Tag: Warsaw

I haven’t much thought about this building before when walking about Warsaw, but it’s the Prudential building which was the tallest structure in Poland when it was completed in 1933 after two years of work. At the time of completion it was the second tallest building in Europe, a huge statement of faith in the future of Warsaw, which needed 2 million bricks, 2,000 tonnes of concrete and 1,500 tonnes of steel to construct.

And here it is on 28 August 1944 when the Germans used huge amounts of explosives to destroy it as part of their destruction of Warsaw. Their engineers couldn’t get the building to collapse, although they did huge damage and it started to lean a bit. This must have considerably annoyed them, as it was an iconic structure that remained standing. And, it survived the Second World War and was repaired and hence why it is still standing. It has spent most of its post-war life as a hotel and is currently the Hotel Warszawa, a decadent accommodation option in a building which is a great survivor.

When we walked by this bar in Warsaw a couple of weeks ago, I specifically said to Richard, “do not look to your left”. He recklessly ignored my advice and then looked hugely excited at what he saw, so I felt it was only fair to let him go in even though I was heading to a decadent craft beer bar. I am a very good friend…..

Just some photos of the whole bar arrangement, which is set across two floors with the whisky bar on the top. There’s a variety of seating around the place, including lower tables and bar seats, with the atmosphere being comfortable and relaxing. The venue is open some ridiculous hours, from 10.00 until 05.00 every day of the week, which hardly makes it worth closing. Incidentally, after going in, I remembered that I’d been in here a few years ago with Hike Norfolk, likely one of the very limited number of venues that wasn’t my choice.

It’s not exactly me is it? Here am I with my decadent and very classy imperial stouts and I’m presented with this shrubbery. OK, it tasted fine, but it’s not the sort of drink I can put on Untappd.

The drink was individually created by the barman, who was engaging, personable and knowledgeable about the cocktail options, so there was quite a bit of theatre to the whole arrangement. I must admit that whilst Richard was enjoying this piece of theatre, I was pre-annoyed at how much it would cost, although fortunately it was actually not unreasonable at something like £6. Although that’s a high price for Warsaw, I feared that it might be much more.

Richard then asked a question about whisky and I have to say that the barman was as knowledgeable about these as he was about the cocktails. I consider whisky to be an excellent drink which should be poured out of the barrels which is then replaced by beer so I can get a whisky flavour to my decadent beer. Whisky isn’t a drink I’ve ever grown to like, but Richard said that the selection of whisky options was excellent and he liked the options presented to him.

Richard suggested that this was one of his favourite bars, not just because of the hundreds of whisky options, but also because of the engagement of the staff member. Service was sometimes a little slow, but I think that was more because the staff member thought that we were trying to have a longer and more relaxed visit. I was obviously focused on going to a bar which served glorious craft beers, but even I had to concede that this was a well-run venue which had a wide appeal. Definitely recommended for those who like whisky, spirits or cocktails.

This will be a relatively short post as I only popped into Lemon as it was a convenient stop on the way back to the hotel, but there is little else particularly exciting for me to say about it. The venue was clean, the staff were friendly and the environment was relaxed. The beer choices were though limited, hence the Żywiec, and there were very few other customers. It’s particularly handy for drinkers who want a long Friday or Saturday night, as the bar doesn’t close until 7am in the morning. The pricing was reasonable and it’s a handy spot for those wanting a quick drink, but I’m not sure that I’d go again given that the beer selection wasn’t really quite to my taste.

I think that this is the best pre-war that I’ve seen of Warsaw, showing the normality of the city in 1937.

There are numerous video clips of the Old Town Market Place and specifically what is now the Museum of Warsaw. Just a few years later, the square was destroyed, although fortunately carefully reconstructed.

Just a short post because, as the title suggests, I’ve written about this bar in Warsaw twice before (visit 1 | visit 2). But, I very much like the welcome here and I visited a few times during my latest sojourn to the city. It might not have the most beers available compared to some other craft beer bars in Warsaw, but it has some of the most innovative and interesting.

This is the insanely good Noa Pecan Mud Cake Stout from Omnipollo, beautifully decadent and the aftertaste was exactly the same as eating a rich chocolate cake. It’s 11% and is reviewed at 4.22 on Untappd, which is towards the higher end of the scale. On a visit on my own the week after, I had Podbipięta from Browar Łańcut, another superb beer which is 12% and has been finished in Bourbon barrels. That beer was just as decadent and also scored 4.22 on Untappd. And beer of that quality during my recent visits has to be noted….

And the chorizo pizza was as good as ever, keenly priced (just over £5) and a beautiful complement to the beer.

As a craft beer bar, this is definitely one of the best in Warsaw, with the service being friendly and the environment clean and comfortable. All really rather lovely.

This statue has become something of an icon of Warsaw in recent years and is located just outside of the external defensive  wall of the Old Town. The imagery was designed by Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz in 1944, before later being used in this statue.

The monument commemorates those child soldiers who found themselves in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. The helmet is deliberately over-large, to show the innocence of youth.

The military equipment is German and was used by those in the Polish Home Army after they had seized it from the occupiers as part of the Warsaw Uprising.

The old town wall is visible in the background and the statue is located on the former eighth tower of the perimeter.

The bronze statue was funded by the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association, hence the plaque on the side. Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz, the original artist, allowed the imagery to be used for free, with the Scouts collecting 1 million zloty (around £200,000) from fundraising to pay for it.

The plaque which notes that the statue was unveiled on 1 October 1984 and the guest of honour was Jerzy Świderski (1929-2017) who fought in the Home Army at the age of just 14. Jerzy lost his brother Bohdan Świderski during the Warsaw Uprising, but he survived it and became a Professor of Medical Science. It was unusual for the Soviet authorities at the time to allow this sort of imagery and depiction of the Warsaw Uprising, they’d spent some decades trying to belittle the bravery of the Polish Home Army.