Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Warsaw

  • Warsaw – Pasieka

    Warsaw – Pasieka

    My friend Richard had meandered over to Warsaw to this week and this was the final day that he’s in the city, so that means that I can catch up with this blog now he’s gone back to the airport. His presence really slowed updates down, which I think he feels very guilty about, but I didn’t say anything  🙂

    Anyway, as a final meal for Richard in Warsaw (other than his decadent lounge visit at the airport), I thought we’d have a Polish experience lunch in the Old Town part of the city, choosing Pasieka (located at ul. Freta 7/9) which I’ve never visited before.

    I think that it’s fair to say that the restaurant wasn’t entirely packed. We were the only diners when we entered, although a couple of other people came in a bit later on. The atmosphere felt quite rustic, although the music was more Heart FM than traditional Polish classics. Warsaw’s Old Town has felt really quiet compared to my previous visits, so I suspect that a number of the restaurants in the area are finding it economically tough at the moment.

    Despite some average Untappd scores, I opted for the Staropolskie Koźlak which I haven’t had before. It transpired to be fine, a decent bock with a bit of a roasted flavour going on.

    I went for the chicken in batter with chips, salad and some sort of carrot and pea part puree. When the food was served I thought that the batter looked a bit soggy, but it was fine with a rich taste and the chicken was tender. Richard had pork and mashed potato which didn’t look as good as my meal, but I didn’t say anything. There was some effort made with cutting the cucumber, with Polish cuisine not always being the easiest to make look well presented.

    The prices were a bit decadent here as there were no lunchtime offers and so it cost us £10 each for the food and a drink, which I thought was reasonable given the location. The service was friendly and engaging, so the environment felt relaxing enough. I’m not sure that we went for particularly Polish options with the food, but Richard had some heated up mead and my Polish beer added some localism to the arrangements. All really quite nice and a perfectly decent way to experience some Polish options.

  • Flixbus – Częstochowa to Warsaw

    Flixbus – Częstochowa to Warsaw

    Let’s just start this was the succinct phrase ‘bloody Flixbus’. I’ve been on many Flixbus trips and in recent years my experiences were getting better after many annoying journeys. That meant I was hopeful that the service might be comfortable and easy.

    I arrived at the bus station 45 minutes early (I feel the need to always be early to recce the situation), pleased that it clearly stated that I should board at gate 13. I thought that this was marvellous, until I realised that there were only five platforms. Brilliant, just the confusion that I didn’t need. I roped in a young Polish guy who I guessed correctly might speak English and he had missed his bus, but he said that Flixbus could depart from one of the three places due to changes at the bus station. It could be from either end of the bus station, or it would be from outside the front.

    I will say that Flixbus support is very good and they responded to my Facebook message quickly and we soon discovered that they didn’t know where their coach went from either. I have to credit them with replying so promptly and politely though.

    This is the dilemma. Flixbus say to wait outside the bus station, which is the bit just above ‘parking’ in the above map. However, I was aware that was a stupid place to stand as coaches weren’t using the bus station, they were either going off near to the Jamaican Shop (very decadent), outside the front, or right down the bottom of the map on that little turning circle.

    Flixbus do have coach tracking, which saved the day here. If I had waited where Flixbus customer support said to wait then I would have missed it, the coach parked up right at the bottom of the above map. That’s actually quite a distance away and it isn’t visible from the bus station, so very easy to miss. To me, this is completely hopeless, it’s like a railway station not having any platform numbers and expecting customers to just work it out.

    The driver was friendly enough, although there were no checks of my documents. For unknown reasons Flixbus give a reserved seat, but it’s visible only on the app and not on the ticket they send. I didn’t much care where I sat, but there was someone in the seat that I had been allocated. I have no idea why Flixbus need to give out seat numbers to those who don’t want them, they’re pretty much entirely ignored by customers and it creates confusion when none was needed. The bus departed seven minutes early, so I assume that I was the only customer being picked up in Częstochowa.

    I don’t know the safety rules in Poland, but there no announcements, no customers wearing seatbelts and the like. Without being rude, the interior of the coach was also quite Hogatharian. We had some customers passed out drunk over seats, some just drunk and some who were standing whilst the coach was in motion and they promptly fell over. It wasn’t a problem for me, but it wasn’t really an ideal set-up and it was clear that the sole driver, who wasn’t wearing anything that might suggest he was the driver, wasn’t going to burden himself by dealing with anything.

    The coach was generally clean, but it was a slightly rickety thing and the seats reclined so far as to be a complete nuisance for the customer behind. That didn’t impact me as the coach was very quiet and I had no-one in front, but it seemed a cheap vehicle and not at all decadent.

    The coach arrived on time and in one piece into Warsaw West. The fare was £10, similar to the train, and I decided to go by coach to see how it compared. The whole Flixbus outfit worries me though, there are what I consider to be customer safety issues that the company isn’t worrying about, let alone the problems that customers have getting any joy after complaining. One customer on a review said that the driver on their service hid an illegal immigrant on the coach into the UK and got caught, with Flixbus doing nothing to get customers to their final destination. The detail provided suggests that it might be true, but if not, there are hundreds of other complaints logged on-line.

    So, that’s it for me, I’m not going to risk another Flixbus service, I don’t think they’re safe enough or have a robust enough procedure to know what is going on. They have now launched in the UK, but I think I’ll stick to National Express and Megabus. It’s probably a better experience for those departing from major termini, as it’ll be clearer where they’re going from and it’d be possible to get a seat. But, I think I’ll stick to th Polish railway network in future.

  • Warsaw – Mercure Warszawa Airport

    Warsaw – Mercure Warszawa Airport

    I’m back again in Warsaw and at a hotel that I stayed in last year during my brief sojourn to the city in between lockdowns. It’s conveniently located near to the airport and easily accessible to the city centre, hence why I thought that I’d go for two nights here. There’s also an Aldi opposite the hotel which is handily located and which provided my snacks on the first evening. For anyone coming from the airport, the hotel usually has a shuttle in normal times, but at the moment it’s easy enough to jump on the train into the city centre and then just jump off after a couple of stops (not literally jump obviously) with about a 6-minute walk to the hotel.

    It took me a few seconds to remember where the hotel room numbers are located, which isn’t on the door. This is the one little problem I had at the hotel, which is that the key card was a bit unreliable and sometimes required me to make several attempts to get into the room. To be fair I didn’t bother going down to reception to change the card as it was a bit of a walk and no-one saw me patiently trying again and again to get it to work.

    The room which the hotel had upgraded for me, which was rather lovely. There was a sofa, chairs, a large desk and a fridge, with everything being spotlessly clean.

    The bathroom was the size of a small changing room.

    There was a espresso coffee machine, other hot drink making facilities and two bottles of water. I spent a good few minutes trying to turn the machine on, until I realised there’s a small switch at the back. And then there was espresso coffee….

    And a welcome gift of fruit (which I did eat) and cake, all much appreciated.

    And a welcome drink voucher, which mentioned that I could have any drink, a policy which seems to vary at different Accor hotels in Poland.

    The friendly member of bar staff said that I could have the Żywiec Porter, so I went with that quite happily. I commented in my post last year that the seating in the bar area is a little basic, although I could have gone into the restaurant with my drink and I can’t imagine that they would have minded.

    Back in the room, the windows opened as far as I wanted them to, and it would be possible to walk out on that bit of roofing if anyone was particularly adventurous (I’m not). It’d take an idiot, but I like that the windows weren’t sealed up as some hotels seem to feel is appropriate. Lots of fresh air was accessible to me, although the air conditioning was also very effective for those who don’t need street noise.

    The breakfast arrangement, hot food on the left, breads and fruit on that table in the middle with cold cuts, cereals, yoghurts, cheeses, fish and the like at the back.

    Behind me is the hot drinks and fruit juice area. Another friendly staff member was in the breakfast room and she was busily clearing tables with everything feeling clean and organised.

    And food photos from the two mornings that I was staying at the hotel (I mention that in case it looks like this was just one breakfast, which would have been a little greedy). This is just the sort of breakfast that I like, cold cuts, cheeses, bread rolls and everything tasted of a decent quality. And there’s a certain decadence to having blue cheese in the morning, that’s always a delight.

    The hotel was around £48 per night including breakfast, although I had Accor Rewards points to use up which halved that price. It’s not the cheapest rate that I could have got in Warsaw, but I very much like this hotel and it’s my favourite non-central Accor option in the city. The staff were friendly throughout, the hotel was clean, the restaurant area was organised and everything felt really well managed.

    For anyone who wants to book it or find out more, here’s the link.

  • PKP Intercity : Warsaw to Częstochowa

    PKP Intercity : Warsaw to Częstochowa

    Today’s little adventure began at Warszawa Centralna, the city’s main railway station. The station was built in the 1970s and is an impressive and open structure, replacing the remains of the Warszawa Główna railway station which was nearly entirely lost during the Second World War.

    There are plenty of screens indicating the platform numbers and there are escalators down to the tracks.

    I like these screens, they make it relatively easy to know where to stand on the platform to board the train. I fail to understand why the British railway network has never managed to implement this, I don’t really understand why this is so complex. I know that it has been done in a few railway stations, but generally it’s a stand and hope you’re in the right place policy for those catching a train.

    That meant I was departing from Platform 3, Track 4 and Sector 2. I had a reserved seat which was carriage 12 and seat number 36, so I felt that I had all the information that I needed.

    The platforms are long, this is only about half its length.

    I’m always pleased to see confirmation on the signage that I’m at the right platform and at the right railway station. My service was the train departing at 10:10 and arriving into Częstochowa at 12:55, a journey time of two hours and 45 minutes.

    The train isn’t one of the more modern set-ups, here it is arriving into the railway station. They’re also not the easiest to get on and off, there’s quite a step to get into it and so it isn’t ideal for those with limited mobility to access without assistance.

    This meant that it was a carriage train, something I’m not hugely keen on. There has been a move towards open carriages and I prefer that to these eight person compartments.

    There were three of us in this compartment for most of the journey, so plenty of space as it can seat up to eight people. There were eight or so stops along the route, with everything running to clockwork in terms of the timing. I’d add that I took this photo when one of the passengers left the compartment, we weren’t all sitting on the same side. I didn’t need power for electrical devices, but another one of the passengers did and was unable to find it in this area, although she disappeared with her phone charger for some time and so I imagine there’s a power point somewhere.

    Also, it looks from the photo that it’s possible to see across the tops of the compartment, but that’s just the mirror and it is sealed quite tightly other than for the door. There’s a handy metal bar running along the base of the seats which is useful for putting feet on, saving passengers doing that annoying thing of putting their feet on the seats. The seats were adequate and were cushioned, but I didn’t think that they were as comfortable as those on most modern British trains.

    The corridor down the side of the train and a refreshments trolley did work its way up and down. The conductor was friendly when checking my ticket, although I proffered my passport and he said that he didn’t need it, although I thought they were checking them. He didn’t speak any English, but my very limited Polish is enough to understand “ticket please” and “can you make the screen larger?”, but that was the limit of the verbal interchange.

    And safely into Częstochowa railway station, which isn’t entirely obvious as I think that it looks like a shopping centre, but the service was on time and everything was smooth and efficient. The journey cost £9.80 (and I booked that at https://mt.rozklad-pkp.pl/en which is the official web-site of the rail company), which I thought was entirely reasonable given the distance travelled.

  • Warsaw – Baszta Home Army Regiment Memorial

    Warsaw – Baszta Home Army Regiment Memorial

    Apologies to anyone reading that my understanding of this memorial is limited, but I think it represents where 150 Poles died on 1 August 1944 as part of the Warsaw Uprising, in this case fighting against the German Luftwaffe. The panel on the left notes that this is a place sanctified with the blood of Poles who died for the freedom of their homeland, with the panel on the right referring to the Home Army Regiment known as Baszta, fighting near to Fort Mokotów. This memorial was placed here in 1997, replacing a previous temporary plaque.

    There’s more information at http://www.sppw1944.org/index.html?/mapapowstania3/m_34.html.

    I posted this as every time I visit Warsaw I am reminded of the great bravery of the Polish troops and residents who defended themselves with such courage against a German onslaught.

  • Warsaw – Robert Schuman Roundabout

    Warsaw – Robert Schuman Roundabout

    I’m easily confused at the best of times, but I was a bit puzzled as to why there’s a stone commemorating the life of Robert Schuman at what seemed like a random place in Warsaw. There’s no doubting the great ability of Schuman, he’s one of the best known of the post-war political European leaders and also a founding father of the European Union.

    It took me a little while to work out that the stone is here because in 2017 the Polish authorities named a roundabout after him. I’m not entirely sure why this roundabout was selected and indeed why a roundabout was thought to be a fitting honour. Anyway, it’s here for anyone who wants to visit it, just a little south of the centre of Warsaw.

  • Warsaw – PINTA Warszawa Craft Beer

    Warsaw – PINTA Warszawa Craft Beer

    It’s becoming more challenging for me to find a craft beer bar in Warsaw that I haven’t been to, but I persist in my efforts. Since it’s my first day back in Warsaw I visited my favourite bar in the city first, Hoppiness, and was delighted as ever. After that, I made the short walk to PINTA which I understand opened earlier this year. They’re a brewery who have been trading for some years and were apparently the first Polish brewers to have an international collaboration, with O’Hara’s from Ireland. Things seem to be going well for this bar judging by the reviews, they’re nearly all positive at the moment.

    The beer options are chalked up on the board, although they’re also listed at https://pinta-warszawa.ontap.pl/. The server was helpful and I’ve realised how much of my already very limited Polish that I’ve managed to forget. Not that it mattered much in this instance, the server spoke fluent English. In terms of the beer selection, it was excellent with a range of beer styles and the like, all neatly presented.

    This is the upstairs area of the bar, it’s all quite spacious.

    I went for the Kwas Xy sour from Browar PINTA, the brewery who operate this bar. A decent sour, taste of stone fruit and suitably, well, sour.

    I also went for cod bites and these have to be collected from a little hatch upstairs. A little greasy, but they tasted fine, although I tend to like most things in batter (preferably not vegetables, although they taste better in batter).

    This is a decent enough bar, although it was a little sterile since I visited on a Tuesday early afternoon when I was the only customer. Service wasn’t quite as engaging as Hoppiness, but it was polite and friendly, so that was more than good enough for me (and Hoppiness set very high standards). The bar was spotlessly clean, the environment was comfortable and so all really rather lovely. They also opened a bar in Wrocław in 2018, which reminded me that I haven’t been to that city for a few years. All very on-trend though, I’d like to think that there might be a little chain of these throughout Poland in a few years.

  • Warsaw – Fort Mokotów

    Warsaw – Fort Mokotów

    Mostly photos in this post, but I was intrigued by Fort Mokotów as I’ve had a little look at these forts across the city in the past, including Fort V Włochy. There’s not much at this fort, which was originally constructed in the 1880s and then extended within a few years. These structures were built as part of the Warsaw Fortress to defend the city from attack. This one was used to house Polish radio in the inter-war period, which meant that the Germans sought to destroy it early on during the war (before they sought to destroy everything else in this great city).

    Today, there are a number of restaurants and bars located here alongside numerous offices, but there’s not much else. Interesting though.

  • British Airways (London Heathrow T5 to Warsaw)

    British Airways (London Heathrow T5 to Warsaw)

    For the first time in just over a year, I’ve been able to get the chance to return to Poland, something which I’m more than pleased with. That meant a journey from London’s Heathrow T5 into Warsaw Chopin airport with the hope that I had collected together the correct documents.

    I’ve written about the BA T5 Galleries South Lounge before and so won’t repeat that, as not much has changed recently in terms of its operation. Drinks are still self-service, but food needs to be ordered via a QR code and is brought over by staff. The food delights in the morning included the breakfast option of a bacon roll with hash brown, alongside a fruit salad. The lunch-time options included Vietnamese vegetable curry, chicken jalfrezi with lime & coriander rice, beef keema with rice, mixed leaf salad, five bean salad with feta and a black rice, Quinoa & Edamame salad. I went for the jalfrezi and five bean salad, with the former being excellent and the latter being OK but a little short on feta. I’m always content with the quality of the food, but some people inevitably moan about BA’s offering.

    The lounge was though the busiest that I’ve seen it and that perhaps suggests some sort of normality is definitely returning. A couple of customers were completely rude in their dealing with the staff and although I wanted to say something, I thought that no good could possibly come from that. I was able to get one of the high seats by the power points and remained in the lounge for three hours or so, all very relaxing.

    The gate wasn’t called for ten minutes after it was meant to have been, instead it then switched to ‘please wait’. I guessed that this meant it would be departing from A10, the bus gate.

    And here we are, the bus gates. Boarding was well managed and Group 1 and then Groups 1 to 3 were allowed to board first. I’m in Group 2, as I’m not decadent enough to be in Group 1, but that was enough to get on the bus first.

    The bus was a little over-filled I thought (I didn’t photograph that), not in terms of it being dangerous, it just wasn’t comfortable for those who boarded last.

    And time to board, the aircraft was the A320 G-EUYT, which I’ve never flown on before. And I accept that no-one is really bothered about that, but there we go…. The aircraft was brought into service in February 2014 and it has only been used by British Airways.

    I had a seat in the emergency exit row which I like because of the slight extra space, but dislike that my bag has to be in the overhead lockers. For the first time I’ve seen though, a member of cabin crew was guarding the lockers by the emergency exits so that customers could ensure that their bags were placed there and not half way down the plane. Although I boarded early and this didn’t make any difference to me, it did speed up boarding later on.

    The flight was full and I’m not sure that there were any empty seats. The customer next to me arrived towards the end of boarding and started to put his bag on the floor. I was standing up as I was in the aisle seat and let him in, thoughtfully asking him if he wanted to put that bag in the overhead locker. He replied “no” and in my very British way I added “are you sure, it might be easier?” to which he replied “no” again so I sat back down. The customer at the window seat, who seemed perfectly friendly, was more direct and said only slightly gruffly “that bag needs to go in the overhead locker”, at which point I had to stand up again as that more direct approach worked.

    The aircraft was meant to take off at 15:15 and arrive at 18:50, but we took off late due to a delay in the baggage being loaded. We eventually took off at 15:47, but time was made up en route and we arrived at 18:46 (can I add that I didn’t sit and measure that, I took that information from Flight Radar). As an aside, the crew weren’t handing out wipes for customers to clean their seat area as they’ve done over the last year, I’m not sure whether that’s by omission or whether that has been scrapped.

    The on-board catering and I’m happy with this, it annoyed me when they removed it. There’s the option to buy additional items, but I noticed only a handful of people did so. Crisps and water is sufficient for me though, it wasn’t a long flight.

    The fare cost me £30 each way, which I have to say continues to offer excellent value for money, especially given that BA funded lounge access for me before the flight. The crew were friendly, the aircraft was spotlessly clean and the pilots were professional with timely announcements. I have nothing really to fault BA on, I thought that this was a well managed service.

    For those interested, anyone going to Poland at the moment needs to fill in a locator form and have their Covid pass ready, with both being checked. The Brexit arrangements mean that British travellers are inevitably now sent to a different area which all takes longer and passports are now stamped. Some idiotic British passenger (I admit to be judgemental as she was being rude) was lucky to be allowed in as she was complaining that she was being asked where she was staying and why was only she being asked? The member of the Polish Border Guard was calm and helpful, not mentioning that it was because she hadn’t bothered to fill in a locator form. This whole process only took around five minutes though and with that, I was back in Poland. How very lovely.

  • 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.