Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Warsaw

  • Warsaw – Mercure Warszawa Airport

    Warsaw – Mercure Warszawa Airport

    Not through any deliberate plan of action, but more through what’s cheaply available, I’ve been working around Accor hotels in Warsaw that I haven’t visited before. To be fair, there aren’t many left now that I haven’t been to, other than the most expensive ones such as Raffles Warsaw and that’s a bit decadent for me. Anyway, this hotel is relatively near to the airport and also right next to a tram line, which is very handy. When approaching the hotel, I hoped to be in the circular tower bit on the left, as I thought that might give better views.

    My room, which I was delighted to see was in the circular tower, but it took me a moment to spot where the room numbers were. I’m not entirely sure that’s the best place for them, but there we go….

    The room, which the hotel had very kindly upgraded, which I much appreciated. It felt slightly more old-fashioned than some of the other Mercure, and indeed Accor, hotels, but it was clean, comfortable and entirely met my needs.

    The coffee tray selection and it did take me some time to figure out that coffee machine. There’s a switch on the side which is a bit hidden away and it produces more coffee than can fit in the cup, which wasn’t ideal.

    And a free welcome gift, I’m very easily won over by chocolate, so I decided at this point that I liked the hotel.

    The reception area did lack atmosphere, but this was no doubt down to the current health situation. There didn’t seem to be that many guests and it wasn’t really a place that anyone needed to linger for long. Other than me when I wanted my drink that is.

    My welcome drink, which was the Zywiec Porter that I so very much like. I did wonder whether this would be seen as a restricted drink, but the staff member said the voucher included all beers. She’s right, that’s exactly what the voucher says, but the view on this seems to vary in a couple of hotels. But I won’t start on that again….

    The staff member at the bar was friendly and seemed quite pleased she had something to do when I turned up, as I was the only person there and indeed the only person that I saw in the bar area at all at any time. The receptionist was also personable and engaging, but that was my limit to seeing any staff in the hotel.

    This hotel had gone further than the others in presenting documentation in the room as to what was going on. Everything was laminated and this information was actually quite useful, including some new times for the bar and restaurant. I didn’t have breakfast at this hotel, but there were instructions on what to do and how to order it. There were some strange policies like the hotel announcing they’d removed all the “safety procedures in case of fire” from the rooms, which they actually hadn’t and I’m not sure that the current health crisis demands that they should.

    Anyway, the hotel was spotlessly clean and I very much liked it, I think it’s one of my favourites in the city. There’s some road noise, although nothing major, but, internally, I didn’t hear anything. It was easy to control the temperature in the room, it was comfortable and I got a free chocolate bar and Zywiec Porter, so what more could I need?

  • Warsaw – Jabeerwocky Craft Beer Pub (Visit 2)

    Warsaw – Jabeerwocky Craft Beer Pub (Visit 2)

    This is my second visit to this craft beer bar on ul. Nowogrodzka and I first visited there in January. I didn’t get chance to have their pizza then, but the bar was a decent one, so a return seemed sensible….

    The pub’s tap-list is available on-line and there’s a camera that takes a photo of this board every ten minutes, a perfectly innovative way of keeping everyone informed of the options.

    This is the back room of the bar, which I didn’t pay much attention to on my last visit. The bar was relatively busy this time, but it’s a large location with plenty of tables, so there was still space.

    I had two drinks, which was firstly the oatmeal stout that I realised I had last time I visited, which is produced by Jabeerwocky themselves. I also had the Almond Coffeecat from Browar Rockmill, a stout which did indeed taste of both coffee and almonds, so the beer name wasn’t misleading. I like almonds and I’ve decided I like almonds in a beer as well, it’s got quite a smooth but long-lasting taste. The drink was suitably rich, but entirely drinkable, and I liked that the brewery ‘toasted’ my check-in on Untappd shortly after I left it. I’m easily pleased, but I’ve mentioned that before…..

    This time I did get to have the pizza, going for the chorizo one. This was rather lovely as it was large, hot and tasted excellent. And they are quite handy things to have in a pizza… It was thin and so wasn’t too stodgy, all rather pleasant.

    I think I preferred this visit to my previous one, as there felt more of an atmosphere this time, although that was probably just because there were more people in and it wasn’t lunch-time. But, it remained friendly and welcoming, with a broad selection of different beer types. So, all rather lovely….

  • Warsaw – Cuda na Kiju

    Warsaw – Cuda na Kiju

    I’m not sure whether I’ve just never noticed this craft beer bar before, or whether it’s new, but, either way, it’s a new one for me to visit. I had hoped that a Sunday evening would be relatively quiet, but it was a busy bar and it had a laidback and welcoming atmosphere. The bar name of Cuda Na Kiju is probably something of a colloquialism, as Google says it means literally “Miracles on the Stick”. Not that this would be a bad name in itself…..

    The full beer list is at http://cuda-na-kiju.ontap.pl/ and it’s a well thought out selection. I asked the friendly staff member what dark beers they had and she suggested the Czarny Minister from Browar Minister. This was fine, at the appropriate temperature and it had some suitable coffee and chocolate flavours to it, although it wasn’t quite as strong in taste as I’d have ideally wanted. I’ve only just noticed on the beer list, and it’s been on for a few days, that they currently have the WRCLW Baltic Porter, with Palo Santo and coconut, and this sounds simply marvellous. I’m not sure I’ll go back just for that, but it is tempting and I’m surprised the locals haven’t snapped that one up a little bit quicker.

    I was a little distracted whilst being served as the bar looked quite full, so I wasn’t quite sure where I was going to go with this drink that I had acquired. Fortunately, I found the last remaining table and all was well, it’s certainly a popular place. They were serving pizzas (which I still insist is the new national dish of Poland) but I managed to resist, primarily as I’d just had a pizza in the previous bar. There are three storeys to the building, with the top one being a mezzanine level and the lower level the toilets, but the ground floor is reasonably large.

    Anyway, this is a nice addition to the Warsaw beer scene and I suspect it’s popular with the local office workers, with a more upmarket feel to the whole arrangement than some bars. In terms of price, my 0.5 litre beer cost around £3, which I think is marvellous for such a drink, but is inevitably towards the higher end of the scale for a beer in Poland.

  • Warsaw – Ibis Styles Warsaw Centrum

    Warsaw – Ibis Styles Warsaw Centrum

    [as a footnote, albeit at the top, I commented about the lack of beer choice in this hotel in 2020, but they now have five craft beers, so I love the hotel more now]

    Firstly, I wonder whether this is the ideal name for this hotel, as it’s not really in the centre of Warsaw and might cause a little confusion for travellers. There is an Ibis Styles which is much more central, known as Ibis Styles Warsaw City, which is nearer to the Old Town. Anyway, it was central enough for me and was in walking distance of the city centre.

    The last time I came to this site it was to an Ibis Budget (which is still there, just a few metres away) and at that time, this Ibis Styles was just the twinkle in the eye of a hotel designer. I’m actually a little confused as to the design of this hotel, it seems very clunky, with a smallish reception area leading on uncomfortably to the restaurant area, something which I’d assumed was forced by the limitations of the building.

    Until I remembered that it was a new building…. The doors here aren’t the entrance doors, this space would make more sense if they were, as they’ve got the reception desk shoved to one side and this space doesn’t really seem used. Usually, there would be free unlimited coffee here, but the health situation has meant that the machine is out of action. There are though coffee making facilities in the room.

    The corridors are bright.

    The room I was given and it’s fair to say that it’s colourful. I like this playful nature to Ibis Styles, it’s modern and on-trend. I think the theme was canoeing or something similar.

    More of the theme.

    This is bold from the hotel, which is a bathroom which is visible from the bed. The curtain to close this off is also on the bed side, so the person in the shower doesn’t have much control here. I was in the room alone, so it didn’t much matter whatever happened, but it’s an interesting concept.

    There was no welcome gift in the room, or so I thought, but then a staff member came to the door to give me cake. It was much better than this photo suggests and much appreciated. I’m easily pleased.

    I don’t really like the Winestone restaurant theme which Accor used, something I’ve complained about separately. But, Warsaw Mercure Ursus managed to get around the problems with the theme and delivered a perfectly decent experience, so I was tempted again at this hotel. I didn’t get very far, the restaurant is too formal for my liking (even with the introduction of bright lights, weird seating and swinging chairs, which is all too formulaic for me) and they had the exciting option of just lager in terms of the beer offering.

    So with no beer of interest, I abandoned any effort of eating there and I just had a Pepsi as my free welcome drink. Although that was served slightly warm in a glass with no attempt to put ice or lemon in it, so I have to admit to leaving most of that. I gave up at that point and just left…..

    The breakfast was included in the room rate and I must admit to getting a bit muddled up how the whole thing worked. Some things were served by staff, some seemed to be served by staff or help yourself and some other things were just help yourself. So, I likely got something wrong, but I did my normal thing of following other people when unsure. I don’t do that because they might be right, just because the hotel staff are likely to be less annoyed if it seems multiple people are confused. In the above photo, it’s possible to see the ham and cheeses all pre-served on plates.

    And, my little effort, which tasted fine and entirely met my requirements. The hotel wasn’t expensive, so this breakfast was a perfectly decent start to the day. And the staff were doing their best, with everything being clean. Actually, everything in the hotel seemed clean and organised, they were taking the current health issue seriously.

    I liked the lift.

    All told, this was a perfectly well run hotel and the staff were welcoming and helpful. Not that I’m going to get too concerned about the design of the building, but it was a bit cobbled together, although the modern design of the rooms made up for that. It’s quite a brave theme for a hotel to run with, but I think it suits the Ibis Styles theming well. The welcome drink was a waste of time, but I was satisfied enough with the room and the free cake, that made me feel sufficiently welcome. For those who don’t mind a little bit of walking to get to the centre, then this is ideal, although it’s by no means the closest Accor to the centre of Warsaw.

  • Warsaw – Solidarity Exhibition

    Warsaw – Solidarity Exhibition

    I liked this, which is a large outdoor display on the history of Solidarity (Solidarność) throughout Poland. The posters are in Polish and English, which is handy, and they cover a wide variety of regions of the country and with plenty of photos on them.

    The installation was unveiled at Piłsudski Square, an important location in Warsaw, on 28 August 2020. On that day, numerous awards, known as Crosses of Freedom and Solidarity, were granted to some of those who had opposed communism between 1956 and 1989.

    If I understand the Government press release correctly, there are also similar activities across Poland to mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of Solidarity. Andrzej Duda, the country’s President, has been supportive of this installation as part of the “Centenary of Regaining Independence” series of events.

  • Warsaw – National Museum in Warsaw (Superhuman Pope Holding a Meteorite)

    Warsaw – National Museum in Warsaw (Superhuman Pope Holding a Meteorite)

    This art installation at the National Museum in Warsaw has attracted international attention over the last week, so I thought I’d meander along to see it. I spent some time at the museum in January and it’s an impressive place, with over 830,000 items in its collection, a remarkable effort given the challenges of the Second World War when certain people pinched great chunks of its works.

    Anyway, this sculpture has been created by Jerzy Kalina and is entitled “Poisoned Source”, depicting Pope John Paul II holding a meteorite. The water has been turned red and it’s in response to an artwork by Maurizio Cattelan from 1999 which showed the Pope being hit by a meteor which had knocked him out.

    I read in the Guardian (yes, sorry, I like the Guardian) that this was akin to someone trying to put luggage into the overhead compartment of an aircraft. And now, looking at the photos again, I can’t quite get that imagery out of my mind.

    The installation was attracting some interest, I took the photos to avoid including people where I could, but there was a constant flow of those who were intrigued by the work. I suppose that if any artwork can interest people then it has performed a role of some sorts. It’s being interpreted by some of the media as a sculpture which is designed to be pro-Government and pro-Church, but the artist has completed many works over the decades which are interesting talking points and this seems as good a way as any to mark 100 years since Pope John Paul II was born.

  • Warsaw – Trams and Protecting the Drivers

    Warsaw – Trams and Protecting the Drivers

    I very much like the Warsaw tram system and I’m also a fan of the intricate and careful way that they protect the driver given these uncertain health times. It does look like I’ve done it…. But, like many things, cheap and cheerful can be just as good.

  • Warsaw – Photos in the Evening

    Warsaw – Photos in the Evening

    Just photos in this post and there weren’t very good lighting conditions and it also started to rain. But, anyway, it’s still a beautiful city.

  • Warsaw – Restauracja Ceska

    Warsaw – Restauracja Ceska

    I hadn’t visited this restaurant in central Warsaw before, but they have another outlet in Wrocław which I know is well reviewed. They specialise in reasonably priced Czech food and beer and it’s something a little different for Warsaw.

    They have their own beer tanks and the environment is all rather clean and comfortable.

    Hmmm, I’m a little non-plussed by this. That middle one seems like a way to drink beer that isn’t perhaps entirely usual, but it’s the bottom one that most surprised me. I checked on-line and this is a thing in the Czech Republic, but I really can’t see it catching on in the UK. Although I hope Greene King don’t see it, they’ll likely produce something similar for their Greene King IPA, sounds right up their street. Anyway, for anyone who loves froth, this is a dream come true.

    I didn’t order the froth, I went for the half litre of Kozel Cerny, a dark lager. It was a bit bland, with no richness and the caramel edge promised was evident, but not with much strength. There wasn’t much of an aftertaste, although I’d add it settled a little after it was served, meaning there was a little less froth. It was cheap though, so it did the job of being refreshing and going well with the food.

    I’m not really into lard dishes, so I avoided all those traditional Czech options and went for what I considered to be a safer option, chicken in beer batter served with potatoes and a salad. And this was perfectly decent, the batter had a rich flavour to it and the chicken was tender, with the roasted potatoes being suitably salty. I’m not sure how authentic this dish is, but it met my requirements of not being too difficult to eat and not having too much fat.

    The service was warm and friendly, with the environment being organised and well managed. The location seemed popular with families, solo diners and couples, with the prices being on the lower end of the scale for this part of the city. Most of all though, I’ve learned that selling froth is a thing and it was worth coming just for that.

  • Warsaw – Piw Paw Beer Heaven

    Warsaw – Piw Paw Beer Heaven

    I’m not quite sure how I haven’t got to this place of beer heaven on previous trips to Warsaw, I probably just got distracted elsewhere…. But, it’s a location that I should have been to as it has a reputation for being one of the best bars in the city.

    And above are a lot of photos of the interior, as it is quite mesmerising with all of the bottle tops on the walls. The staff member was friendly and welcoming, explaining (in excellent English, which was handy) the three darker beers that they had. I didn’t actually realise at the time, but there’s a full list of drinks at http://piw-paw.ontap.pl/, which shows just what a broad selection they have. This place is beautifully on-trend, but it’s been on-trend for many years, another one of those places which is effortlessly brilliant.

    I went for the Smoky Joe from AleBrowar Brewery, although I forgot that I’d had this before, at one of the brewery’s own outlets in Gdynia. I checked this on Untappd, luckily I rated the beer as highly as I did in January 2020, which goes to show who needs a spreadsheet? It’s a very decent beer, with the flavour of whisky and this is the best use of that drink as far as I’m concerned.

    Anyway, I very much like this bar and it was quiet, although I was there at lunch-time. It’s a large venue, although reviews suggest that it can get busy at weekends, but I’m glad that quality outlets like this do see that sort of volume of people. I didn’t order food during this visit, but they do seem to sell pizzas and they look decent in the photos on reviews. It was all relaxed and comfortable when I was there, with the bar being clean and organised. It’s one of those places I feel that I’ll need to go back to, just one visit wasn’t quite enough.