This rather lovely giraffe sculpture was designed in 1967 by Władysław Dariusz Frycz, for a metal sculpture exhibition which was being held in the city. There’s a similar sculpture over in the Woda district of Warsaw, which is in the west of the city. This one is handily located near to the city’s zoo, within Park Praski.
Despite having visited Warsaw on many previous occasions, I’ve never quite got round to using the city’s Metro network. That’s primarily because trains and trams serve the capital well enough for my needs, but there’s been a large recent investment in the network. Since I had a 72-hour pass to use public transport, which includes the Metro, bus and trams, it seemed sensible to just pop in to have a look.
The process of getting onto the network is easy, just insert the ubiquitous little public transport ticket into the slot on the machine and all is well. The gate opens and the ticket is spat back out to be used again. When leaving the network, there’s no need to do anything with the ticket, the gates just open to let people out. There are ticket machines all over the place for those who want to use the service, with English available as one of the language options.
The network is all relatively new, with the first line (M1) opening in 1995 and by 2008 it had been extended and the number of stations served increased. The second line (M2) opened in 2015 and there is work underway to increase the length of it. There are also plans for an M3 line, although nothing concrete (I’m sure there’s a pun there) has been done with that yet. That means that there are currently 34 stations that are now open, with a plan for there to be 58.
I can’t say that the trains seemed to be particularly busy when I was on them, but they were clean and spacious. The signage on-board the trains is also clear, so that it’s easy for passengers to see where they are and where the train is going. Over the next few decades, I imagine that this network will get even bigger and it’s a cheap and efficient way of getting around the city.
This was of passing interest to me as I’ve never seen a shopping centre in Poland which has been shut down. In the United States there are plenty, as well as a growing number in the UK. It opened in 2001 and the flagship tenant was the large supermarket, Auchan. The shopping centre closed down in May 2017 and it’s looked like this since.
There are meant to be plans to redevelop the site into a new centre called Galeria na Woli with a large Ikea on site, but little seems to be going on. I can’t imagine that a piece of real estate like this will be left for too long though.
Hair dryers have been banned from being used in all of the hotels that I’ve stayed at over the last couple of weeks, although this isn’t something limited to Warsaw. I’m not entirely sure how big the risk is, but there we go, but since none of the hair dryers have been disconnected guests can still use them if they want. More annoyingly though, most public toilets in Warsaw have just turned their hand dryers off and not provided any paper towels or similar, so there’s just a lot of dripping through the shopping centres and so on. Perhaps not ideal….
Anyway, whatever it takes to get rid of this blasted health crisis.
Since I feel I’ve worked around enough of these to justify their own lists, here we go….. I’ve put them into my own categories of those I really like, those that are OK and those I didn’t like as much. I can’t imagine this will interest anyone but me, but it’ll remind me of which ones to book again. As for my favourite one, it’s Mercure Warszawa Ursus.
I REALLY LIKE THESE ONES 🙂
THESE ARE OK 😐
Ibis Warszawa Stare Miasto (hate the new rooms without desks, otherwise brilliant)
Ibis Budget Warszawa Centrum (all fine, nothing luxurious – no link here as I stayed before starting the blog)
DON’T LIKE THESE ONES SO MUCH 🙁
Ibis Styles Warszawa West (felt like an Ibis Budget)
Ibis Warszawa Ostrobramska (only Accor in Poland I’ve been to where the service wasn’t as welcoming as it perhaps could have been)
Accor also operate these hotels in the city, which I haven’t yet been to. And since I’m quite cheap, I’m not sure that I’ll ever visit a couple of them, but you never know….
Sofitel Warszawa Victoria
Raffles Warszawa
Mercure Warszawa Centrum
Mercure Warszawa Grand
Novotel Warszawa Airport
I’ve stayed at this Novotel before and it was a well-run hotel and so I decided to make it my final accommodation choice for this stay in Warsaw. It’s centrally located and near to the railway station so I can get the train back to the airport.
The room was upgraded and this was clean, comfortable and had excellent views. It seems to have been modernised relatively recently and it was functional with plenty of power points. I never turn TVs on in hotel rooms, but it was a noticeably decent size.
The staff member at check-in was helpful and humorous, so that was a rather positive first impression. I wasn’t much bothered when he spoke to his colleague in Polish as I could understand it was something about broken IT, but he then apologised for this and said he hadn’t meant to speak in Polish in front of an English guest. Not that Poles should have to apologise for speaking Polish anyway.
This was the welcome gift bag offered by the hotel, orange juice, some sort of tea thing in a tube and meringues. I noticed when I got to the room that the hotel hadn’t given me the welcome drink voucher, but I decided the orange juice would suffice as I was on the 25th floor and didn’t fancy going straight back down.
The view from the room and there are some more photos here. Last time I stayed my room pointed the other way and this time I was hoping to get a view of the Palace of Culture and Science building, which is the entirely out of place Soviet style building on the right of the photo. I probably should have just asked at reception to get a room pointing this way, but it didn’t matter, as I was in luck anyway.
The breakfast is no longer self-service, but staff serve customers what they want from the hot and cold options. It all worked efficiently and there weren’t any queues when I was there, but I look forwards to the time when this isn’t necessary. The hotel has usefully put a QR code in the room so that guests can find out about various elements of their stay, this is the only one I’ve stayed at which has done this.
And my selection, although I went back for more rolls and croissants. The signage for items was clear, so it was useful to know what I could order from each staff member.
So, that’s the end of my Warsaw trip in terms of accommodation and I managed to stay in seven hotels, six of them Accor and this was the only one that I had stayed in before. And it was certainly one of the best, everything was clean, professional and comfortable. I was also pleased that it’s possible to open the window, it’s quite relaxing to hear the noises of the city. There is perhaps something ridiculous about when hotels spend a fortune in sound-proofing their rooms only for bloody guests like me commenting they like hearing the road noise, but there we go.
Hopefully I’ll stay at this Novotel again…..
Most Świętokrzyski, or the Holy Cross Bridge in English, was opened on 6 October 2000 after being under construction for just over two years. It’s 479 metres long with one tower which supports the cables which hold the bridge up. It’s quite an impressive bridge in terms of its design, connecting the district of Praga with the main part of the city.
There were plans to put a tram line across as well, but the new metro meant that they didn’t bother, so it’s a two-way two-lane road bridge, with space for cyclists and pedestrians. It replaced the Most Syreny, or Siren Bridge, which was built in just three months in 1985 to act as a semi-temporary bridge whilst Most Poniatowskiego was being reconstructed. This sort of temporary bridge wasn’t ideal as pedestrians weren’t allowed to use it and cars were limited to just 40kph whilst going over it.
And views of the Vistula River and the city centre of Warsaw. The right-hand bank is Praga, which is rather under-developed in terms of construction, giving it quite a peaceful feel.
More on the rather lovely Novotel Warszawa Centrum in another post later, but these were the views from the room. I was very pleased with this, although intrigued how that poster on the hotel opposite seemed to disappear over the hours….
This is Ibis Styles Warsaw City and I’ve also stayed this week in the Ibis Styles Centrum (which isn’t as central as city) and Ibis Styles Warsaw West (which was a glorified Ibis Budget as far as I’m concerned). This one is centrally located, a short walk (well, what I call a short walk) to the Old Town area of the city.
Compare and contrast to the room at the Ibis Styles Warsaw West and this is a country mile better, although it is a free room upgrade. Incidentally, I didn’t realise at first, but this Ibis Styles is styled around trams, hence the seating arrangement on the left of the above photo and the tram lines on the ceiling. They could have done with finding a tram to shove in reception to complete the theme, but I liked this whole set-up.
Big windows overlooking the city. Although that little window didn’t open and I do like fresh air and the sound of the city. Coffee and tea making facilities were also provided, as well as a bottle of water.
The welcome gift was two mini bottles of wine, which is much appreciated. I’d have loved a local craft beer, but I’m never one to knock such a kind gesture.
The drinks voucher, which seems to be the old style ones that I thought they’d done away with.
A beer, I have no idea what. It was small and drinkable, but unexciting. To be fair, they’d given me free wine, so I didn’t much mind. Incidentally, this was another hotel where the staff were friendly, personable and keen to help, particularly the lady at check-in who was particularly warm and engaging.
The reception area.
The breakfast room, which is on the seventh floor and is much larger than I expected. Self-service has been removed for the moment, so staff served food from a hot and cold selection. I don’t much like this style of service, but needs must.
My breakfast options, all entirely satisfactory as the breakfast came with the room. The hotel had done their best in the rather trying circumstances that we currently have.
Anyway, I liked this hotel and it was one of my favourites of the trip, although Accor generally surprise and delight me. Laid-back, comfortable and there were no noise issues either internally or externally. It was a large room with excellent views and I liked the welcome gift of wine, a reminder that I’m easy to please…..
This memorial is currently closed off at the moment as work is being done around it and there was a plan a few years ago to move it, although I have no idea what is happening with that.
Anyway, this is a memorial to the Kościuszko Infantry Division which was formed in the Soviet Union, but it was mostly comprised of Polish fighters. Hopefully, I have my history correct here, but this memorial is on the Praga side of the Vistula River, so the opposite side to the main part of Warsaw. Back in 1944, the Polish resistance (the Home Army) were looking to retake Warsaw and that’s nearly what they did, with the Warsaw Uprising, a ridiculously brave campaign to free their city. This undertaking needed to take place on both sides of the Vistula though to be successful and to liberate Warsaw.
The Polish resistance knew that the Soviet Red Army was nearby and they attacked the Germans expecting that they would receive assistance. However, they didn’t, Stalin held the Soviet army back whilst the Nazis destroyed Warsaw block by block. The Warsaw Uprising perhaps only failed because the Soviets didn’t offer their assistance, although some members of Polish divisions did try and cross the river to help.
This memorial marks the efforts made to retake Praga, which were successful, but on its own, they weren’t enough to save Warsaw. The memorial was designed by Andrzej Kasten and Bogusław Chyliński, with work starting in 1983 and being completed in 1985. The area has fallen a little into disrepair more recently, but renovation works have at least started now.
