Getting to Warsaw
For my first trip to the former Eastern Europe, I chose Poland for many reasons, but mostly because I had been researching it for a larger trip that fell apart. So, since I had done much of my homework and the flights within Europe were so cheap, I decided to give myself this trip as a reward after what I knew was going to be a hard work assignment in the States. Read on to see more of my four days in Warsaw.
I flew to Warsaw, Modlin airport, as the flights were much cheaper there. This airport is about 40 minutes north of the city, with few transportation options, and is standing alone with nothing but farmland surrounding it. I was originally in one queue for a bus line and realized there was another line, FlixBus, with a bus much sooner than the one I was waiting for. While walking from one bus stop to the other, I downloaded the FlixBus application and bought my ticket just as the bus pulled up. Thank God for decent phone service.
The ride into town was already dark, so I couldn’t see much but enjoyed seeing a bit of the suburbs of Warsaw. They dropped us off at the Warsaw West train station (not the main station) and walked to the apartment I rented with Go Apartments, which was a great apartment.
Czyste and Transportation Options
The apartment is in an area of Warsaw called Czyste, which used to be much more industrial but now is filled with new apartments, offices, restaurants, bars, and many younger Poles. It was just a few blocks west of the downtown area and was great to stay in. I highly recommend it; the area is also cheaper.
My apartment was probably less than three years old, with sister buildings still being built around it. (IMG 1023) It had markets, restaurants, and a coffee shop right in the building. For reference’s sake, it was a 20-minute walk to the Palace of Culture and Science which is sort of the staple Warsaw building in the center of downtown. Czyste felt very safe and was, other than the construction noise during the day, a relatively quiet area.
Stare Miasto
Warsaw is like most European cities in that it has an “old town” called Stare Miasto towards the center, and the city grew around it. The major river, Vistula, (also shown as Wisla or Visla on many maps), divides the city east/west but 99% of what you will see is on the western side, and 90% of that is close to the old city or downtown.
Warsaw also has great transportation options with a modern subway, though only one east-west line and one north-south line as far as I could tell. But the tram system and bus lines are also well done and growing. I ended up taking the subway a few times and a couple of buses, and it was easy to learn and use. I did try and use the recommended app, Jakodojade (honestly that is the name), but I couldn’t get it working correctly the first two days, so I had limited use and ended up leaving money on it. ARRGH!
Architecture: Good and Bad
Warsaw has lots of great architecture, mostly modern but some older ones that either survived World War II or were rebuilt after it. Remember, the Nazis tried to level most of Warsaw to put down Polish culture. They wanted to take a city of millions and make it a small city of around 100,000 with a heavy German influence. So, the world lost much of Warsaw’s architecture from the 1000 years before WWII.
But it also has some bad modern architecture, very bad isn’t an exaggeration, which ended up being a contest for me to see which is the worst one I could find. I guess when most of the city needs to be rebuilt, you’re bound to get a few thorns among the roses. But let’s start with the good.
The Palace of Culture and Science is Warsaw’s signature building, a leftover from the Soviet times, but still a marker for the city. Typical wedding cake architecture with a lot of imperialism thrown in for good measure, it is a striking building much past its prime. Many in the city want to tear it down as the last vestige of the Soviet’s time of domination. Others believe it is iconic of Warsaw and can easily move past its troubled time. I fall into the latter. One of the things I enjoyed was that there was a great book fair going on around it in the parking lots. Tons of people, though just very few going into the building.
OK now for the stinkers (really just a lot seemed to lack imagination):
Stare Miastro
But I didn’t spend my whole time in Warsaw looking at modern architecture. Walking through the lovely Saxon Gardens towards the palace and Stare Miastro I stumbled upon them setting up for a vintage arts and crafts exhibition in the park with tons of people in period costumes. Since it hadn’t started yet, I continued to the World War I Memorial. It was at the end of the park and very solemn at the entrance to this huge plaza called Plac Piłsudskiego, where several vintage vehicles were parked and later part of a parade.
The Presidential Palace is one block over and set far back from the road, and hard to get a photo of it, as there are also some burly guards with automatic rifles to dissuade you from coming too close. You next pass a pretty Carmelite church and then you are into the older part of the city – Stare Miastro. It is well preserved, well I should say, well reconstructed as it was mostly destroyed during World War II bombing. The central point is the Royal Castle on the east side of the plaza Plac Zamkowy, and is very imposing with its pink brick and steeples. This too was completely reconstructed after the war, as were most of the important buildings, which must have been to help their tourism.
Saxon Gardens and Plac Piłsudskiego
It is a beautiful area to roam around in, since it was early, it wasn’t too busy yet. I walked down by the Basilica of John the Baptist, which is impressive, but the Jesuit church next to it, I thought, was so much nicer. Kept walking until I found this beautiful square called Rynek Starego Miasta. The buildings here were so detailed and each one different. Lots of shops selling amber and other souvenirs, and quite a few restaurants, especially in the center. Here are some photos of that square:
From there it is a short walk to the Barbican, or old wall that protected the city for hundreds of years. This is, of course, a reconstruction done after the war, but it still is impressive. A couple of blocks away is the striking Warsaw Uprising Monument. It is a very dramatic monument attached to their new Supreme Court Building, which is also a modern building however with older-looking columns surrounding it. It connects to the Court of Appeals and actually crosses the street at one point. That side of the street has the Krasinski Palace, an ornate building also reconstructed post-war. It is amazing to me that they spent so much time and money reconstructing their older buildings.
Jewish Ghetto and Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Walking around the Supreme Court to the northeast corner, you will see the boundary of the Warsaw Ghetto immortalized on the sidewalk. This marked the walls that surrounded this part of Warsaw when the Nazis took over and segregated for almost four years those who were Jewish. It is one thing to know of this and quite another to see the physical evidence of it.
Three blocks west, there is the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, a very stark monument that sits outside of the new POLIN Museum of the History of the Jews.
The Museum is housed in a very unique and beautiful building, interesting looking both outside and inside. A rectangular building coated with copper and glass panels that have letters on them spelling their name, POLIN. Inside is quite different. First, you walk across a bridge to the main part of the museum, and the inside walls are full of dramatic curves and bright light on the ground floor. The actual exhibit is downstairs, where over 1000 years of the history of interaction between Poles and the Jews is set out in interactive displays. You could easily spend hours here, the museum is that well done, and I’d encourage you to make the time to visit when you are in Warsaw.
After the museum, I walked back towards the square by their Treasury and ran into the car parade I spoke about earlier and the vintage festival in the park was going full tilt.
River Walk and Library
Being there for 4 days was one too many for me, so I searched Google Maps for other things to see or neighborhoods to investigate. I ended up walking along the river, which was wonderful. You can tell you are in a city that waits 6-8 months for warm weather to come by how much they enjoy being outside when it finally is warm – Warsaw is one of those cities and the river path is the area where people tend to congregate. They even have man-made beaches for people to sun themselves and have a few drinks. If you have time, give yourself a treat and take a stroll along the river. You can also take a walk across the pedestrian bridge that ties east and west Warsaw, which if I hadn’t discovered the library, I would have probably done.
Wonderful Library
The river path also brought me to my favorite find that I had not researched, the University of Warsaw Library that I was really taken with. As you can see it has a unique and striking front with passages from famous books in history. But the best part of the library is that it is also a park. The car garage has a green park built on top of it, and the library roofs are green spaces as well and offer good views of the city area. The inside is mostly concrete but done with a lot of space for natural lighting. Unfortunately, you need to be a citizen or have a proper ID to get into the library stacks side, but you can see how nice that area is beyond those four pillars.
The neighborhood just south of the library was also great to see. The highlight for many is the Copernicus Science Center which also straddles the river walk. But, this did remind me how many European cities have wonderful Science Centers. Most are oriented toward middle and high school students which is why I usually skip them, but I love that so many Europeans value the need for such centers in their communities.
Another area I enjoyed, south of the library, was an old electrical plant that was converted into a mall, emphasizing local goods and crafts, or at least it was when I was there. Also, quite a large food hall area with a myriad of cuisines. Around this new mall, they have built some great apartments that you can easily see are revitalizing the area. For digital nomads, I believe this would be a great area to settle for six months or more (Spring to Fall).
Chopin Monument and Royal Lazienki Park
I ended my day by getting on the bus and going to the Chopin Monument. With Google Maps, the bus system was easy to navigate and saved me an hour’s walk. The monument sits by itself at the back of a pond and is quite difficult to describe. It has a young man sitting under a willow tree in heavy wind. I did not understand it and of course, had to sit in the shade and Google it. Seems Chopin died at 39 so he was young, not at all what I had pictured in my mind, he also drew heavily from nature, and the monument is supposed to signify him listening to the wind and nature to draw inspiration. Now it makes sense. Every summer, on Sundays, they hold Chopin concerts here which draw a big crowd.
Behind the monument and below start the Royal Lazienki Park (which many people misname as Chopin Park), and you are transported out of the city into nature very quickly. This was the summer palace of Poland’s last king, and the grounds are beautiful. While I was there, a few primary school classes were touring, and they looked to be having a great time. The park is divided into several sections, but the prettiest surrounding the palace with a huge pond in front and behind the palace. There were coffee and ice cream vendors in the park and public restrooms, so you could spend hours here to destress from the city.
Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów
On my last morning in Warsaw, I took buses out to King Jan III’s Palace in Wilanów just south of the city. I usually don’t visit palaces, and though it wasn’t originally on my itinerary, I had run out of things to see, so I went to the palace. I wanted to see the grounds, but it also included inside the palace, so I grudgingly went on a tour. They were setting up a huge tent out front for a fundraiser for the art museum on the ground, so my photos of the front were ruined. However, the inside was ornately decorated and actually interesting and, most importantly, led back to the gardens.
The side gardens were a disappointment in that they were formal and a bit stark, but the art was modern and funky. However, the art ended up leading me to their art museum, which was having an exhibition of new work. These unique and diverse art pieces were to be auctioned off at the event the following weekend, hence the large tent in front that ruined my pictures (bitter, party of one). The palace grounds were alongside a small river, and this is where the gardens turned nice with a Chinese gazebo and a beautiful water pumping station. In all, I am glad I went to the palace, and I encourage everyone to do it on their trip to Warsaw.
Conclusion
Warsaw is a great, interesting city that is both affordable and has great transportation options. If you like Polish food (pierogies are amazing), then spend some time trying out the local food. It was interesting to note that many places had both Polish and Ukrainian pierogies to try. This might be due to the influx of Ukrainians during the current war that is taking shelter in Poland right now. From Warsaw, I took the train to Krakow, but that is another article.
Thank you for reading my article. If you would like to read about other travel posts you can go to Articles to see all posts, or to Destinations to see them grouped by location. General travel tips can be found here.
