Poland: Warsaw

Warsaw (Warszawa, in polish) is the capital of Poland and also its largest city. We took a Ryanair flight to Warsaw Modlin Airport, arrived there in the evening and hired a car to take us into the city. The drive itself was a great sightseeing already, as the driver passed through all the beautiful illuminated buildings and monuments.

We were positively surprised with the beauty of Warsaw, as well as the architecture diversity condensed in just one place: there you find medieval buildings, neo classic, communist ones, others that were bombed by the war and abandoned ever since and really modern sky scrapers. They have some really big blocks there and it takes half an hour to walk through 3 blocks! The streets are very wide and comparing to London, they’re pretty quiet and you find not so many people out walk around.

                                               

Palace of Culture and Science

Presidential Palace

Great Theater

Barbican castle

    

               St. Mary's Church in Warsaw New Town

Old Town Market Place

Royal Castle

                                     National Stadium                       University of Warsaw Library 

Located by the calm Wisła River and where the famous composer Chopin grew up and studied, this city has a really nice atmosphere and welcoming residents as well. As night, you have the impression you’re living in a black and white film, where the side streets have not enough light and no people passing by.

Probably the most typical thing you’ll find to eat is the famous Pierogi, dumplings first boiled, then they are baked or fried usually in butter, stuffed with potato filling, sauerkraut, meat, cheese, etc. Delicious and a great value for money, as the polish złoty (zł) is cheaper than pounds!!

We were actually quite impressed with how many people spoke English and it was pretty easy to communicate with the residents. Believe me, polish is impossible to understand! The only disappointment we had was with the hop on hop off bus, it basically just played some classical music and when there was any explanation, it was only to say that Germans bombed here or there.

We had a lot of fun, but I guess one day is enough to experience Warsaw. Our next stop, Polish wedding in Ostrołęka!!! But as this was a good friends wedding we will not disclose any details beside huge amounts of food and vodka!