I’m on something of a mission to eat at every Indian restaurant in Warsaw and I rarely repeat a visit, but this venue is located near to the stadium where Warsaw Beer Festival was taking place. As I had to pretty much walk by it to get back to the hotel, I thought that I might as well pop in.
It’s a comfortable and clean venue, with the temperature and lighting being appropriate. I won’t drone on for too long about the restaurant as I wrote about it when I visited with my friend Richard a few years ago.
Their favoured beer was Żywiec Białe, which was certainly agreeable to me. This is a wheat beer with a gentle and light flavour, although that transpired to be a little bit knocked about by the curry that I ordered.
I went for a chicken vindaloo and it had a decent amount of spice to it, with the chicken being tender. The curry had a richness of flavour, the rice was fluffy and the naan bread had some texture to it.
I considered this to be a second positive experience at the restaurant with friendly service, a clean environment, reasonable prices and decent food and drink.
I haven’t had any beers from Green Head before, but they seemed to be attracting some considerable interest at Warsaw Beer Festival. They were founded in 2018 and their brewery is located roughly half-way between Warsaw and Gdansk.
The beer that seemed to be drawing the most attention from the brewery was “I’m Green” and I note that it was pretty much the same colour as the football pitch. It was a quirky beer, gently sour, a tropical taste and I’m not entirely sure that the colouring was particularly natural, but there we go. I like beers that are a little different and although this isn’t the first green beer that I’ve had, they don’t come along often. I can’t imagine why not….
I visited this stand every day of the Warsaw Beer Festival, not in a stalking sense, but their beer range did change every day and I didn’t want to miss out too much. I consider Funky Fluid to be the best brewery in Europe, so this was always something that was likely to surprise and delight me.
The selection on the first day.
This is a pizza from one of the food trucks and it was very delicious. But, that’s not the highlight here, it’s the already mostly drunk Batch #1000 from the brewery. They gave me this free as it ran out whilst pouring, so that was a bonus. Anyway, this is their 1,000th recipe and this verged on being one of the best beers that I’ve had, up there with Goose Island and their Bourbon County Stouts. It was smooth, even at the 13.5% ABV and it had sherry notes, toffee, dark chocolate, bourbon and it was beautifully decadent. And the pizza complemented it beautiful.
And a quick mention of the Gelato XTREME : Banana, Mango & Yuzu. I mentioned this Craig from Norwich beer festival as I think more beers need yuzu in them. I’m not sure that he was convinced. Anyway, it was thick, creamy with heaps of banana and mango. Decadent, quirky and moreish, as well as being a challenge for the next brewery to try and clean that glass.
Anyway, always a delight to see Funky Fluid and to try several of their beers.
I had to start somewhere and this year’s beer festival started at Browar Moczybroda. They’re from Poznań and I’ve had a couple of their beers before in Poland, both of which were decent. This was about as quiet as the three-day festival was, so I took advantage of that. The brewery have been trading since 2018, although I don’t think that they have a taproom in Poznań.
I was pleased that they had plastic glasses as I didn’t want to try and get an actual glass back on Wizz Air. These cost £1 and they are refundable, but I’ve kept mine. The beer is the Jack Mangow, a 7% DIPA, which had a robust mango taste, it was juicy and I’m convinced that this was healthy. A very decent start to the weekend.
After a brief stay in Łódź, I went to get my train to Warsaw at the rather impressive Łódź Fabryczna railway station. This was heavily modernised in 2016 and it still looks in a decent state of repair. it first opened in 1866 as the terminus of the line linking Łódź with Koluszki, helping drive the city’s rapid industrial growth.
There has been a large investment into the Polish rail network over the last decade and these spacious, open and welcoming railway stations have been established in many cities. They might lack the heritage of the original station, but they do feel modern.
There’s my train, the 13:34.
Down to the platforms which go off for some way in both directions.
And here we are, the train was already waiting for passengers at the other end of the platform. This is one of the regional trains operated by Łódzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna (ŁKA).
It’s only about an hour’s journey into Warsaw and although it got a little busy, there was still plenty of space. As usual, there were plenty of power points and numerous tables. The journey was relaxed, with, yet again, no-one putting their feet on the seats or playing music loudly. Another joy to behold…
And safely into Warszawa Zachodnia (Warsaw West), which has been completely transformed over the last couple of years, but more of that in another post. That meant I was safely in Warsaw and ready to quickly check-in to my hotel and then head to the Warsaw Beer Festival.
I decided that it wasn’t worth leaving the airport as my inbound flight from Madeira reached Warsaw at around 22:45 and my outbound flight to London Luton airport left at 06:00. I would have only reached a city centre hotel by 00:00 and then had to leave it at 03:00, which felt a little wasteful.
There was an hour left in the landside McDonalds before it closed, so I used that opportunity to get a little snack and charge my devices up. Although, it transpired that there were numerous power outlets dotted around the landside area of the terminal.
Very Christmassy.
It was all a bit decadent for me, but they’d certainly made an effort with their Christmas decorations.
I had a little meander around the airport to pass the time, watching an Irish passenger having an argument with the armed airport police after they told him not to leave his bag unattended. They won that argument with their line “would you like to discuss this in an interview room?” in perfect English, which I felt was suitably friendly and he backed down.
I bought these from the shop as breakfast as the lounge didn’t open until 05:00 and it’s the other end of the airport from my gate, so I didn’t want to risk it.
I was one of the first people through to the airside area.
Who needs sleep when you can explore a mostly closed airside terminal?
I found a seat with a power outlet and made a determined effort not to fall asleep and miss my flight. There were clear announcements from the gate staff and the boarding process was once again clearly signed and operated efficiently.
The aircraft was around a five minute bus journey from the terminal, it wasn’t the most pleasant of transfers given how many people they’d shoved on the bus. It felt a little endless and I’m sure we went via the city centre.
It was aircraft registration 9H-WNW, another new plane for me. The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat and I decided that I would now have a little nap on the flight home. Everything went to plan with the flight, with helpful crew, clear updates from the pilots and the aircraft was clean and tidy.
With that, it was a walk to Luton Airport Parkway railway station, the one that I’ve decided is the worst run in the country, before getting a train to St. Alban’s, confusing the gateline staff, then returning to Norwich via London, Cambridge and Ely. All really rather lovely and that was the end of my travels for the year…..
I will return to some more Funchal posts, but to continue the year’s travel, here I was back at Madeira Airport, named after Cristiano Ronaldo. It’s one of the more beautiful vistas that I’ve seen from an airport terminal building.
There were no lounges for me to visit at the airport, so I popped to Burger King as there were some power outlets.
A beer and a burger, very decadent…. It was a very clean and organised Burger King, buying the burger and beer outside of a meal deal proved to be cost effective as well.
As the temperature was pleasant, I went back outside to have a little sit down in the sun.
And after that excitement of looking at the Atlantic, it was time for the flight. Going through security had some drama as a guy with his family decided to open the barriers up and cut through. The guy at security called over “sorry, I didn’t know you worked here”, to which the barrier mover said “I don’t, I’m a passenger” and the retort was “if you don’t work here, why do you think you can change the security process?” before making him go all the way back around. This amused me, but I don’t get out much.
The airport has a viewing terrace so I went to record an easyJet flight land, with this being the Wizz Air aircraft I’d be taking to go back to Warsaw.
The boarding process was organised and efficient, with a staff member checking that passengers weren’t boarding with excessively sized bags.
Given that this was a five and a half hour long flight, I was so delighted that the seating Gods gave me an aisle seat that I purchased a chicken noodle from the trolley to help break up the journey a little. A flight this long in Wizz Air seats with a bag at my feet was a bit long, I’ll be more cautious of this in future.
The crew were, once again, professional and personable, quietly going up and down the cabin a few times with the trolley and collecting rubbish. The aircraft was clean, the announcements were clear and I can’t say that the flight went quickly, but it didn’t feel too onerous and I had paid only £8.99 which felt like a bargain.
And landed safely in Warsaw, although I wasn’t leaving the airport as I had another flight to catch a few hours later.
Back on the rail network from Warszawa Śródmieście station and every time I come here I wonder when they’re going to renovate this as it’s getting ever more rickety. The train signage here is a bit basic, but fortunately Google Maps informed me that my train was running eight minutes late.
I’ll just add here that a train ticket to the airport costs about 85p.
Now this was exciting as there was a ticket check, as the inspectors do monitor this line reasonably frequently. To my right were what I think were a Polish mother and daughter, the former was quite elderly. I, as I may have mentioned, cannot speak Polish of any merit, but I was able to understand enough of the conversation to hear what was going on.
It boiled down to this:
ELDERLY WOMAN : “The ticket machine was broken”
INSPECTOR : “So you have no ticket?”
ELDERLY WOMAN : “I’d like to buy a ticket now”
INSPECTOR : “Yes, you can, that will be 580zl [about £120] including the fine”
ELDERLY WOMAN : “But the machine was broken”
INSPECTOR : “You have no ticket”.
This went on until the train pulled into the airport and it was clear that the pair thought they were getting off and the inspector would forget it. No, the doors opened and he locked the one they were standing by.
I sat on those seats to watch the whole affair unfold, as I don’t get out much. And indeed, the two ladies weren’t getting out much, but their card did and they paid the penalty fares. This is why fare evasion on the Polish rail network seems to be so low, the inspectors will enforce those without tickets.
Very Christmassy. Airport security was interesting, the lady in front of me took a ridiculous amount of time to put her things in the bag. Fortunately, Polish airport security is friendly, calm, collected and told her to hurry up. She got annoyed and so she found herself being interrogated for the entire time I was at security. I like a bit of drama.
Anyway, I reached the lounge and got myself a Greek salad, chicken wrap, coffee and an early morning beer which was to fortify myself for the flight which would take over five hours to get to Madeira. This is another one of my favourite lounges, as there are power outlets, unlimited chocolates, unlimited olives and unlimited Feta cheese.
Mine was the 11:20 flight.
Boarding at the gate was uneventful as it was organised, fast flowing and there were plenty of seats around. Fortunately, Madeira is in Schengen, since it’s part of Portugal, so I didn’t have to faff about with any border control.
This is aircraft 9H-WNS, yet another one that I haven’t been on before. The flight lasted for five hours and thirty minutes, which is quite a strain on a budget airline if I’m being honest. I normally like having my bag under the seat in front of me, but after five hours I was getting annoyed that it was in the way of my legs that needed stretching.
The seating Gods gave me an aisle seat which was very fortunate for a flight of this length, so that did give a degree of comfort. The couple in the window and middle seat were very agreeable and didn’t barge into my seat space, with the crew merrily plodding up and down with the trolley a few times.
The flight cost me £8.99, so I can’t really complain and I find spending this amount of time without a phone signal to be quite relaxing in many ways. I have rather decided, that despite Wizz Air being a perfectly competent and comfortable airline, that flights of this length are perhaps just a bit much.
Safely in Madeira, which is my first time to the island. I understand that pilots require special training to land at this airport as there are strong winds and there’s not a huge amount of space to work with. The landing was sudden but seemed smooth, although I’ve never doubted the competence of Wizz Air pilots as they always seem professional and calm to me.
The view from the runway and the winds were certainly getting up at this stage. I had intended to walk to the hotel, but events meant that didn’t happen….. But more of that in the next ‘riveting’ post.
I would show a photo of the clear exterior of the Novotel, but it was too foggy to see it, but it is to the right hand side of the photo.
I’ve written about this hotel numerous times before, it’s one of my favourites. It’s a towering great affair near to the Palace of Science and Culture and a short walk away from the railway station.
One downside about the incredible growth of Poland’s economy is that hotel prices are routinely much higher than they were, so it’s rare that this hotel is an affordable option now. Luckily, Sunday rates are much lower and there was a friendly welcome at the front desk and they’d kindly upgraded me. They also mentioned it was a while since I’d visited, so I was secretly pleased that their computer hadn’t entirely forgotten about me.
My welcome gifts, local apple juice and chocolate biscuit things.
I arrived at the hotel just five minutes before the bar closed, which had the advantage that I was able to get my welcome drink. Żywiec Porter is always a favourite of mine, malty and rich, certainly good to eat the welcome chocolates with.
The view from the window over Warsaw and the Palace of Science and Culture is sort of visible on the right. I find watching the trams going through the roundabout quite peaceful and relaxing, I always get Sim City vibes sitting up here.
This might not have been the longest of stays, but the room was clean and there were no internal noise issues. I like traffic noise so I opened the window and the sounds of the city didn’t disappoint, Warsaw always feels like a vibrant place. And I use vibrant here in the positive sense, I sometimes refer to pubs as vibrant, by which I mean I feel that they’re close to having a riot.
I had initially intended to stay in Warsaw for a few days, but I accidentally booked a return flight to Madeira. This meant that my intended relaxing stay in the Novotel was rather cut short as I had to leave the hotel at 08:00 to get the train back to the airport. It was foggy, slightly cold and nicely refreshing.
Another day, another trip by train to the airport. I went from Norwich via Cambridge due to work being completed on the Norwich to Ipswich line, with a change at King’s Cross railway station. Surprisingly, the first section of the journey wasn’t that busy, despite it being on a two carriage train that can be really quite packed.
I picked up my free Greggs sausage roll and then boarded the Thameslink train to Luton Airport Parkway.
At Big Smoke, the chicken tenders and freshly squeezed orange juice were a beautifully paired meal. Who needs anything more decadent than this? This is always a handy restaurant as it’s included with Priority Pass and they have plenty of power outlets to charge devices.
Mine was the 19:35 flight to Warsaw, all looking on time. It’s not a bad timed flight, it gets into Warsaw at around 22:30 their time, which is fine as long as I get out of there by the time the last train leaves at 23:45.
A pint of Menabrea and some olives at Nolito.
Some bloody awful non alcoholic Heineken alongside some odd chicken thing at My Lounge. Nice teas though, alongside the usual dirty cutlery. I’ve noticed they’ve had a few negative reviews about the cutlery, it feels odd that they haven’t made any effort to fix this.
Boarding was announced early and then they were swiftly dealing with passengers at the gate. As usual, it was clear where non-priority passengers such as myself needed to go, I like clarity.
Boarding and the seating Gods had given me a middle seat which is never ideal, but wasn’t too problematic on this flight. The aircraft was 9H-WDX, an aircraft that I have been on before when doing this journey the other way around.
The flight was very busy with nearly no free seats. I will write the same as ever about the flight, which is that the crew were friendly, the service was efficient and the pilots made clear and appropriate announcements.
There wasn’t much of a wait at border control at Warsaw airport, so I made good time and was able to get a train to the city centre. It was then just a ten minute walk to the Novotel hotel where I was spending the night, which is one of my favourite accommodation options in Europe.
I had only decided a couple of days before what I’d be doing this week and I ended up on a route that was perhaps not entirely well thought through, but there was adventure and so that’s sufficient to keep me functioning.
