Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Accor Hotels

Budapest – Ibis Styles Budapest Airport

I mentioned in my last post that it took just seven minutes for me to get from the aircraft to the reception desk of the Ibis Styles, a building they share with their sister Accor hotel chain Tribe.

The team member at the reception desk was friendly, engaging and welcoming so my first impressions were positive. They use the bar at Tribe for drinks until midnight, so I was able to get my welcome drink there, opting for the Soproni as that was the only beer that they had. As an aside, an on-trend brand such as Tribe should probably have a better range of beers, but I won’t get distracted down that path.

I note that the hotel gets some negative reviews from airport users who want to come in and use the bar facilities overnight whilst waiting for their early morning flights. I’m with Accor here, you can’t really have a hotel which has a heap of people sleeping in their foyer when they’ve got hundreds of rooms on the floors above. For those staying in the hotel, they do though have a 24 hour bar available.

It was a relaxed and comfortable vibe though, Accor have been pretty ahead of the curve on making these foyer areas feel welcoming.

The room, before I had found the light switches. The hotel didn’t have opening windows, but the air conditioning worked well and soon made the room freezing cold just as I like it. The ceilings in the room are raw concrete, with a couple of lines painted on, which has annoyed a few customers who assumed that their rooms hadn’t been finished. I’m all for the industrial look though, although I didn’t follow the instructions plastered on the wall about making a paper airplane. Quirky is positive though, there’s enough corporate blandness in the world already.

And the room after I had found the light switches.

And the rather lovely welcome gifts which were very much appreciated.

Breakfast was included in the room rate and the hot options were better than they often are, with the potato lumps (probably not their official term), the roasted vegetables and the tomato based sauce all having some taste and flavour to them. The sausage was a bit generic but it was all at the appropriate temperature.

The cold elements of the breakfast, always my favourite part. I tested a lot of the cooked meats selection and that met my expectations.

There we go…. After I had collected the various component parts of the breakfast up as there were separate bread, juice and pastry counters. The breakfast area was quite large and it was quiet when I was there, but the opening hours are long and they offer light breakfasts from 04:00 for those with early flights (or those who just get up early).

I liked this hotel, it was clean, comfortable and everything seemed to work properly. The major selling point is that it’s the airport hotel and is just a two minute walk from the airport terminal, which is rather optimal to say the least when arriving into the city late at night. I’d happily stay here again and the pricing seems reasonable for an airport hotel, it’s cheaper than the numerous options at Luton Airport.

June 2, 2025
Katowice Trip – Ibis Budget Katowice

I’ve visited this hotel many times before, and have written about it many times before, and it’s always one of my favourite accommodation options in Poland. The staff are friendly, the rooms are clean, it’s peaceful, the breakfast is reliably decent, the prices are low and it’s just relaxing. This time, the hotel kindly upgraded me to the largest room they have, something I know because I had a little look on the fire escape plan, which for the low price is entirely functional for my needs.

I accept it’s not the most beautiful or luxurious room going, indeed some visitors have said they thought they were in prison, but I don’t have very decadent standards. My friend Richard is only happy if the hotel provides blueberries hand-picked by Finnish monks which are left in a bowl made from wood sourced in the Falkland Islands, placed next to a collection of towels made in the shape of swans. I’m generally happy with a door and a bed. Incidentally, this will be a handy way of seeing if Richard is reading this blog, as that might be my third loyal blog reader!

I won’t witter on here about the generalities of the hotel, as I did that on my last stay here in 2022.

Kettles don’t come as standard in Ibis Budget rooms, so I appreciated this kind gesture. They also provided sachets of honey with the tea which is something that I’m not sure I recall many other Accor hotels doing.

The obligatory breakfast photos from across my three night stay. It’s not exactly a gastronomical treat, but it is reliably filling and contains a range of pickled items. Sometimes the simplest of things, especially if they’re keenly priced, are the best. Coffee, orange juice, cold meats, something pickled, rolls and maybe even some fruit to shock and awe my body.

You can choose to not have your room cleaned and you get 100 Accor points each day for this. I went for this, and the allocation of the 200 points to my account was done same day, it’s sometimes something that I have to contact the hotel about after the trip. But Polish efficiency rarely fails them. There’s a Novotel which is literally next to the Ibis Budget and I’ve never made it there, partly because this hotel just feels the better value.

October 14, 2024
Belgrade Trip – Mercure Belgrade Excelsior (Accor Hotels)

Oops, in my enthusiasm I published an unfinished version of this post. My two loyal blog readers must have thought I had very little to say.

The reception area of the hotel, which is a grand 1920s affair which is an Accor hotels franchise. It has just celebrated its 100th birthday as it first opened on 15 March 1924, having been planned as a clinic but changed to a hotel during the building process. It was seized by the Nazis during the Second World War and used by the German General Staff, then it returned to a hotel in 1948 and it was owned by the employees. Privatised in 2008, it fits nicely into the Mercure branding and I like that they’ve retained its heritage.

The welcome at reception was immediate, friendly and engaging, which was handy after my little expedition to get to the place. The staff member excited and delighted me by telling me that I had been upgraded to a better room, which was very optimal.

Before I reached my room, I knew it would be just a little decadent as there was a seating area outside the room in case I needed a rest before arrival.

The room, which I admit looks a little drab in the photo, but it was dark outside and I hadn’t turned all the ambient lighting on. It was quite sizeable, with a large bathroom and it felt well building as I didn’t hear any noise from inside the hotel.

I had a balcony that I didn’t want to fall off as it looked a little low to me.

And the view of the Serbian Parliament building. I accept there are quite a few trees in front of it, but it’s definitely there.

The exterior of the hotel, my room was the second floor balcony room on the right hand side.

There were welcome snacks provided. I like welcome snacks.

And welcome drinks as well, all for free. As can be guessed, I like welcome drinks too.

I treated myself to breakfast in the mornings, and although I didn’t try any of the hot options, here they are as I have a sense of completeness…. Note the pastries, I tested those and was pleased.

They also had a fruit selection, which of course I could hardly keep my hands off.

Woooo, food photos from across the three mornings. I like continental breakfasts and mounds of bread, cold cuts and random cakes. The sauce in the penultimate photo is Ajvar and I suspect the hotel staff wondered where it kept going, but I got slightly obsessed with it. It’s a roasted pepper sauce with some chilli added, and I think some tomatoes and herbs. The breakfast room wasn’t very large, but it was a sedate experience that was all calm and comfortable.

And my welcome drink, which I actually had on the last evening. It’s a generic European lager, but it was free and the bar area was rather relaxing. I should have brought a book to read, but I didn’t, so once again I stared at my phone for thirty minutes.

I really liked this hotel, it wasn’t cheap, but the value for money was excellent and with the upgrade I was very pleased. The staff members were friendly, the room was spotlessly clean and I really rather liked my little balcony. If I return to Belgrade, I think I’ll come here again.

September 16, 2024
Bucharest Trip – Day 3 : Ibis Styles Bucharest City Centre

My hotel for the first two nights of my stay in Bucharest was the Ibis Styles Bucharest City Centre. The others, quite sensibly, managed to stay in the same place for the entire week, but I was on a mission to complete the 6,000 points offer from Accor which involved staying at three hotels for two nights each. Which meant that I stayed here for two nights, then moved to another hotel in the city, then came back again. It’s sub-optimal in many ways, but I like getting Accor points. Incidentally, I’ve been inundated with requests for the return of my Accor blog (well, I had one person asking if I was still doing it) and I’m actively working on that.

The hotel has a modern design and some considerable thought has been put into it. My check-in process was handled by a staff member who was on the phone to a customer the entire time which wasn’t entirely ideal, but I appreciated the efficiency of the operation. The welcome went as expected and I was given a room on the fourth floor. There are low and high tables for those wanting to get a drink, get some work done or meet up with others, with a separate restaurant area at the rear.

For anyone interested (goodness knows who) this is the menu in the hotel’s restaurant.

I didn’t like this room at first sight. I didn’t mind the concrete ceiling and that element of minimalism, but I like having a desk. But, more on that in a moment.

Matters improved considerably when I discovered my welcome gift of cakes and a juice in the fridge. I was becoming rapidly more forgiving. I sent this photo to the group WhatsApp and Bev claimed she thought I had a coffin in the room. She was just jealous that she didn’t have a coffin shaped table in her room I think, she’s quite dark like that. But, of course, I didn’t say anything.

And then I discovered a fold-up desk, so I felt just a little guilty for jumping to conclusions. A few years ago, I was on a panel which discussed the new room design and I mentioned the importance of a desk, even if it just folded up. I’m not saying that they paid any attention to me, as ultimately most people don’t, but they have made a sensible decision here. The other table (on the right of the above photo) is also of an adjustable height, so can be used as a standing desk or a bedside table.

Steve was staying at the hotel, so we had breakfast together on the mornings that I was actually staying there. I don’t much go for hot options at breakfast, so I was suitably surprised and delighted by the cold meats selection. And olives, I like olives. And that red paste, I’m not sure exactly what was in it, added to the proceedings.

The selection from the following morning.

There’s plate one and I did try, despite my previous comment about the hot food, a few of the hot sausages. I wasn’t that engaged with them, so I didn’t repeat that exercise.

Here’s the hot food selection, which doesn’t really inform my two loyal readers as they can’t see what’s in them. There was a choice of, I think, eggs, fatty bacon and sausages. I make regular comments about how bacon should be cooked, including for those who read through my Norwich Market posts. I have agreed, and I am unanimous in this, that bacon should be served crispy and slightly burnt. The Americans know how to do this.

The cereals selection and there was also a juice station with five different juices, served alongside large glasses. This is most unusual, as usually hotels offer little tiny glasses for orange juice which requires me to take around four of them to the table.

Some of the breads and pastries, with a separate doughnut selection which I really quite enjoyed.

And biscuits.

And here’s another plate. I think everyone gets the idea of what I liked….

Anyway, I liked this hotel and my room had a pleasant view. There were no noise disturbances in the hotel either internally or externally and I enjoyed my Ursus Black welcome drink. Steve had a problem with his coffees not being topped up to which he was told that this wasn’t something that reception could do anything about and he had to speak to house-keeping before 18:00. This feels an entirely sub-optimal situation, there’s no reason why the hotel couldn’t have spare coffees behind reception, but there we go, I fortunately didn’t experience any issues.

I’d merrily stay here again and I liked how modern the hotel was, something which Ibis Styles often gets right. The service was friendly, the room was clean and I felt that I received good value for money. I paid £110 for these two nights, including breakfast, but the Accor offer means that the rate was effectively £70 for the two nights. The hotel is very well reviewed and seemed to be at near full occupancy during the time I stayed here, with it being around a twenty minute walk from the city centre.

November 19, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 3 (Mercure Gdynia Centrum)

Richard and I were staying in Gdynia for the evening, although he opted for a more decadent room in the city’s Mercure hotel than I had because of his great wealth. I had chosen this hotel as I thought it would be somewhere new for me and it was also part of an Accor extra points promotion, which I’m pleased to note have been posted correctly. Anyway, when I arrived I realised that I stayed here in January 2020, I had completely forgotten that. I do get muddled up easily….

The grand reception area. The welcome from the staff was friendly, authentic and genuine, so I was pleased to be back in such an inviting place. The bar area off to the right was busy and there was a vibrant feel to proceedings. In this instance, I should say that I mean vibrant in a positive sense, sometimes I use it as code for a venue where it feels like there will be a massive fight within ten seconds.

I was upgraded to a room on the eighth floor and given the alcohol themed room. Of course, I’m not sure why on earth they thought that would be suitable for me, but I didn’t say anything. Unfortunately, the bottles in the barrel were empty.

One of the features in the room was this little display, which are real corks and not some wallpaper. I liked theme rooms, and especially so this one, although if they had popped some extra beer in it then I would have liked it even more.

Wine posters. I was pleased to note that there was a bath in the bathroom, it’s more common practice recently to take them out to install showers instead.

Our welcome drink, with Richard getting some wine whilst I was able to choose between a number of beers from a local brewery. I went for the Kurortowe wheat beer from Browar Miejski Sopot, a very acceptable way to end the evening.

The hotel is 40 years old this year and there’s promotional material throughout the building noting that. There was also a welcome gift of food, I appreciated that. Richard saves his for when he gets home as a reminder of a trip, whereas I eat them straight away. There were more than two in the pack incidentally, that’s all that’s what was left by the time I took the photo.

The view of the sea from my eighth floor room. I stayed here for two nights and it is a well run and managed hotel, but there was the limitation for me that there’s no air conditioning and the hotel is something of a sun trap. It was all too hot for me, so I likely wouldn’t come back here as it wasn’t relatively that hot in Poland during the visit, so I suspect that I’d find it almost unbearable in the height of summer. Indeed, the vast majority of negative comments are about the air conditioning, but I’m not sure how the hotel is going to fix that without a substantial refit of the entire building. The hotel got an odd complaint a few weeks ago saying that the staff didn’t speak Polish, which is an unusual comment I’ve never seen before about an Accor hotel in Poland. It seems ridiculous anyway, the hotel responded that all of the staff were Polish, although this gives me an opportunity to say that their English was perfect as well.

May 16, 2023
Tuesday : Meander along the River Warta

Another short post today, I was occupied with work related things for much of the day, before going on a little meander along the River Warta.

This is Park Tadeusza Mazowieckiego which was opened in 2014, named after Tadeusz Mazowiecki (1927-2013) who was the first non-communist Prime Minister of the Third Polish Republic between 1989 and 1991. The Polish authorities rarely celebrate any of the communist leaders and the timing was deliberate to mark 25 years of political freedom.

The city doesn’t have much development by the River Warta, although that’s primarily as this stretch of land floods which wouldn’t be ideal.

Unlike in the UK, where there’s apparently a heatwave at the moment, it’s quite cool in Poland, although the tree cover made it even more tolerable.

Most Świętego Rocha and although this bridge was constructed between 2002 and 2004, there’s been a crossing here since the fourteenth century. The wooden structure fell down in 1771 and it took longer than anticipated for them to build a new one, instead a ferry ran between the two sides of the river. After much dithering about and numerous failed attempts, a replacement bridge opened in 1913. It didn’t last as long as they might have wanted, as the Polish army blew it up in September 1939 to try and slow the advance of the German military. A temporary bridge was slung up (I’m not sure if that’s an engineering term, my friend Liam will know) in 1945 and a steel bridge stood here between 1949 and 2002.

It’s a pleasant walk along the river, the left-hand side is for pedestrians and the right-hand side is for cyclists.

The river, with Poznan Cathedral visible in the background.

The firm track runs out half-way along, so I diverted up along the bank.

Park Stare Koryto Warty, which is on a stretch of land which was water until they dumped soil on it in the 1960s. It was turned into a park in 2015 and there’s quite a large playground for children as well as an amphitheatre arrangement. There has been some manipulation of the river around here in recent decades and apparently there are plans to make some further changes in the future.

I’m always intrigued by old buildings, especially one where bits have been knocked off it. I have no idea what the building was used for, but it’s got a prominent riverside location, I can imagine it’ll be flats in twenty years.

In the background is Poznan Cathedral which is located on Ostrów Tumski, or Cathedral Island. It doesn’t look it, but it is still an island and it’s where the city grew up from.

A view from the bridge, lovely and cool with all that cloud cover.

The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, located in front of the cathedral, which was built during the 1430s and 1440s and served as a collegiate church. It had started to fall apart by the middle of the nineteenth century, but a reconstruction of the building took place between 1859 and 1862.

This column with a statue of Our Lady Immaculate dates from 1886.

And then the main event, Poznan Cathedral, of national importance not just as one of the earliest Christian churches in Poland, but because numerous early Poland leaders, such as Mieszko I, the founder of the Polish state, are buried here. I’ve visited the cathedral a few times before, but I think they were mainly pre-blog (it’s hard to imagine such a time, I know).

The first church here, likely from the early tenth century, was expanded into a cathedral in 968 and St. Peter is the patron. A new cathedral was constructed in the mid eleventh century, of which fragments remain, before it was mostly reconstructed in the fifteenth century in the Gothic style.

There were numerous rebuilds over the centuries, but a major one took place following the Second World War, when substantial damage was done to the cathedral. One minor advantage in rebuilding a cathedral after a disaster is that some archaeological features can be uncovered, and partly based on these it was decided to return the building to its Gothic style.

The grand pulpit is from the eighteenth century, although it’s not from here, it was brought from the church in Milicz. There’s a crypt under the cathedral which I’ve been in before, I’ll put photos up of that at some point.

Walking back to the city centre, a view of the river from the other side of the bridge.

This memorial commemorates Action Bollwerk, an attack on 21 February 1942 by the Polish Home Army against the German occupiers. The Poles set fire to numerous German warehouses, causing substantial damage to them with their contents including food and military uniforms. The Germans executed many of those involved and there’s a square in the city named after the bravery of those involved.

Duzy Ben are an alcohol retailer, who I assume sponsored this rather glorious piece of street art showing what Poznan used to look like.

And that’s the end of the Poznan expedition, I returned to the hotel as there was an LDWA meeting of group representatives (by Zoom, they hadn’t flown 30 people over to Poland, although that would have been a marvellous idea) and picked up my welcome drink (albeit belatedly) of a dunkel from Paulaner. I’ve been really rather impressed by the Ibis Poznan Centrum, I’m sure they’ve just rebranded half the hotel as Ibis, because the rooms are sizeable and feel more Novotel than Ibis.

July 13, 2022
Friday : Cheesecake, 1956 Poznan Protests, Express Oriental and a Walk Around the Park

After checking out of my Ibis hotel after a peaceful stay, I went on another little stroll around Poznan, with this being Corpus Christi Church. I learned something new here about host desecration, which is the process of when Jews in the medieval period were accused of deliberately destroying the sacred host. This state of affairs annoyed the Catholic as it involves the body of Christ and all that.

I can’t remember if I saw this image a few weeks ago at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in Barcelona, but it’s an example of the desecration. As with many of these things, a lot of the allegations made against the Jews were untrue, designed to cause division in the community or as an excuse to expel the Jewish residents. This is relevant in Poznan as apparently this happened here and where the authorities found the desecrated host, King Władysław Jagiełło decided to build Corpus Christi Church to mark the event.

The church is in active religious use, although isn’t routinely open to the public, but the building isn’t in great condition as can be seen in the first photo. The frontage of the church, as visible in the above photo, is though better.

A statue commemorating the life of Hipolit Cegielski (1813-1868), a local man who was an industrialist and social activist. Krzysztof Jakubik designed the statue and it was installed here in 2009 to mark his contribution to the city, including the foundation of the first Polish newspaper in Poznan, called Gazeta Polska.

As I again didn’t have breakfast at the hotel, I this time went to Da Vinci caffe bar for a little snack.

Rather decadent surroundings, with a friendly welcome from the staff member at the counter.

Cheesecake and latte, a suitably delicious breakfast. That slice of cheesecake is bigger than the photo looks, I probably didn’t need to eat it all.

The city’s Imperial Castle, a slightly odd building was isn’t really a castle at all, it’s more a palace constructed by the Germans in 1910 for Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor and the King of Prussia. It was used as Government offices after the war, but was also designed to be used as a personal flat of Adolf Hitler and substantial amounts of reworking took place in the early years of the Second World War to deliver that. By 1943, they’d given up with that plan, their efforts were being redeployed to stop the Soviet advance on the eastern front.

A maths thing for Nathan and Richard, this commemorates Henryk Zygalski (1908-1978), a mathematician who was born in Poznan and was involved in cracking Enigma. He remained in the UK after the end of the Second World War, teaching maths in a small provincial school. I wonder whether his students were aware of his contribution towards the war effort….

I’m not sure what the two aircraft were doing. Well, obviously they were flying, but beyond that.

As I mentioned yesterday, there’s no shortage of construction work going on across the city. It’s rather lovely to see all this work and investment taking place to improve the infrastructure.

The 1956 memorial is a reminder of the horrors of Soviet control of Poland, when in June 1956 the authorities ruthlessly suppressed a trade union strike. 10,000 soldiers were brought in by the communist authorities, and they massacred 49 civilians during street fighting, including the murder of 13 year old Romek Strzałkowski, with a street in Poznan now being named after him. 28 June is an annual day of remembrance to mark the bravery of those involved with the uprising, which is now seen as an important milestone in the defeat of communism.

In the years that followed, the authorities tried to suppress information about the atrocity that the Soviet and Polish authorities had committed, but following the advent of Solidarity in the 1980s, the truth started to out once again. This enormous memorial was installed here and unveiled on 28 June 1981, which wasn’t an ideal situation for the authorities at the time who most certainly didn’t want it. But, despite their efforts, it went up and 200,000 people were present at the unveiling, including Anna Strzałkowska, the mother of the little boy who had been killed.

That reads ‘Poland Reborn to the Sacred Heart’, with reference to when the country regained its independence in 1918.

I mentioned yesterday about how in 1940 the Germans destroyed the first statue in Poland of Adam Mickiewicz. The Poles didn’t like that, so in 1960 they built this much larger statue of him instead, designed by Bazyli Wojtowicz. Adam, if I might call him that, is today wearing the colours of Ukraine, which seems very fitting in this square, which is now named after him.

In 1956, the Soviet tanks rolled into Poznan, like they do today in Ukraine. People cannot be subjugated. Anyway, away from politics…

Designed by Edward Furstenau, this building was constructed between 1905 and 1910 to be used by the Prussian Royal Academy, but it’s today used by the Adam Mickiewicz University for lecture and conference halls.

The railway tracks, and I was intrigued to see why they had closed off the underpass.

I’m not entirely sure why I was so intrigued by this. Sometimes I fear this blog veers into the irrelevant. Actually, nearly every post veers off on that course, but there we go.

Dworzec Letni, or Summer Railway station, which was built by the Prussians as a private railway station for Emperor Wilhelm II. Known then as Kaiserbahnhof, the Polish railways in 2011 connected the building back up as part of the station and it goes down to the platform still. They’re put some information boards up on the building to note the work that took place.

After all that history, I needed food, so I went for Express Oriental.

It’s self-service and customers pay at the end depending on how heavy their plate is, a concept that seems more common in mainland Europe than in the UK.

It looked suitably delicious and judging by the number of customers, it was also quite popular which seemed a good sign. Incidentally, most of the other customers were using chopsticks, but I’m not highly trained in using those, so I stayed with the knife and fork that I’m better trained on.

That fried chicken with almonds looked particularly moreish. However, I had to show self-control, which is a little rare for me, as I didn’t want to break the scales with the weight of my plate.

Mango lassi, I had to have that!

I accept my presentation here isn’t great, but it’s not easy to place food delicately on the plate in this sort of set-up. The food and drink cost just over £5, which I thought was entirely reasonable. I also liked the size of the plates, they were like Alan Partridge’s big plate.

This slightly complex piece of street art is certainly very different in terms of its creation and it’s by Sten & Lex of a random person they knew. It’s a combination of paper which is partly cut out and then painted, creating this unique effect. There’s more of their work on their web-site at https://stenlex.com/category/en-plein-air/.

Our Lady of the Queen church, constructed between 1904 and 1907 as a Protestant church, but it became Catholic following the end of the Second World War.

It’s a pleasant little church and there’s a market behind it, mostly selling fruit and vegetables, so I didn’t linger there.

Poland has become very enthused with these parcel delivery boxes, which I know are common across the world, but they seem more used here. I took a photo of this as there’s actually another one about fifteen metres down the pavement, but it’s got green plants on the side to camouflage it, but it’s an indication of how much they’re used.

I had a little walk to John Paul II park (Park Jana Pawła II w Poznaniu) and was pleased with the state of the weather and it rained a little soon after this. I’m glad the days of hot weather are gone, and as loyal readers (or the loyal reader) will note, the blog posts get longer when it’s not too hot.

I had a meander around, it’s a decent park which was only created in 1970, mostly on top of the debris they’d dumped there from Poznan’s war damage.

There’s a lake and numerous walking areas, all rather pleasant.

The park was named after the Pope in 1983 following his visit to Poznan on 20 June of the same year. A slightly staggering one million people came out to see him, which is an impressive number by any standard, although there was a political element to proceedings then, as well as religious. On the same day he beatified Urszula Ledóchowska and this memorial was put up to mark his visit.

A memorial to Cyryl Ratajski (1875-1942), the Mayor of Poznan who famously refused to give the keys to the city hall to the Germans when they invaded the city. This rather glorious memorial was installed here in 2002 in front of the city’s central financial building.

Excuse all the photos, but this is an outstanding conversion of a former brewery into a shopping centre. Stary Browar has two main wings and over 200 shops and restaurants. There are numerous art installations throughout the site, but there will likely be more about this shopping centre over the next few days on this riveting blog.

The reason for that likely burst of more posts about the shopping centre is that I’ve moved hotels to the Ibis which is located opposite.

It’s an odd set-up, the Novotel and Ibis share the same building, the same reception and seemingly much else. Nice room though, with desk, which is lovely. The windows don’t open, but the room is freezing cold which I like, so no complaints on that front. The staff members were friendly and helpful, it feels like a well managed hotel. I haven’t got anything to complain about yet anyway.

What a lovely gesture and the peanuts were delicious. Very much appreciated.

And the view from the hotel window. All really rather lovely.

July 8, 2022
Tuesday : Nearly Missing the Bloody Train in Krakow, Finn Air to Heathrow and Ibis Budget

After a few days in Krakow eating pizza and complaining about the heat to anyone who would listen, whilst calming my overheated nerves with the large hotel breakfast every day, it was time to return to the UK. The old railway station is visible in the photo above, but they’ve built a new station building which is linked it to the Galeria Krakowska shopping mall. It was also surprisingly busy for a Tuesday morning at just before 09:00.

The new platforms are in this photo, the old railway station is behind me. Like nearly everywhere in Poland, it’s all very clean and organised.

There were no ticket machines to be seen on the platform which seemed odd. I discovered on the way out that passengers could buy tickets on the train, but I wanted to get this sorted in advance and so I bought mine from the PKP web-site. It’s a ticket that doesn’t need validation and is for a specific train, which is the one that should be leaving from the platform I was standing by after the 09:01 to Gdynia got out of the way. Anyway, the train didn’t move and I heard part of an announcement which was only in Polish, stating that my train to the airport was switching to another platform. I was moderately annoyed as that meant I had to rush, but obviously I didn’t want to run in the Krakow heat. Or indeed run at all, it’s exhausting.

I caught the damn train with thirty seconds to go, but I noted some others didn’t and were still on the wrong platform. They didn’t even check the ticket (I mean the ticket inspectors on the train, not the people on the wrong platform). Anyway, I arrived into the airport as expected, but could have done without the rushing about the place. Clean train and on-time, so I can’t really complain.

I was through airport security in under two minutes and so next was the non-Schengen airport lounge at Krakow Airport, which was small, although luckily I had given myself three hours to sit in it. It reached near capacity by the time that I was about to leave the lounge, and it does feel a little under-sized. Very friendly staff and there are toilets and showers within the lounge complex.

Lard and bits of pepper sliced up, it’s not exactly Greggs is it?

Now we’re talking though.

My starter.

The amuse-bouche. They had a couple of different beers, nothing exceptional, but sufficient for me.

In fairness the chicken salad was very lovely, so that proved to be a useful main course. I never had the lard.

There was a ten minute delay, but nothing too bad, for the return flight to Heathrow.

This was as clear as mud, with a Ryanair and British Airways flight departing at the same time, as well as separate queues for Groups 1-3 and Groups 4 and 5. I guessed the queue correctly when the Groups 1-3 were called, but numerous other customers didn’t, finding themselves in the wrong place. Anyone who tried to access the Groups 1-3 queue without having the correct number on their ticket was sent packing, albeit politely.

As with my outward journey, this was a British Airways flight that they’ve wet leased to be operated by Finn Air. It’s the Airbus A321 with registration code OH-LZN, which Finn Air have operated since the aircraft was new in 2017.

This annoyed me, it started to pour with rain just as I boarded. All week I waited for rain and the moment I get on board to come back what happens?

I’ve blurred this (again) by mistake as I was trying to rush, but I was the first to board. The person in the photo is flight crew and they were all exceptional during the journey, again Finn Air should be proud of their professionalism. Someone in my row seemed quite seedy in the way he was talking to the crew member, but she professionally batted him and his attempt to take her for an Indian meal away.

Got my seat with lots of leg room again. The flight was near full, but the boarding was efficient and well managed. At this point we sat there for around 45 minutes, as the rain that I craved all week was now flooding the airport and so they had to temporarily shut down operations.

The chatty and friendly crew came around with the snack before take-off to ensure everyone remained happy. The water was served after we had taken off.

Safely back at Heathrow T3, ready to spend ten minutes walking around their slalom course. You could practice for an LDWA 100 walking around this.

I’m starting to feel that I know Heathrow T3 far too well.

The Central Bus Station, ready for me to pay for a bus to get me to the Ibis Budget on Bath Road since Heathrow have removed the Free Travel Zone. Yes, I will complain about that in every post for some months, there’s nothing like repetition to cheer the soul.

I had pre-paid for this room at a much cheaper rate, but this is a sign of the ridiculous prices in London. For an Ibis Budget which isn’t that well located to be charging £100 is far from ideal.

I stayed here a few weeks ago, it’s the former Travelodge they’ve converted into Ibis Budget. The windows here don’t open and I asked for a fan, which they said they’d bring to the room, but they didn’t bother. However, I decided the air conditioning worked sufficiently well for me to not traipse down again to ask where the fan was. The hotel though is still receiving deluges of negative reviews about the air conditioning not working, but it appears they should have it all fixed soon enough.

Not that I’m one for complaining, but just I got in the room it started to rain again. That weather is just ideal for me, cloudy and rainy, perfect for exploring a city.

July 6, 2022
Thursday : Heathrow T3 to Krakow with British Airways (operated by Finn Air)

After the excitement of being at Heathrow T3 through the night started to become marginally less exciting, I decided to walk through the bright lights of the walkways to get to the main terminal. It’s surprising how quiet Heathrow is at 03:00…..

I was ready. I was ready around 835 minutes before the flight to be fair.

They could probably do with some more seats on the first floor, but it was starting to get a little busier before the security lines opened at 04:30. I was confused why around 40 people were standing in what I thought was an odd place for the security line, at an overflow area. I decided these savvy travellers must know what they were doing, but I was hardly in a rush, so I stood in the normal place. Fortunately, I managed to find myself at the front of the queue and so was the second person (or second non-staff member to be more accurate) to enter airside.

Peace and quiet at duty free.

I’ve never really understood who buys all this stuff, it’s a huge retail area and nothing seems particularly good value to me. I don’t know whether it’s a mix of people buying presents and those who just get excited when they see alcohol for sale. Now, if they had a decent craft beer selection then I might be interested.

Slightly blurry, but there’s no shortage of seating if you go to the airport early. Who needs a hotel? An unnecessary decadence.

I have no idea how I’ve managed to take such blurry photos, but there’s the very quiet oyster and champagne bar or whatever it is. It’s not somewhere I’ve felt the need to spend much time. Actually, as an aside, I don’t really understand it, it’s expensive and I’d have thought if you can afford to go there, you’d likely have airline status to go to a lounge. And it’s a very open place to sit. But there we go, perhaps people like being seen when they’re being decadent.

I’d arrived before any of the shops had opened as well.

The BA lounge opened at 05:00. Well, it’s meant to, the bouncy and happy staff member went to open the First Class section at 05:00 and then she realised there was no-one at the main entrance. At 05:05 an harassed member of staff turns up and the lounge whirs into action. Fair play to her, what a time to get to the airport and the staff have to go through security every day, it must be tiring. Anyway, the First entrance is to the left and the Club entrance is to the right. Two of the customers in front of me were entirely the wrong place, they were going to the Aspire Lounge or whatever it was, and seemed annoyed at BA that they hadn’t made clear it was the BA lounge. The signage on the wall is a clue.

I must have been tired, these photos are dreadful. Anyway, the BA lounge main seating area.

Looking towards the rear, the little business section is to the right. No beer again in the lounge, just Heineken.

The BA order to the table app seems to have been removed, everything is on display again and it’s fair to say that’s it’s beautifully presented when no customer has mauled it all about.

The sausage and bacon rolls, which seem to be a waste of food if I’m being honest. A fair number of people ditch the rolls, including myself, to eat the bacon and sausage. The muffins were soggy and the rolls were hard and inedible, it just seems a waste of BA’s money. They must be able to deliver something better than this. I’m not specifically complaining, well no more than usual, for me, just that they’re spending all this money and delivering a product which is evidently inferior to the lounges around them (although I’d add the First section of the lounge is better, but I haven’t had access to that for years).

I asked a couple of times when the showers would be opening with no-one being sure, and the lovely lady on the First desk (not that I had access to that lounge, it’s just next to where the showers are) was confused why they were shut. She went off to find out and came back very apologetic to say the showers were closed for the week, but she hadn’t been told. I appreciated her help and assistance, but fortunately, there was a solution to this, the Cathay Pacific lounge which opened at 05:30. The staff try so hard in the BA lounge, but the airline doesn’t always seem to want to help them.

Cathay Pacific had showers which were immaculate, so that was that solved. The staff try so hard in the Cathay Pacific lounge and the airline does seem to want to help them. It wasn’t busy, and indeed I was the only person in the lounge for a few minutes, this is the part of the self-service breakfast selection. Spotless as ever.

And the other bit. There’s a selection of sausages, bacon and the like for those who want hot items.

But, yet again, I decided I wanted to order from the chefs at the Asian food counter and got my standard order of Thai coconut and vegetable soup, the Mix Dim sum basket, Fanta and beer. What a time to be alive…. And compare and contrast to the BA lounge. The flight time meant I didn’t really enough time to visit the Qantas lounge for some calamari as it opens a little later, but I was refreshed and ready for the new day after leaving the Cathay Pacific lounge. I’m disappointed to say I won’t be back in T3 for a while, as the flights I had departing from the terminal have been moved to T5.

It was unclear whether there was a priority line at the gate, but I wasn’t going to go hunting for it. The man behind me didn’t have the same restraint, I heard a series of “I will go and look”, “no, we’re entitled to use it” and the like, as his what I assume was wife tried to calm him. He stomped over in the end and asked where the priority line was, before shouting back to wife “we can enter the priority line here”. I admire his determination to sit in the gate slightly quicker than the others, although I have to confess to them following him. I tried to look as embarrassed as the guy’s wife.

The flight was booked with British Airways, but they’ve run out of aircraft, so they’re using Finn Air on a wet lease arrangement. So the pilots and cabin crew are all from Finn Air, whilst the service standard is British Airways. This has the advantage of this seat with lots of leg room, which as far as I’m concerned is the best in the economy part of the aircraft. I think I dozed off for a chunk of the flight and there was no-one sitting next to me, so this felt very spacious.

The mid-flight snack, a smaller bottle of water and a Nutrigrain bar. There was a man in the aisle seat, and we must have both dozed off, as the crew had just left them on the seat for us. The crew were excellent, friendly, personable and engaging, Finn Air should be very proud. Apparently they spend five days in London being put up at hotels, which must be costing BA a fortune, before returning to Helsinki for a few days.

Oh good, a bus to the terminal. Not that it matters, I’m hardly ever in a rush. I noticed that it was too hot.

Although getting a bus did give me time to take a photo of the aircraft, which is OH-LZU, an A321 which Finn Air have operated since it was manufactured in 2018.

It didn’t take long to get through border control, and I decided to use my limited Polish to the border guard. He replied, in Polish, asking if I was Polish as I would have then been in the wrong queue. He soon realised from my garbled answer that I wasn’t. Here’s the front of the terminal and it was evident to me that it was already too hot. I may have mentioned that.

The train from the airport to the city centre, which is over twice the price of the one from Warsaw. That’s the problem with these tourist cities.

I bought a ticket from the machine and then waited excitedly to board. The train was quite busy and unusually, you can buy tickets on board despite there being ticket facilities on the platform. One person showed their bus ticket, but the train guard was having none of it, they had to buy a rail ticket.

I’ve visited Krakow numerous times before, but here’s a quick photo from the city centre as I walked to the hotel in the searing heat. Krakow is a beautiful city, but it is very touristy, so I prefer visiting other cities in Poland, but it’s nonetheless a delight to be back.

Grrrrr, I didn’t entirely like the room, it’s one of these damn Ibis changes to make it feel like a nursing home. I’ve stayed at Ibis Krakow Centrum before, and they had better rooms with a desk and chair. I did query with reception if they had any of the older rooms, but they said they didn’t. Their answer was “we don’t put chairs in rooms any more”. I’m not entirely sure how that is seen as a good idea, as although I understand not everyone has the same requirements as me, a chair isn’t beyond Ibis Budget, let alone Ibis. This is, I think, an upgraded room, as there’s a coffee machine. I didn’t understand the point of that as they gave me two coffees for a five night stay, but those two were delicious I suppose. There’s also water provided, which I appreciated as it’s too hot. The window opened so that was positive, but the air conditioning in the room sort of worked, not to make the room as freezing as I’d like, but sufficient to be comfortable.

I appreciated the note though, that was kind. I’m not really into red wine, but it was a gift and that was very nice of them, so I did drink it as I didn’t want to be rude. I’m selfless like that.

Wwith that, I was back in Poland, although I had some sleep to catch up on.

July 4, 2022
Tuesday – Tuesday : Katowice Week (Ibis Budget Katowice)

This is the Accor complex in Katowice of Ibis Budget on the left and Novotel on the right. There’s also a Mercure hotel in the city centre, next to the railway station. This is my fourth stay in this Ibis Budget hotel and I think it’s one of the better managed that I’ve seen. I know that if Richard was here he’d be straight in the Novotel, but he’s very decadent and he likes expensive things.

Ibis Budget don’t need to provide a welcome gift or drink, so this gesture of a chocolate bar and coffee was much appreciated. The staff at this hotel were always friendly and helpful, with the housekeeping staff being thorough and personable as well. I’m not sure if there are kettles in every room or whether they put that in there for me, as it’s not usual to see them in Ibis Budget hotels.

I had been in the room for about three hours before I noticed this. A very nice touch 🙂

The breakfast buffet arrangement.

Half of the breakfast room, which always had plenty of space.

The room and breakfast was about £25 per night, which I thought was excellent value for money given that it was June when hotels are getting busier.

Anyway, this is a really rather lovely hotel at a budget price. Friendly staff, spotlessly clean, I didn’t have any problems during my week here. Although they could do with a faster lift, but I won’t hold that against them.

July 2, 2022