One Week in the polish Capital
The polish capital isn’t a top destination for tourists, compared to other European cities. Anyway, Warsaw has a nice Oldtown, with a lot of baroque houses, a very modern part and of course this kind of post communism charm.
We came to Warsaw by Wizz Air and booked a very cheap flight from Bratislava. This might be the cheapest and the fastest way to come to Warsaw, but if you don’t want to fly, there will also be trains from Vienna. We arrived in Warsaw on a cloudy afternoon and firstly drove to our friends, where we also slept for this one week. For dinner we went to Zapiecek, a small restaurant in the Oldtown where you find polish dishes. I ordered pierogi with spinach, Feta cheese and melted Butter (Sour Cream might have been the better option). For dessert we ordered some sweet pierogi, which were filled with blueberries, and sweet cream. After the dinner we strolled through the Oldtown, passed the office of the polish president and went to the Vistula, where we went to a park with big fountains, where a light show takes place every Friday and Saturday.
On our second day the weather became very bad. It was cold, rainy and windy so it was the perfect weather for a visit to a museum: We decided to go to Galleria Zacheta. The museum brings contemporary art into focus and is really worth a visit. The art takes place in an old building with a beautiful staircase. Especially the exhibition of Koji Kamoji in the second floor is very impressive. The artist, which has been living in Warsaw since 1959, shows very small works, a collection of his paintings, but also ones, which are filling an entire room.
The weather didn’t want to become better so we decided to spent the beginning of our third day in the underground. I saw a lot of photos of the colourful stations on Instagram and so I asked our friend, which are the most beautiful stations and they told us, that M2, the red line, would be more beautiful. The seven stations of M2 are newer and more colourful. Moreover, they are very clean and it’s not as busy than in other cities. I especially loved the escalators, because they were surrounded by a bright, light blue tunnel. After the underground we went to the polytechnic university, which was one of the buildings I really wanted to visit. When you enter the building, you won’t really understand, but after some steps you will see, what I liked. In the middle of the building is a big, covered yard and the roof is made out of colourful glass. The square under the roof is surrounded by arcades and a beautiful staircase and from every floor you have another view at the yard
Our last stop was the Neon Museu in Praga which is really a unique place in Europe. The museum shows illuminated panels from all over Poland in different sizes and colours. Next to every panel you can find its story in English and Polish. It’s easy to find out, where each neon sign is from or how old it is.
On our fourth day, the weather became better and we had bought tickets for the science museum. Anyway, we decided to stroll around the city, before we wanted to visit the museum. We firstly bought some ice and after we hat ate it, we wanted to go to a Café. We remembered a Café behind the university we saw on our first day. We went to it and drank Club Mate in front of one of the big windows and played chest. The idea of the science museum is very nice: You can try a lot of experiments which are not difficult and some of them are very cool, but when we visited the museum, a lot of children also visited the museum and it was loud, hectic and the coolest experiments were taken. The museum will be funnier if you visit it between Monday and Friday and not during school holidays.
The next day was very hot and we left the house late and went shopping to Zlote Tarasy. This shopping mall is one of the malls I really liked to visit, because of it’s beautiful architecture. The whole roof of the shopping centre is out of glass and so it’s very bright and you have a lot of natural light in the building.
Because we hadn’t ate breakfast we were looking for a Café or a restaurant where we find something to eat and near the Hotel Intercontinental, we found a small French bakery, called Piekarnia Aromat. We ordered, a bit late for breakfast, a classic breakfast with eggs and French pastries like eclairs. The food was very good and it was very cheap, especially the pastries. After breakfast it was very hot and we just wanted to spend the afternoon under a big tree in a park. So we took a bus and drove Lazienki Krolewskie park and strolled through the park. We firstly came to a small, but beautiful building, where a sculpture museum and a theatre take place. In front of the museum or the theatre (what do you prefer) we took a seat and talked to a gardener, who was really friendly. After a small walk we came to the Belvedere palace. It seemed like there would have been something like an official reception. But we just wanted to get back to the parc and found another entrance and a god place for sitting. We also saw there some squirrels playing in the grass and after some more hours of strolling we came back to the bus and drove home.
On our fifth day we were again ready for a museum so we decided to visit the Jewish museum of Warsaw. The museum tells you something about the history of the Jewish of the last 1000 years. Moreover, the building is very modern and impressive. You have a lot of natural light in the museum because of big windows and the interior is beige and bright, which makes the museum very futuristic. After the museum we were hungry and looked for a restaurant nearby and found a falafel shop which is called Falafel Bejrut. We ate falafel sandwiches which were really good. In addition, we got a plate full of vegetables, herbs, pickles and hummus. One point of criticism is, that they just give you plates and cutlery out of plastic.
Now we saw one of the coolest things in Warsaw. We drove to the library of the university and they have a garden on their roof, which you can visit easily. From the roof you see the Palace of culture and science, but you also have a good view of the river, the Vistula. After a relaxed hour in there we started to walk to the palace of culture because we really wanted to watch the sunset from there. We sat more than an hour on the terrace and enjoyed the view. The terrace is open till 8 o’clock and it’s a very comfortable place, because there are also canvas chairs.
We spent our last day with our friends and in the evening, went for the last time to the oldtown and enjoyed the view from the church of Sankt Anna. This was definitely the most beautiful view because you are in the middle of the Oldtown but you also see the skyline and the river. This was definitely the perfect ending for a city trip.