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’ve stayed at this Accor operated Ibis hotel twice before but that was over eight years ago and I was pleased that this hotel hasn’t bothered with the new Ibis rooms, as I’m one of those who prefers the old style. I suspect that there will be an investment soon, as I’m not sure that they’re had a renovation in a decade.

This design adds some character to the whole arrangement, I like it.

The room, and I was given a larger one which had three sets of windows. I feel that city noise adds to the authenticity of a night’s stay, so I opened all of those windows straight away.

The welcome gift, this was delicious. I like welcome gifts.

The hotel’s bar area.

I didn’t eat at the hotel’s restaurant, but for my hundreds (well, two) excited readers, here’s what I could have had.

My welcome drink was Żywiec Białe and I managed to confuse the very helpful member of staff. She didn’t speak much English, although they had nearby staff that could, so I ordered this beer in my bestest Polish. Unfortunately, their standard beer on draft is Żywiec and she thought I was trying to order that, but my beautiful Polish tripped off my tongue after the third go and all was well. On that note, the team members here were all very personable, it all adds to the atmosphere.

Cheeses, meats and the various salad type options. There were some hot breakfast options, but they looked a bit rustic for my liking.

The bread selection and the little croissants.

That’s a smoked cheese and I kept going back for that, it was unusually decent and went rather well with the tomatoes. I can definitely do healthy, especially with that mango smoothie thing at the side. The selection was quite broad and I liked that the breakfast area wasn’t that busy.

The Novotel is next door and is a bit too decadent for me, although Richard would have merrily booked in there. Although, I noted that it was actually full the night that I was staying, which made choosing that bit easier.

The hotel night cost £42 (actually less as I used reward points) including breakfast, which I thought was perfectly good value for money. I’ve missed this city, I’d like to come back sooner rather than later. And, as I mentioned, I don’t dislike that they haven’t modernised much recently.

Next on the list for Łódź was this mix of cafe, board game centre and craft beer bar. It opened in 2022 and appears to have built up a quite a loyal following of customers since then.

The craft beer list and the team member was friendly, engaging and personable. It’s a nicely balanced beer list with a range of styles in there with 13 keg lines and a selection of bottles.

Some of the board game selection, although I didn’t investigate them as I thought being on my own reduced the excitement of them slightly.

There’s no shortage of board games, the bar is there on the right. It’s noted that there particular times when staff teach customers certain games, it all sounds really rather social.

The beer is a collab between Funky Fluid and Vault City, two of my favourite breweries. The beer is the Gelato XTREME : Crema which is a punchy 8% pastry sour which has flavours of banana, vanilla and peach. Rounded, smooth and pure decadence.

The venue had a rather nice atmosphere, there was a friendly welcome and they had an interesting selection of beers. All really rather lovely and a proper community atmosphere.

On my walk from the railway station to the city centre, I noticed this rather impressive derelict building. I’m not brave enough to be an urban explorer, but it’s one of many buildings that are left in ruins in the city which was once an industrial heartland and powerhouse.

And a rather better view of the frontage. Adam Osser’s factory grew out of his cotton business, with the spinning mill built in 1903 for Majer Feinkind, Albert Jarociński and Adam Osser, who later took control himself. After damage in the First World War, production was restored, and in 1923 the business was turned into a joint-stock company. Like so many factories in Łódź, it then lived several different lives, textile production first, wartime conversion by the Germans to aircraft and car parts, then the communist-era continuation of that mechanical profile under the name Polmo.

After the factory collapsed in roughly the mid 1990s, the site drifted into ruin, was looted, and even lost its former office building to arson and demolition. All very sub-optimal. There were plans in 2018 to revive the place with offices, services, research functions and a hotel, but they came to nothing, leaving it as another of Łódź’s splendid and broken monuments to industrial ambition. There is a lot of money coming into the city, so it’s perhaps just a matter of time before something is done with this site.

I might not be an urban explorer, but there are photos on this website of braver people who are.

This is the mural painted by Eduardo Kobra in 2014, commemorating the life of the locally born Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982). He was a great patriot, although when he was born the city was part of the Russian Empire.

And here’s what the mural looked like in 2018 when I was last in the city. It’s only lost a little vibrancy and is certainly a very noticeable artwork.

After one night in Oleśnica, it was time to move closer towards Warsaw for the beer festival and I was heading to Łódź, also for one night. This is a different station, on the opposite side of the city, from the one that I arrived into.

The railway station was built in 1875 and there’s not much here, just a few benches and no public buildings as the former railway station has long been since converted into residential properties.

The departures for the day.

The track splits in two just past the station.

The train arriving, fortunately on time as there were no display boards at the station to show if it was running late.

This was an Intercity train so I had to reserve seats. The train looked pretty empty when I booked and although it got busier, no-one was seated here so I had the table to myself. Incidentally, I was delighted that once again no-one on the train put their feet on the seats or listened to music loudly on their phone. Indeed, the entire journey was peaceful with plenty of power points to keep everything charged up.

The train was going to Warsaw and ended up in Białystok. The journey took around three hours and everything ran to the schedule. I like that the screens note how fast the train is going, I find that an interesting little bit of knowledge to have.

And safely into Łódź Chojny railway station, located around two miles to the south of the city. This station first opened in 1903, but it was closed to passengers between 2002 and 2011, used only for freight traffic. Increasing usage of the network saw it reopen and it serves numerous Intercity trains.

I first came to Łódź nearly ten years ago, when I stayed for a week, but I haven’t been back since 2018. So, it was good to be back at last….

Known in Polish as Twórcy Łodzi Przemysłowej, this is the statue of the three creators of industrial Lodz. The men represented are Izrael Poznański, Karol Scheibler and Henryk Grohman, who were all involved with the cotton industry and who collectively brought great wealth to Lodz.

As an artwork, I think it’s brave to have created such a large sculpture, and the intention was that the public can be seated at the table with this manufacturing titans.

I visited this restaurant in Lodz’s Manufaktura retail park in February 2018 as it was well reviewed for its traditional Polish food. Many of the food options at Maufaktura serve international cuisine, and I had worked my way around most of them during the time I was in the city.

Although I hadn’t realised before I got to the restaurant, there was a fixed price lunch menu available, which was an interesting option. I arrived at 11:50, and the staff member said that I could either order breakfast or wait ten minutes for the lunch menu to start, so I went with the latter. It all felt rather friendly, although the downstairs area is relatively small, so it was fortunate to get a seat in a convenient place.

The fixed lunch menu cost 25zl (about £5) and included a drink, a starter and a main course. There wasn’t a choice of dishes, as they were specially made, but the staff member was keen to explain what the dishes were and the ingredients which were being used.

The starter was a soup, which had a pleasant flavour and the croutons added some texture to the dish.

The main course was similar to wiener schnitzel, which I think in Poland is known as Kotlet schabowy. It’s battered pork in breadcrumbs and in this case it was served with vegetables and on a bed of mash potatoes. It’s not something I’d normally order, but the meat was tender and the vegetables had a depth of flavour to them.

I decided against having a dessert, although a drink seemed a very good idea.

Overall, I felt that this was a friendly and welcoming restaurant. I liked how they had a set lunch menu where there weren’t any options, as that meant I didn’t really have to think about anything. The entire meal, including food and drink, came to under £7, which I thought was perfectly good value.

Just as an aside, this is a Polish company that deals with road works and road safety. But I couldn’t help thinking of an episode of Friday Night Dinner and the gift of the schmoigle…..