Warszawa, in English known as Warsaw, is the capital and largest city of Poland. I have many friends who call this city their home, and who have given it nothing less than high praise. After hearing so many stories about this modernized & hip metropolis, it was about time I checked it out for myself. A friend and I flew over to Warsaw and organized two jam-packed days of sightseeing and enjoying the cuisine.

Day 1

Arrival
I flew into Warsaw Chopin Airport from Amsterdam with KLM. Unfortunately, I agreed to meet my friend at the airport and since he arrived a couple hours later than I, it meant I became very acquainted with the arrivals hall. He arrived after midnight, so we decided to take a taxi to the hotel (Sheraton Warsaw Hotel) rather than a local bus.

Śródmieście – City Centre
I had so many plans for the first day: multiple free walking tours, museums and other sights that we decided those thoughts alone were too tiring for our city trip. So the first day actually became all about getting our bearings and getting a general idea of the city by just walking around. We saw some of the major sights and my friend had time fall head over heels in love with TK Maxx.

Route

Our route was incredibly random. All I knew was that I wanted to get to Old Town at some point of the day. The whole two days were centred around the city centre – this is where the main shopping area is but also the historic Old Town.

The city centre can easily be explored on foot. Our instinct took us to the main shopping area first – I’m saying instinct because for the first time ever I didn’t bring a city guide or map on a trip. This is obviously where a lot of the shops are, but also cute coffee houses, and some imposing governmental buildings like the Palace of Culture and Science. This grand structure was built in the 1950s as a “gift” to the Polish people by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

Inside (or next to) the Central Railway Station is the Zlote Tarasy Mall, which has an amazing vibe. On a sunny day people are sitting outside to a enjoy a coffee and listening to a radio station which is airing outside the mall.

I remembered the map of Warsaw a little bit, so I knew which direction to take to get to the Old Town. It took us through Ogród Saski (Saxon Garden), a cute little park, with Greek-looking statues.

Accidentally, we bumped into the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the other side of the park. I knew there was one in Warsaw as well, (previously I had seen tombs in Rome, Athens and Sofia) but I had no clue where to find it. Luckily, we ran into it by chance. This random bumping in to buildings and sights seemed to happen to us the whole time during the two days, which goes to show that you don’t have to plan everything to the last detail.

On the way to the Old Town I noticed once again how insanely grand the architecture is in the Eastern European countries. I feel that sometimes people don’t have a correct impression of the region, but let me once again show you how beautiful it is! Buildings are massive and new, but made to look somehow old. Guys, go and check out Warsaw. Similarly to Sofia and Plovdiv in Bulgaria, I’m once more in love with the cityscape.

The Old Town was probably my least favourite area of the city. It’s clearly the most popular area in town, due to the masses of tourists flocking there, but there’s just so much going on. It’s difficult to avoid bumping into people, or bumping into touts selling balloons, souvenirs, bubblemakers, trying to paint your portrait or doing random magic shows. The area is beautiful, but it would be nicer without all the crowds.

“Inside” the Old Town, there’s a Royal Castle which looks even less like a castle than the one in Dublin. The castle is conveniently placed near Castle Square with the massive Zygmunt’s Column.

The Old Town Market Square is probably the most well-known image of Warsaw. It’s here you can find most restaurants in the area, overlooking the square.

The Barbican is the old entrance way to the Old Town. It’s built into the city wall which surrounds the Old Town.

There are some odd churches in the area as well. I mean, look at this door….

… and at this organ-shaped roof!

In the evening we walked back in the direction of the hotel to join the Food Walking Tour, which I will describe in the next post because it’ll be about wining and dining in Warsaw.

Day 2

Warsaw History
I’m sure most of us know some Polish history, most of our knowledge will be from stories regarding the Second World War when Poland quickly came under Nazi administration. 30% of the city’s population (the Jews) were herded into the Warsaw Ghetto.

We probably also know about some of the concentration camps, like Auschwitz. What I didn’t know was that the Warsaw Jews are famous for rising up against their rulers. When the order was given to annihilate the inhabitants of the ghetto, Jewish fighters launched what is known as the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, despite being heavily outgunned and outnumbered. They managed to withhold the uprising for almost a month after which all survivors were massacred.

Jewish Heritage
It’s almost impossible to miss the statues all around town which show the harrowing history of the city, including the last stand of some brave Jews during the uprising.

The most impressive in both size and style is the Uprising Monument. This monument is located near the Old Town.

Warsaw Uprising Museum
Our goal on the second day was to visit the Warsaw Uprising Museum, which is located in the Wola district; so this was the first and only time we left Śródmieście during the two-day stay. We walked there on foot, but it was a 45-minute walk so on the way back we took the metro for the first time. Like in most cities the system is very convenient and easy to use, but when you’re only staying in the centre there’s no need to use it.

I’m being totally honest again when I say that the museum disappointed a bit. First of all, we visited on a Sunday which means tickets are free and all people flock to the museum. We waited for 1.5 hours to enter. I did this to my friend before at the Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy , so he wasn’t happy when he was queueing for a sight once again.

Inside, I didn’t feel the connection with the different exhibits at the museum. We just wandered through it without reading any of the signs and left after around half an hour. In my opinion, the statues around town are much more impressive than the contents of the museum. I’m not trying to discourage people from going, I’m just saying I didn’t feel the connection with the museum, maybe it’ll be different for others. Don’t go on a Sunday though, because it’ll be jam-packed.

Conclusion

Warsaw is a beautiful city which is worth a visit in my opinion. The Old Town has received UNESCO World Heritage status due to it being “an outstanding example of a near-total reconstruction of a span of history covering the 13th to the 20th century”. You can sense the history all throughout the city, but the buildings and the people are modern.

These aren’t my last words about Warsaw though because the Polish cuisine has totally won me over as well, but more about that in my next post!

Have you ever been to Warsaw? What did you think about the city?