Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Warsaw

  • Warsaw – Takie Miejsce

    Warsaw – Takie Miejsce

    This is a small cafe located a relatively short walk from Warsaw Zoo and it’s very well-reviewed. There were though no other customers when I went, although there was some noisy road construction work which might have put some people off perhaps.

    I’m not one to worry, although I did wonder in the current climate whether these should be covered, although they still looked delicious.

    The latte was excellent, with a rich and creamy taste. The raspberry cake was fine, although the base was a bit too firm for my liking and it didn’t feel entirely fresh, but it still had a pleasant taste. I quite liked these raised windows seats where I was sitting and the atmosphere in the cafe was welcoming and comfortable. The staff member was helpful and polite, although I got confused when she asked me what type of milk I wanted, and my answer of “any” really didn’t help. Anyway, the final product met my expectations, so all was well.

    This had a community feel to it, although it’s a shame that it wasn’t very busy, but it is a little out of the way and I can’t imagine that many visitors to the city pop in. They did have on the board that they sold local beers, which I think were in the fridges, but unlike their other products such as wine and spirits, they hadn’t listed them on separate menus on the table. If they had done, I might well have been tempted, but I had already caused milkconfusiongate and didn’t want to start on craftbeerconfusiongate.

  • Warsaw – Warsaw in 1947

    Warsaw – Warsaw in 1947

    One thing that I find particularly fascinating is how Warsaw went from being nearly entirely destroyed by the Nazis to a modern and vibrant city. That process couldn’t have been easy, and progress was no doubt slow for many years. It is rare for a city to be nearly entirely flattened, but Warsaw was left as a pile of bricks and there was a time where it looked like it might not be rebuilt at all and would remain as a memorial to war, similar to Oradour-sur-Glane.

    Anyway, I hadn’t seen this video before, it’s of Warsaw in August 1947, showing how the city was still derelict two years after the end of the Second World War.

  • Warsaw – Warsaw Zoo

    Warsaw – Warsaw Zoo

    I haven’t been to Warsaw Zoo for about a decade and the 1 October meant that winter pricing kicked in, making it 20zl or around £4 to visit. A bargain. There weren’t many visitors at the zoo, although there were a few school parties dotted around the place. Some of these were better behaved than others, but, fortunately, they made sufficient noise to ensure I could avoid them.

    I’m not sure that I’ve been so near to a rhino before, that was perhaps the most exciting element of the day. Although watching the polar bear was another highlight, although he (or she) looked a bit bored and was pacing around. Most animals seemed to have sufficient space, probably a few areas where they were a little limited, but I’m sure that the zoo is working on that. Perhaps one area where I was a bit uncomfortable were the birds, which did seem limited in space and some were very loud, which must impact on other birds in nearby cages.

    A few of the animals were a little hidden away, not sure what had happened to all the big cats, but otherwise I think I saw everything I intended. Although it was a little difficult to work out what there was to see as there was no map handout at the desk and it took me a while before I saw a plan of the zoo on a board.

    I also saw the house and tunnel where Jews were hidden during the war, but I’ll post about that separately, but it’s what was brought to a wider audience in the book and film ‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’. So, a rather lovely way to spend a couple of hours. I didn’t have my camera with me, just my phone camera, so the zoom shots aren’t particularly marvellous, but they’ll have to do. Anyway, lots of photos below….

  • Warsaw – Rasoi Lounge Indian Restaurant

    Warsaw – Rasoi Lounge Indian Restaurant

    Someone else posting on WhatsApp about their Indian meal reminded me that I haven’t had such an experience in Warsaw since I’ve been here. Since this one was nearby to the hotel and was reviewed, I thought I’d go there. I walked just under ten miles earlier today, but it had started to rain, so nearby was useful.

    The mango lassi, which came with the thali deal. The service was attentive and friendly, with around four tables with customers out of the fourteen or so tables in the restaurant. It was all clean and comfortable, a relaxed environment.

    And the thali itself, which had, from left to right, butter chicken, chicken korma, chicken haryali, raita, salad, naan bread and rice in the middle. This, including the drink, cost £7 and I thought that was reasonable for central Warsaw. It was well presented and I like thalis because of the range of tastes and textures. The dishes were all of a decent quality, although perhaps the haryali could have been a little spicier. The rice was well cooked, the naan breads were light and flavourful and the chicken was tender in all the dishes.

    So, all in all, a rather lovely little restaurant, and I’d go back there. I wasn’t looking for alcohol, but I didn’t see any on the menus, so I’m not sure if they were licensed. There was probably a bit more that could have been done with offering some slightly spicier dishes with the thali option (masala chicken was the other option, you could pick three from four) but the taste was fine.

  • Warsaw – Warsaw Insurgents Cemetery

    Warsaw – Warsaw Insurgents Cemetery

    This is the Warsaw Insurgents Cemetery in the Wola district of the city, commemorating the lives of those who were killed in the Warsaw Uprising. There are something like 100,000 people buried here, but the exact number isn’t known as some bodies and cremation remains were brought in from other sites around the city.

    The main monument known as ‘The Fallen Unconquerable’, unveiled on 20 September 1973.

    The cemetery itself opened on 25 November 1945 and burials continued there until the early 1950s, such was the complexity in moving so many human remains. Unfortunately, the cemetery wasn’t given the attention that it could have been when under Soviet influence, something only corrected in the 1990s.

    The figure has a shield, a deliberate reminder that the people of Warsaw were defending themselves from attack and weren’t the aggressors. The stones in front of the monument were taken from around Wola, to signify the blood of Poles which had flowed onto them.

    A mass grave of victims.

    The names of people who died in the Uprising, along with when they were born and where they lived.

    The scale of the massacre is evident when looking at how many of these columns of names there are.

    And they go on almost as far as the eye can see.

  • Warsaw – Ibis Styles Warszawa West

    Warsaw – Ibis Styles Warszawa West

    As I carry on working my way around the Accor hotels in Warsaw, this one is located a little outside of the centre and I took a train to reach it. Although I’m walking back as it’ll let me meander through some parts of the city that I haven’t seen before.

    The hotel reception and layout feels quite old-fashioned and I’m unsure why it’s an Ibis Styles. There’s no design-led element to the hotel, it’s all quite bland. Actually, it feels like a prison where they’ve put some jazzy lines on the walls to cheer it up a bit.

    This is the most, well, unimpressive room that Accor have given me in Poland. It’s functional, although the lights didn’t work but the hotel fixed that when I went to query it. Every Ibis Styles has a theme and I’ve liked the previous Roman, space, canoeing and so on themes. I’m not sure what the theme here is, perhaps it’s communist Poland. The room was sort of clean, but it wasn’t to the standard of the other Accor hotels I’ve visited over the last week.

    The desk size wasn’t ideal at all. There are meant to be tea and coffee making facilities in the room, but they didn’t provide any coffee, just tea.

    This is the first Accor hotel I can recall staying in where they use coins instead of vouchers for their welcome drink. I wonder whether it’s to avoid the rather generous terms of the voucher…..

    There are a diminishing number of Accor hotels that decide that anyone who wants beer must want lager, but this is one of them. I really don’t particularly want generic cheap lager, but that was the sole beer option with the welcome drink voucher. On reflection, I probably should have kept the coin as a souvenir of the hotel.

    The breakfast, which was mostly set out in little boxes for hygiene reasons, was fine and I also managed to get more Greek salad as well as fruit salad and apple crumble. Staff served some of the breakfast items, the rest were self-service where they could be covered. All fairly standard Ibis fayre, but since it was included in the room rate, I thought it was entirely reasonable.

    The staff in the hotel were helpful, but the state of this hotel is a country mile behind the Mercure Ursus which is only a short distance away. Slightly dishearteningly, given that I’m an Accor fan, this hotel is also way behind the cheap and cheerful Holiday Inn Express I visited yesterday, which sets itself at a lower price point. I suspect this hotel is doing a sustained trade from conferences and group bookings, but their reviews on TripAdvisor aren’t great. I wonder whether Accor would be better off just rebranding this hotel into an Ibis Budget and being done with it.

  • Warsaw – Taped Over Pedestrian Crossing Things

    Warsaw – Taped Over Pedestrian Crossing Things

    One thing I’ve never quite understood in Warsaw, and indeed all of Poland, is that these buttons rarely seem to do much as pedestrian crossings go green soon enough without pressing anything. I’m sure they likely do and I’m an idiot, but anyway. Poland has had them taped up in Warsaw for months, thousands of them across the city, and everything still seems to work just fine. So, my theory persists about their usefulness, although I assume that they have some functionality that is useful to those with limited vision.

  • Warsaw – Graffiti Art

    Warsaw – Graffiti Art

    I don’t understand a lot of the background of this graffiti, but some of it looks of a really high quality. The artworks are on ul. Puławska and I have no idea whether they’re supposed to be there or who has done them….

  • Warsaw – Hoppiness (Visit 2)

    Warsaw – Hoppiness (Visit 2)

    I think that I was quite thorough when visiting craft beer bars earlier in the year as I’ve now had to start going back to some of them, having run out of new locations to visit. But this certainly isn’t a bad thing. Anyway, I won’t add much here, it’s still an excellent bar as I pointed out in my other post about Hoppiness.

    The beer list, all balanced with some interesting options on there, with the current list always available at http://hoppiness.ontap.pl/.

    This time I went for the Volcano Burger, which they did make clear when I ordered was very hot. And it was. But, tolerably so (although only just and I have a relatively high tolerance for these things) and the burger was served medium, which is perfect. All of a very good quality again and nicely presented.

    Onto the beer, I had the Orzechowy Fes from Warkot Brewery, which had a rich and obvious taste of nuts, the strongest I’ve had since a peanut butter nitro stout in the United States I think. Very moreish and drinkable, an excellent choice of the bar to have in stock (and for me to buy).

    The service wasn’t quite as engaging as before, but things are harder with masks and it was still a welcoming and comfortable environment. Everything was clean and organised, with the beer and food being as good as I remember from my last visit. So, at some stage I’d better make a third visit…..

  • Warsaw – Urban Exploration

    Warsaw – Urban Exploration

    I say urban exploration in the title, but there wasn’t much exploration involved here, it’s accessible from the road at al. Jerozolimskie, near to the river. There doesn’t seem to be that much of Warsaw that is derelict, such is the development that seems never-ending here, so this sort of stood out.

    For those who do want to urban explore, and that doesn’t include me as I find these things just too frightening, there’s an extensive web-site at https://urbexy.pl/.