….

    I like the history of this item though, lovingly created, stolen by the Swedes, lost in the river for over two centuries, lifted back up, cleaned and then put on display (all whilst surviving the Second World War).

  • Warsaw – Ibis Budget Warszawa Centrum

    Warsaw – Ibis Budget Warszawa Centrum

    I’ve stayed at this Ibis Budget before, although it was a few years ago and before that Ibis Styles (which I’ve also stayed at) was constructed. I stayed here this week inbetween my Sofitel and Novotel visits, so it was a little less decadent. The check-in process was efficient and well managed, so I felt welcome which is always positive. It’s about a twenty minute walk away from the centre of Warsaw and around a forty minute walk away from the Old Town, so it’s not exactly in the heart of the action. There are though buses that depart from nearby to the hotel, although there are no nearby trams or underground trains.

    There’s a bit more colour in the room than in most Ibis Budget hotels, with everything being clean. There’s also soap and shower gel provided, there’s normally just the former in this brand. I didn’t have breakfast on this occasion in the hotel, but it’s a cheap and cheerful arrangement which offers reasonable value for money. It’s best though to check that the Ibis Styles next door isn’t too much more expensive, as the breakfast is included there and so can sometimes be better value and also provide a better room.

    The view from my room of the road and river, and I’d be quite happy if they tore this road up to make the riverside area feel a bit more appealing (and also so I had a nicer view if I’m being selfish).

    Given that it is a budget hotel, the reviews are surprisingly positive in the main although there’s inevitably perhaps some grumbling about how the shower opens out into the room. For me there were no internal or external noise issues and with the room price being under £20 per night, I had nothing to complain about (not that I go around looking for things to complain about). All really rather lovely and although very different to the Sofitel, it has its own charms.

    And here’s a link to find out more and book.

  • Warsaw – Museum of Warsaw (Warsaw Uprising Uniform Jacket)

    Warsaw – Museum of Warsaw (Warsaw Uprising Uniform Jacket)

    Continuing my series of items that I thought were of interest that are in the displays at the Warsaw Museum.

    This is a tarpaulin jacket that was originally owned by the German Waffen SS when they were occupying Warsaw, but during the Warsaw Uprising the store was broken into. The jacket was given to Zdzisław Galperyn, from the Polish Home Army, battalion ‘Chrobry I’. He was captured in 1944 and sent to a prisoner of war concentration camp, but he returned to the city in 1945 and his coat was still where he left it in the attic of a tenement house at ul. Chmielna. It’s remarkable both that the individual and the coat remained intact during the Second World War, with Zdzisław donating the jacket to the museum in 2004.

  • Warsaw – Museum of Warsaw (Linen Sack)

    Warsaw – Museum of Warsaw (Linen Sack)

    Continuing on my little series of posts of exhibits from the substantial Museum of Warsaw.

    This is a simple exhibit, just a linen sack with a number sewn onto it, but it is the heritage which is important. It belonged to an individual, Zofia Bożena Stefańska, who was at the Ravensbrück concentration camp, having been sent there by the Germans after Warsaw was cleared following the Warsaw Uprising. It’s fair to say that the Nazis were considerably annoyed at the bravery of the Warsaw population in the Uprising, thereby forcing the near one million residents out of the city so that they could flatten it.

    There’s an interesting account at the Norfolk Record Office blog about Elsie Marechal, who found herself in a similar set of circumstances, although she hadn’t come from Warsaw. The thought of that linen bag containing all the belongings that an individual was allowed is quite sobering.

  • Warsaw – Filtry Cafe

    Warsaw – Filtry Cafe

    After a busy morning looking around the city’s railway museum, we thought that we’d find a local cafe and this one at Juliana Ursyna Niemcewicza 3 came well reviewed. It might not be much to look at from the outside though, I can imagine that we’d have walked by if we hadn’t been on a slight mission to get there. It takes its name from the district of Warsaw that it’s located in and the cafe serve coffees, cakes and some pastries.

    The interior of the cafe is small and there was a homely and comfortable atmosphere. It was evident that there were no tables empty, but the staff member moved someone’s coat and gloves that were on a table for us, but fortunately they just belonged to his friend and he hadn’t expelled a random customer. I was pleased that he had done that, as I would have had to stand awkwardly until a table became free otherwise, which is far from ideal in such a small venue. Several of the tables were taken up by younger customers on laptops and although it’s very positive that the cafe was full, this does present a little bit of a problem for the owners. In warmer months though there are some outside tables which eases seating pressures somewhat.

    I went for a coffee and a meringue cake, both of which were delicious and suitably decadent. All of the food was well presented, both before and after serving, with the cakes looking home-made or supplied from a local baker. I think the cafe is more of a craft coffee place, but my ability to describe that is limited, I just know that it was a rich and good tasting drink. There was some theatre in preparing the coffee as well, which was served after the food as it was a slightly convoluted process that I didn’t entirely understand. Very pleasing quality with the prices being reasonable, this was a nice warm place to visit given that it was quite cold outside.

  • Warsaw – Warsaw Ghetto Remnant at 62 Złota Street

    Warsaw – Warsaw Ghetto Remnant at 62 Złota Street

    I thought that I’d written about this section of the Warsaw ghetto wall before, but it seems that I just wrote about the footprint of the wall. There are very few remnants of the former ghetto wall still standing, even though it was once 18 kilometres in length.

    There’s a map of the ghetto wall displayed. There’s also a really useful one at https://travegeo.com/Warsaw_Ghetto-22948?sharemap which shows the old ghetto on top of a modern map. The ghetto does look like it covers a large area, but at its peak there were 460,000 Jews living within the boundaries. The ghetto was liquidated in 1942, although by then many had died of starvation.

    A number of bricks have been removed from the wall and sent to other institutions around the world, including Yad Vashem and the Holocaust Museum in Australia. I had a look at the virtual tour of the museum in Melbourne and it seems a little surreal seeing the missing brick in their collections, a reminder of how important these fragments are. So much was destroyed in Warsaw during the Second World War and these remnants are now overlooked by skyscrapers and shiny new buildings, but that they still exist is hugely important.

  • Warsaw – Zapiecek (Nowy Świat 64)

    Warsaw – Zapiecek (Nowy Świat 64)

    If I’m being honest, it’s much easier to find pizzas in Warsaw craft beer bars than it is traditional Polish cuisine. I’m not sure that this overly concerns me, but since Richard was coming over for a few days, he wanted an authentic experience that involved restaurants as well as bars. This restaurant is part of a small chain which does have quite a tourist fringe to it, but it also has excellent reviews and so seemed a sensible place to try.

    The entrance area to the restaurant, which was relatively large, although not overly busy in the early evening. We were welcomed immediately on entry, with the server offered what seemed a personable greeting.

    We were seated in an upstairs area and could see down onto the floor below, well, we could if it wasn’t for all of the Christmas decorations.

    The upstairs area that we were seated in, but it did become busier during our meal.

    The beer options were a little limited, but I went with the Książęce Złote Pszeniczne which was acceptable, but not exceptional.

    The highlight of the evening was Richard ordering four shots of flavoured vodkas. When they arrived he had a Bullingdon Club moment and flung them across the restaurant and drenched the floor in alcohol and glass. In a statement issued by Richard he noted:

    “This was not a deliberate act, the glasses were stuck into the wooden holder and were difficult to release”.

    Individuals can make their own minds up. The restaurant did let him order replacement drinks, although I was surprised to see that they were served in glass and not in plastic beakers. I did privately think that Richard would be more suited to KFC than the fine dining than I’m used to, but I didn’t say anything.

    I’m not a huge fanatic about a lot of Polish food and I’m not sure how authentic this actually is, but the sausages were delicious and I was very pleased with them. There was one white sausage and one traditional sausage, although it was possible to have two the same as well and it was served on Masurian region sauerkraut along with mustard and ketchup. Richard had pierogi, or dumplings, for both his main course and dessert, which seemed excessive to me, although I didn’t say anything.

    The chocolate in cherry sauce was a bit less exciting as there was nearly no evidence of cherry, it was just lots of chocolate. Not as decadent as I had hoped, but overall I thought that the food was fine and represented decent value for money given the central location of the restaurant. The service was always polite and helpful, even when Richard had smashed up half of the restaurant’s glassware.

    I accept that these restaurants are a little touristy, but that isn’t a bad thing here given the quality of the food and the friendliness of the staff. There’s plenty of choice on the menu and the reviews on-line show that they’re pleasing the vast majority of customers. The atmosphere is homely and although I wouldn’t claim it’s the most authentic Polish experience, I’d still merrily recommend these locations. The staff were also very tolerant of Richard’s behaviour and I was pleased that they, like I, didn’t go on about his little errors.

  • Warsaw – Same Krafty Vis-a-Vis

    Warsaw – Same Krafty Vis-a-Vis

    Located opposite Same Krafty, and hence this bar’s name, this is a compact location with a similar cosy feel to its neighbour.

    Like most craft beer bars in the city, the beers are listed on Ontap, which makes things much easier to plan. The options are though also on chalkboards above the bar and there are three options on drink sizes as well. There are some bottles and cans in the fridges as well, although the bar is less pro-active in advertising those on-line.

    The slightly quirky internal decoration.

    I went for the Double Sour Ni from Browar Monsters, perfectly decent although lacking in the depth of taste for me. I also went for the Coffeelicious Special from Piwne Podziemie, rich and sweet, but lacking that depth of flavour that can come from the best stouts. A very acceptable drink though with the more subtle than I expected flavours of chocolate and coffee.

    Service in the bar was friendly, although it wasn’t particularly busy, which seems true for much of the Warsaw Old Town at the moment. The beer selection was well curated so that there were a range of different styles, with the bar being clean and organised. They have the same pizza and burger options as are offered as their bar over the road, which are all reasonably priced given the central location. I suspect that there’s usually a larger customer base from tourists and this is certainly not a bad drinking option for someone coming to the city.

  • Warsaw – Museum of Warsaw (1780s Mock-Up of the City)

    Warsaw – Museum of Warsaw (1780s Mock-Up of the City)

    This is an impressive mock-up of what Warsaw would have looked like in the 1780s, designed at a 1:300 scale. It was first created in 1954 so that it could be displayed at the opening of the Historical Museum of the City of Warsaw on 17 January 1955, but it has recently been renovated and improved.

    This was a relatively good time for Warsaw in the 1780s, but things were going to get worse as Poland lost its independence as it was partitioned by other neighbouring countries. Poland didn’t become independent until 1918 and then the city of Warsaw was nearly entirely destroyed during the Second World War, before then the Soviets exerted a huge amount of influence on it until the beginning of the 1990s. Arguably, the city of Warsaw is now starting to enjoy a period of prosperity and independence once again after some very difficult times.

    The city has changed so much that it’s hard to work out a lot of the street plans, but the old market square helps with getting a bearing and understanding of the mock-up and how it relates to today’s layout of Warsaw. Certainly an attractive exhibit for the museum.

  • Warsaw – Museum of Warsaw (Ministry of Justice Building)

    Warsaw – Museum of Warsaw (Ministry of Justice Building)

    I hadn’t realised how large the Museum of Warsaw was, so that means I’ll have to break it down a bit otherwise I’ll never get to writing about it.

    This exhibit has quite a lot of emotive power, although it’s just a marble sign from 1933 which was on the Ministry of Justice building at 7 Długa Street. On 12 August 1944, it was turned into the Central Insurgent Surgical Hospital No. 1 as part of the Warsaw Uprising. When the Germans regained control of the city, they killed the 430 patients in the hospital and buried their corpses outside the building.

    The sign has such huge significance now as it was one of two where friends and relatives of those missing (who had nearly all died) wrote asking for more information to try and find out what happened to their loved ones. It’s not dissimilar to the messages left at the 9/11 site in New York and a sign of the desperation that the returning population to Warsaw had in trying to find out what had happened. There’s a memorial on the building today to note the atrocities which took place here.