Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Warsaw

  • Warsaw – Sofitel Victoria Warsaw

    Warsaw – Sofitel Victoria Warsaw

    I’m not normally decadent enough to stay at the Sofitel brand within Accor Hotels, but I had two expiring suite upgrades and thought that this might be a useful place to use them. Although I didn’t stay at this hotel on my birthday, as I wanted to be at the Novotel, it was a little treat to myself to stay here for a couple of days earlier on during the week.

    Richard had checked into his little room earlier on in the day, but I guessed correctly that my suite wouldn’t be available and hadn’t even tried. I tried to check in at 15:30, but the room wasn’t yet ready which wasn’t ideal, but wasn’t a problem. The staff member was polite, although she gave me a drinks voucher to apologise for the wait, although it transpired that this was the voucher they would have given me anyway as a welcome drink. I thought this whole element was botched by the hotel, who could only provide the room over an hour after the standard check-in time.

    There was then a problem that the hotel couldn’t find payment in their systems, even though they agreed that Accor had stated that they had taken it. There was some discussions about what had happened by staff members, but I thought best to just resolve it on check-out, which transpired to work well as I switched to a currency commission free card which saved me some money compared to if they’d used the card on file.

    The hotel’s water feature in the lobby, which kept making me think that it was raining when walking into reception. The hotel was built between 1973 and 1976 on the site of the Kronenberg Palace which had been destroyed by the Germans during the Second World War. There was lots of dithering about what to do with the site and the remains of the structure weren’t removed until the 1960s, and then there was talk of building an embassy here. It’s a large hotel, with 359 rooms and around 50 suites, and other than the Raffles over the road (also Accor, and too decadent for me) it’s the grandest accommodation option in the city.

    As another aside, there has been some drama here, with this paragraph coming from Wikipedia….

    “On August 1, 1981, the hotel saw an attempted assassination of the Palestinian Abu Daoud (nicknamed Mohammed Oudeh Daud), suspected by the Mossad of involvement in the attacks in Munich , who occupied the presidential suite.”

    I obviously feel the need to comment about the drinking options and there was a poor selection of beers available, this is a generic Żywiec in the Victoria Lounge. The whole set-up here felt quite dated, neither on-trend nor classy, and I thought this was the weakest area of the hotel, something more inviting could be done with the bar area.

    At this stage, I wasn’t thrilled with the hotel as everything seemed botched and muddled, but I arrived at my room with sort of high hopes.

    The suite’s living room area, with my first impressions being positive. I don’t usually watch television in hotels, but that’s one of the largest that I’ve seen in a room.

    I didn’t realise when booking that the suite came with two bathrooms, this is the one attached to the living room area. It was probably a little more than I needed since I was in the suite on my own, but it gave me options….

    The suite’s bedroom.

    And the second bathroom, with a shower and bath.

    The coffee machine.

    An umbrella was available should it rain.

    Slippers and dressing gowns were provided, along with a range of other posh toiletries and the like.

    The welcome letter and gift, which I always appreciate (both the letter and the gift).

    These were delicious, chocolate coated orange things, very moreish.

    I very much liked the view of Piłsudski Square from my room and that’s the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to the mid-left of the photo. It’s the largest square in the city and this was once the Saxon Palace, until the Germans destroyed it during the Second World War, but there are some quite surprising plans to rebuild sections of it. Incidentally and back to the hotel, the windows don’t stay open, although they’re meant to.

    Anyway, any annoyance I had with the hotel disappeared with the comfort of the room and two of the best night’s sleep that I’ve had in a hotel. The room can be blacked out entirely so no light comes in and there were no internal or external noise issues.

    And here’s a heap of breakfast photos. There was a wide selection of food and drink options, with the only slight omission being the variety of breads seemed quite minimal. But there were plenty of cheeses, cold cuts, yogurts, cereals and hot options. There was an egg section where omelettes and the like were available, with the staff member making me a rather lovely Eggs Benedict. There were plenty of juices, including some detox ones to give more choices. The quality of the food and drink was high, with the choice meaning it’d be hard for someone to complain about the lack of options. The breakfast room was large and spacious, with relatively few other guests, so it was a relaxing environment, not like the Holiday Inn Express set-up I’ve had this year which is a bit more, well, hectic and lively.

    The cost of the suite for two nights including breakfast would usually be somewhere around £300 to £400, but my suite upgrades meant that the cost to me was £187.16 for two nights. However, I gained 1,600 Accor reward points with this stay, which is around £28, making what I consider to be a charge of £160 or so for this rather lovely experience. At £80 per night including breakfast, I’m going to say that this is excellent value for a (very) occasional treat.

    The welcome was a bit botched, but the staff were helpful throughout and the breakfast was excellent. The room was beautifully comfortable, although lacked a large desk and some of the furnishings were a little rickety, but this didn’t impact on my stay. There was definitely an air of decadence about the whole arrangement and a turn-down service was provided on the first night with a staff member coming in to move slippers near to the bed and put a bottle of water on the bedside table. As an aside, I can’t be doing with that sort of thing and as there was no free chocolate, I put the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the second night. Richard didn’t do that in his room, he likes the turn-down service for reasons unknown to me.

    I’d absolutely stay here again and since I have a couple more suite upgrades to use next year, I might repeat this whole experience in November 2022. Absolutely the best breakfast that I’ve had in an Accor hotel and also the most luxurious room, but since I’m really an Ibis Budget person at heart, that’s probably not surprising. For anyone wanting more information, the hotel can be booked here.

  • Warsaw – Whiskey in the Jar

    Warsaw – Whiskey in the Jar

    I visited the Łódź location of this small Polish chain a few years ago, and noticed that there is now one in Warsaw which is very well reviewed. Since it was near the hotel where we were staying it seemed a suitable place to visit for my birthday and the menu looked sufficiently interesting. There was a friendly welcome from the English speaking staff member and we were shown to a table which was located in an area which was lively, but without the music being too loud.

    Photos of the interior decor in this large venue, which was busy during our visit and there were few tables free by the time that we left. Reservations are clearly recommended here, particularly at weekends. It seems to be an on-trend location, with most of the customer base being younger, although I’m fairly sure that the welcome would be authentic for all diners.

    There’s a wide range of drinks, but the jars seemed the most intriguing so I firstly went for the My Thai Jar which had Bols Amaretto, Jim Beam Bourbon, mango puree, lemon, chilli, ginger and sugar syrup, with the presentation of this being suitably decadent. I moved the chillies onto my food, although I discovered there were some in the drink which gave it some extra spice.

    The Major Jar, which had Campari, Jim Beam Bourbon, orange, mango puree, Sweet & Sour mix and sugar syrup. I preferred my first jar to this one, but it was still very drinkable, although perhaps just a bit too sweet.

    The Beef Master Burger which is in a sepia dyed bun with 180g of burger, sliced beef sirloin, lettuce, pickle, marinated onion, rocket and a mayonnaise sauce, along with a portion of chips and pot of ketchup. The burger was really quite decadent, rich and meaty in flavour with a depth of taste. The key items on the menu are steaks, burgers and ribs, although there are some vegetarian and other options, but judging by the reviews, most diners are going there for the steaks and burgers. The meat that the restaurant used is cured for 60 days to add flavour, and I can believe that given the depth of the taste.

    The service was always polite and efficient, although the staff didn’t really push any sales and it took a little longer than expected to get the bill, although nothing excessive. The prices are towards the higher end of the scale for Poland, but very reasonable by British standards, with the two drinks and meal costing £20. It’s all on-trend, friendly, clean and organised, with some care taken with the presentation of the food and drink. I can imagine that further restaurants, beyond the six that they already have, will be opened by this chain over the next few years given the popularity they’re currently experiencing.

  • Warsaw – Pasieka

    Warsaw – Pasieka

    My friend Richard had meandered over to Warsaw to this week and this was the final day that he’s in the city, so that means that I can catch up with this blog now he’s gone back to the airport. His presence really slowed updates down, which I think he feels very guilty about, but I didn’t say anything  🙂

    Anyway, as a final meal for Richard in Warsaw (other than his decadent lounge visit at the airport), I thought we’d have a Polish experience lunch in the Old Town part of the city, choosing Pasieka (located at ul. Freta 7/9) which I’ve never visited before.

    I think that it’s fair to say that the restaurant wasn’t entirely packed. We were the only diners when we entered, although a couple of other people came in a bit later on. The atmosphere felt quite rustic, although the music was more Heart FM than traditional Polish classics. Warsaw’s Old Town has felt really quiet compared to my previous visits, so I suspect that a number of the restaurants in the area are finding it economically tough at the moment.

    Despite some average Untappd scores, I opted for the Staropolskie Koźlak which I haven’t had before. It transpired to be fine, a decent bock with a bit of a roasted flavour going on.

    I went for the chicken in batter with chips, salad and some sort of carrot and pea part puree. When the food was served I thought that the batter looked a bit soggy, but it was fine with a rich taste and the chicken was tender. Richard had pork and mashed potato which didn’t look as good as my meal, but I didn’t say anything. There was some effort made with cutting the cucumber, with Polish cuisine not always being the easiest to make look well presented.

    The prices were a bit decadent here as there were no lunchtime offers and so it cost us £10 each for the food and a drink, which I thought was reasonable given the location. The service was friendly and engaging, so the environment felt relaxing enough. I’m not sure that we went for particularly Polish options with the food, but Richard had some heated up mead and my Polish beer added some localism to the arrangements. All really quite nice and a perfectly decent way to experience some Polish options.

  • Flixbus – Częstochowa to Warsaw

    Flixbus – Częstochowa to Warsaw

    Let’s just start this was the succinct phrase ‘bloody Flixbus’. I’ve been on many Flixbus trips and in recent years my experiences were getting better after many annoying journeys. That meant I was hopeful that the service might be comfortable and easy.

    I arrived at the bus station 45 minutes early (I feel the need to always be early to recce the situation), pleased that it clearly stated that I should board at gate 13. I thought that this was marvellous, until I realised that there were only five platforms. Brilliant, just the confusion that I didn’t need. I roped in a young Polish guy who I guessed correctly might speak English and he had missed his bus, but he said that Flixbus could depart from one of the three places due to changes at the bus station. It could be from either end of the bus station, or it would be from outside the front.

    I will say that Flixbus support is very good and they responded to my Facebook message quickly and we soon discovered that they didn’t know where their coach went from either. I have to credit them with replying so promptly and politely though.

    This is the dilemma. Flixbus say to wait outside the bus station, which is the bit just above ‘parking’ in the above map. However, I was aware that was a stupid place to stand as coaches weren’t using the bus station, they were either going off near to the Jamaican Shop (very decadent), outside the front, or right down the bottom of the map on that little turning circle.

    Flixbus do have coach tracking, which saved the day here. If I had waited where Flixbus customer support said to wait then I would have missed it, the coach parked up right at the bottom of the above map. That’s actually quite a distance away and it isn’t visible from the bus station, so very easy to miss. To me, this is completely hopeless, it’s like a railway station not having any platform numbers and expecting customers to just work it out.

    The driver was friendly enough, although there were no checks of my documents. For unknown reasons Flixbus give a reserved seat, but it’s visible only on the app and not on the ticket they send. I didn’t much care where I sat, but there was someone in the seat that I had been allocated. I have no idea why Flixbus need to give out seat numbers to those who don’t want them, they’re pretty much entirely ignored by customers and it creates confusion when none was needed. The bus departed seven minutes early, so I assume that I was the only customer being picked up in Częstochowa.

    I don’t know the safety rules in Poland, but there no announcements, no customers wearing seatbelts and the like. Without being rude, the interior of the coach was also quite Hogatharian. We had some customers passed out drunk over seats, some just drunk and some who were standing whilst the coach was in motion and they promptly fell over. It wasn’t a problem for me, but it wasn’t really an ideal set-up and it was clear that the sole driver, who wasn’t wearing anything that might suggest he was the driver, wasn’t going to burden himself by dealing with anything.

    The coach was generally clean, but it was a slightly rickety thing and the seats reclined so far as to be a complete nuisance for the customer behind. That didn’t impact me as the coach was very quiet and I had no-one in front, but it seemed a cheap vehicle and not at all decadent.

    The coach arrived on time and in one piece into Warsaw West. The fare was £10, similar to the train, and I decided to go by coach to see how it compared. The whole Flixbus outfit worries me though, there are what I consider to be customer safety issues that the company isn’t worrying about, let alone the problems that customers have getting any joy after complaining. One customer on a review said that the driver on their service hid an illegal immigrant on the coach into the UK and got caught, with Flixbus doing nothing to get customers to their final destination. The detail provided suggests that it might be true, but if not, there are hundreds of other complaints logged on-line.

    So, that’s it for me, I’m not going to risk another Flixbus service, I don’t think they’re safe enough or have a robust enough procedure to know what is going on. They have now launched in the UK, but I think I’ll stick to National Express and Megabus. It’s probably a better experience for those departing from major termini, as it’ll be clearer where they’re going from and it’d be possible to get a seat. But, I think I’ll stick to th Polish railway network in future.

  • Warsaw – Mercure Warszawa Airport

    Warsaw – Mercure Warszawa Airport

    I’m back again in Warsaw and at a hotel that I stayed in last year during my brief sojourn to the city in between lockdowns. It’s conveniently located near to the airport and easily accessible to the city centre, hence why I thought that I’d go for two nights here. There’s also an Aldi opposite the hotel which is handily located and which provided my snacks on the first evening. For anyone coming from the airport, the hotel usually has a shuttle in normal times, but at the moment it’s easy enough to jump on the train into the city centre and then just jump off after a couple of stops (not literally jump obviously) with about a 6-minute walk to the hotel.

    It took me a few seconds to remember where the hotel room numbers are located, which isn’t on the door. This is the one little problem I had at the hotel, which is that the key card was a bit unreliable and sometimes required me to make several attempts to get into the room. To be fair I didn’t bother going down to reception to change the card as it was a bit of a walk and no-one saw me patiently trying again and again to get it to work.

    The room which the hotel had upgraded for me, which was rather lovely. There was a sofa, chairs, a large desk and a fridge, with everything being spotlessly clean.

    The bathroom was the size of a small changing room.

    There was a espresso coffee machine, other hot drink making facilities and two bottles of water. I spent a good few minutes trying to turn the machine on, until I realised there’s a small switch at the back. And then there was espresso coffee….

    And a welcome gift of fruit (which I did eat) and cake, all much appreciated.

    And a welcome drink voucher, which mentioned that I could have any drink, a policy which seems to vary at different Accor hotels in Poland.

    The friendly member of bar staff said that I could have the Żywiec Porter, so I went with that quite happily. I commented in my post last year that the seating in the bar area is a little basic, although I could have gone into the restaurant with my drink and I can’t imagine that they would have minded.

    Back in the room, the windows opened as far as I wanted them to, and it would be possible to walk out on that bit of roofing if anyone was particularly adventurous (I’m not). It’d take an idiot, but I like that the windows weren’t sealed up as some hotels seem to feel is appropriate. Lots of fresh air was accessible to me, although the air conditioning was also very effective for those who don’t need street noise.

    The breakfast arrangement, hot food on the left, breads and fruit on that table in the middle with cold cuts, cereals, yoghurts, cheeses, fish and the like at the back.

    Behind me is the hot drinks and fruit juice area. Another friendly staff member was in the breakfast room and she was busily clearing tables with everything feeling clean and organised.

    And food photos from the two mornings that I was staying at the hotel (I mention that in case it looks like this was just one breakfast, which would have been a little greedy). This is just the sort of breakfast that I like, cold cuts, cheeses, bread rolls and everything tasted of a decent quality. And there’s a certain decadence to having blue cheese in the morning, that’s always a delight.

    The hotel was around £48 per night including breakfast, although I had Accor Rewards points to use up which halved that price. It’s not the cheapest rate that I could have got in Warsaw, but I very much like this hotel and it’s my favourite non-central Accor option in the city. The staff were friendly throughout, the hotel was clean, the restaurant area was organised and everything felt really well managed.

    For anyone who wants to book it or find out more, here’s the link.

  • PKP Intercity : Warsaw to Częstochowa

    PKP Intercity : Warsaw to Częstochowa

    Today’s little adventure began at Warszawa Centralna, the city’s main railway station. The station was built in the 1970s and is an impressive and open structure, replacing the remains of the Warszawa Główna railway station which was nearly entirely lost during the Second World War.

    There are plenty of screens indicating the platform numbers and there are escalators down to the tracks.

    I like these screens, they make it relatively easy to know where to stand on the platform to board the train. I fail to understand why the British railway network has never managed to implement this, I don’t really understand why this is so complex. I know that it has been done in a few railway stations, but generally it’s a stand and hope you’re in the right place policy for those catching a train.

    That meant I was departing from Platform 3, Track 4 and Sector 2. I had a reserved seat which was carriage 12 and seat number 36, so I felt that I had all the information that I needed.

    The platforms are long, this is only about half its length.

    I’m always pleased to see confirmation on the signage that I’m at the right platform and at the right railway station. My service was the train departing at 10:10 and arriving into Częstochowa at 12:55, a journey time of two hours and 45 minutes.

    The train isn’t one of the more modern set-ups, here it is arriving into the railway station. They’re also not the easiest to get on and off, there’s quite a step to get into it and so it isn’t ideal for those with limited mobility to access without assistance.

    This meant that it was a carriage train, something I’m not hugely keen on. There has been a move towards open carriages and I prefer that to these eight person compartments.

    There were three of us in this compartment for most of the journey, so plenty of space as it can seat up to eight people. There were eight or so stops along the route, with everything running to clockwork in terms of the timing. I’d add that I took this photo when one of the passengers left the compartment, we weren’t all sitting on the same side. I didn’t need power for electrical devices, but another one of the passengers did and was unable to find it in this area, although she disappeared with her phone charger for some time and so I imagine there’s a power point somewhere.

    Also, it looks from the photo that it’s possible to see across the tops of the compartment, but that’s just the mirror and it is sealed quite tightly other than for the door. There’s a handy metal bar running along the base of the seats which is useful for putting feet on, saving passengers doing that annoying thing of putting their feet on the seats. The seats were adequate and were cushioned, but I didn’t think that they were as comfortable as those on most modern British trains.

    The corridor down the side of the train and a refreshments trolley did work its way up and down. The conductor was friendly when checking my ticket, although I proffered my passport and he said that he didn’t need it, although I thought they were checking them. He didn’t speak any English, but my very limited Polish is enough to understand “ticket please” and “can you make the screen larger?”, but that was the limit of the verbal interchange.

    And safely into Częstochowa railway station, which isn’t entirely obvious as I think that it looks like a shopping centre, but the service was on time and everything was smooth and efficient. The journey cost £9.80 (and I booked that at https://mt.rozklad-pkp.pl/en which is the official web-site of the rail company), which I thought was entirely reasonable given the distance travelled.

  • Warsaw – Baszta Home Army Regiment Memorial

    Warsaw – Baszta Home Army Regiment Memorial

    Apologies to anyone reading that my understanding of this memorial is limited, but I think it represents where 150 Poles died on 1 August 1944 as part of the Warsaw Uprising, in this case fighting against the German Luftwaffe. The panel on the left notes that this is a place sanctified with the blood of Poles who died for the freedom of their homeland, with the panel on the right referring to the Home Army Regiment known as Baszta, fighting near to Fort Mokotów. This memorial was placed here in 1997, replacing a previous temporary plaque.

    There’s more information at http://www.sppw1944.org/index.html?/mapapowstania3/m_34.html.

    I posted this as every time I visit Warsaw I am reminded of the great bravery of the Polish troops and residents who defended themselves with such courage against a German onslaught.

  • Warsaw – Robert Schuman Roundabout

    Warsaw – Robert Schuman Roundabout

    I’m easily confused at the best of times, but I was a bit puzzled as to why there’s a stone commemorating the life of Robert Schuman at what seemed like a random place in Warsaw. There’s no doubting the great ability of Schuman, he’s one of the best known of the post-war political European leaders and also a founding father of the European Union.

    It took me a little while to work out that the stone is here because in 2017 the Polish authorities named a roundabout after him. I’m not entirely sure why this roundabout was selected and indeed why a roundabout was thought to be a fitting honour. Anyway, it’s here for anyone who wants to visit it, just a little south of the centre of Warsaw.

  • Warsaw – PINTA Warszawa Craft Beer

    Warsaw – PINTA Warszawa Craft Beer

    It’s becoming more challenging for me to find a craft beer bar in Warsaw that I haven’t been to, but I persist in my efforts. Since it’s my first day back in Warsaw I visited my favourite bar in the city first, Hoppiness, and was delighted as ever. After that, I made the short walk to PINTA which I understand opened earlier this year. They’re a brewery who have been trading for some years and were apparently the first Polish brewers to have an international collaboration, with O’Hara’s from Ireland. Things seem to be going well for this bar judging by the reviews, they’re nearly all positive at the moment.

    The beer options are chalked up on the board, although they’re also listed at https://pinta-warszawa.ontap.pl/. The server was helpful and I’ve realised how much of my already very limited Polish that I’ve managed to forget. Not that it mattered much in this instance, the server spoke fluent English. In terms of the beer selection, it was excellent with a range of beer styles and the like, all neatly presented.

    This is the upstairs area of the bar, it’s all quite spacious.

    I went for the Kwas Xy sour from Browar PINTA, the brewery who operate this bar. A decent sour, taste of stone fruit and suitably, well, sour.

    I also went for cod bites and these have to be collected from a little hatch upstairs. A little greasy, but they tasted fine, although I tend to like most things in batter (preferably not vegetables, although they taste better in batter).

    This is a decent enough bar, although it was a little sterile since I visited on a Tuesday early afternoon when I was the only customer. Service wasn’t quite as engaging as Hoppiness, but it was polite and friendly, so that was more than good enough for me (and Hoppiness set very high standards). The bar was spotlessly clean, the environment was comfortable and so all really rather lovely. They also opened a bar in Wrocław in 2018, which reminded me that I haven’t been to that city for a few years. All very on-trend though, I’d like to think that there might be a little chain of these throughout Poland in a few years.

  • Warsaw – Fort Mokotów

    Warsaw – Fort Mokotów

    Mostly photos in this post, but I was intrigued by Fort Mokotów as I’ve had a little look at these forts across the city in the past, including Fort V Włochy. There’s not much at this fort, which was originally constructed in the 1880s and then extended within a few years. These structures were built as part of the Warsaw Fortress to defend the city from attack. This one was used to house Polish radio in the inter-war period, which meant that the Germans sought to destroy it early on during the war (before they sought to destroy everything else in this great city).

    Today, there are a number of restaurants and bars located here alongside numerous offices, but there’s not much else. Interesting though.