Beauty and darkness, churches and uprisings, ancient and new - so many contradictions make Warsaw what it is

 

Warsaw - New and Old

The Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki said of his country:

Poland is different from the other so-called socialist countries. We have a different background. Poland belongs to the West, not the East. We belong to the Mediterranean, Latin culture, not to the Byzantine, which is very different and which you find in Bulgaria and even parts of Czechoslovakia and, of course, Romania.

Penderecki seems to have it right. Having spent this time in Poland it feels far less alien, far less strange to me as a Western European than I expected. Indeed, Warsaw was a real surprise for me. It was more modern and less conscious of its past in the pact which bore its name - The Warsaw Pact. I had the wonderful experience of travelling to Budapest the year after the Berlin Wall had come down and it felt like an alien place. 23 years later Warsaw feels very familiar, almost homely. But more of these reflections later. More about the early part of the day first.

Morning

I woke at 4am exactly and began editing the photos from Wednesday, as the train yesterday had no wifi. The photos were edited and uploaded and I then focussed on the Blog post about Monday until it is complete. 

Breakfast

We did our ablutions and went down to Breakfast for 8am. While we had begun to see pickled gherkins on the first breakfast of the holiday, and continued to add to the range of pickled food as we travelled east, it was really here in Warsaw that we went whole hog in pickled food. There was the usual pickled gherkin and the pickled cabbage we had enjoyed in Berlin, but now there were pickled button mushrooms, pickled peppers (yes, like the ones Peter Piper picked), pickled patty pans and pickled radishes. I was in pickle heaven for my breakfast, as I love sharp, acidic flavours. Clearly, I was made to eat like a Pole! 

The Ghetto

Breakfast over we left the hotel at 9am. Immediately outside the hotel is one of the memorials to the Warsaw Ghetto - a few steps further away is a marker indicating where the Ghetto wall was. The Holiday Inn is very close to the Southern Edge of the ghetto.

The Warsaw Ghetto is one of the hardest stories to hear when you read about the Second World War in general and the mass execution of Jews in particular. In this place at least 460,000 Jews were imprisoned in an area of 1.3 square miles. The story of deliberate famine conditions and the hardship and death are only partially ameliorated by the acts of generosity, kindness and love which are also remembered and acknowledged. It is a sobering thought on a fine and sunny day.

Our Route

While only covering the highlights, as Warsaw has so much to see, our route today looked like this:

The Warsaw Palace of Culture and Science

Looking out from our bedroom window this morning the view that welcomed us was of the Warsaw Palace of Culture and Science, this historic building was built by Russian labour, under the command of Josip Stalin, to show the advancement that belonging to the communist network of the Warsaw pact could bring to the Polish People. It stands as a grand monument to an unfulfilled dream of a world arranged and order by Communist philosophy.

The Socialist realist sculptures placed in the niches of the palace’s façade focus on images of healthy committed workers in various trades dominate the external facade. The inside is like a palace of treasure, yet, oddly, the buildings it most brings to my mind are the early skyscrpers of New York, like the Chrysler and particularly the Woolworth buildings in that city.

It is huge, even with the large number of moden skyscrapers now in Warsaw, it still stands out. The photo at the top of this post shows the mix of modern and old in this city, and it is a metaphor for the whole city. A mix of thrusting 21st century capitalism with an older, and sometimes darker, past.

The tower, 30 stories up, has a viewing platform which we decided to visit. Note that, like most of Western Europe, but unlike the USA, the ground floor of Polish buildings is the parter or Floor 0. So, floor 30 is 30 floors up, not 29 as it would be if this building was in the USA.  

The lift was quick and efficient and the tower gave wonderful views from the top - not as high as the Empire State Building, but still a great way to get an overview of Warsaw. 

Which station?

We had bought a 24 hour public transport ticket on the MoBiLET app last evening as the train drew into Warsaw Gdanska, so we decided to catch the Metro to our planned visit. But first we had to find the metro station.

At each end of the gardens to the Palace of Culture and Science are the main line and metro stations. The former is called Warsaw Central, the latter Warsaw Centrum, these two stations with similar names are 1,000 meters apart and naturally we went first to the wrong one, then had to walk back the way we came to the one we wanted. They obviously weren't planned to connect, but we did find it once we noted our error.

Haydn is impressed by the updates in 10 second intervals!

Woodrow Wilson Square

We caught the M1 metro and travelled out to Plac Wilsona - it turns out that this is named for non-other than the American President Woodrow Wilson, who worked closely with Poland and other nations to develop the League of Nations after the First World War. 

We walked into the park called Park Stefana Żeromskiego and found the Fort called Fort Sokolnickiego.

From here we walked along and discovered the statue to the Polish-Americans who gave their lives in both wars 

and the statue of Captain Witold Pilecki another hero in a different kind of war, known as the only person who volunteered to enter Auschwitz, Pilecki provided evidence of what was going on there and submitted a 100 page report - he later fought in the Warsaw Uprising, 1944.

Citadel

We next came to the statue of General Stanisława Maczka and those who fought with the allies in the Second World War. 

Beyond that we came to the citadel.

The Citadel in Warsaw is, in layout and style, a match for the Citadel in Copenhagen - the key differences being Copenhagen's Citadel was a museum and very tourist friendly, this is a working site and there are warnings in four languages to beware as the area is patrolled by Army members. 

Royal Mile

Leaving the citadel, we walked on until we came to the main road and caught the Bus 116 to the area of the Royal Palace and the, so called, Royal Mile - which has so much of Warsaw's cultural heritage. 

Starting with Castle Square we went along past the monuments to the International supporters of Poland's attempt to releas itself from Tzarist, Russian, government in 1830. An interesting period of history which was unknown to me. Read more here.

Following this we came to the statue of Adam Mickiewicz the poet, artist, dramatist and translator. 

Next was the Church of the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady, sometimes referred to as St. Mary's. Polish culture, and its commitment to Catholicism, can seem very alien to a UK based Catholic. Most Polish churches are glitzy and highly decorated, unlike Welsh Catholicism with its history of refugees from Ireland, Italy and Poland making do with the bare minimum in building its churches. This was highly noticeable there. I remember a friend who used to judge churches by their 'tat' quotient (in the UK English sense of tat as tasteless jewellery or ornaments - e.g. the place was decorated with all manner of gaudy tat). As in how much extraneous additional items had been added over time to the core items of a church. This church was close to 100% on that tat ratio. There are to many photos to share, but they can be found of Flickr starting here

Next to the Church was the Presidential Palace, which is impressive enough, but now also hosts the memorial to the recent president (Lech Kaczyński) who with his family and entourage died in the plane crash in 2010. 

River Vistula

We walked past Warsaw University campus and saw its absolutely amazing Library building. 

From here it was one block to the Vistula, Warsaw's river. It is wide and busy, with lots of people on either bank. There is lots of construction too, as a new bridge is built across the river.

We next emerged onto one of the old bridges which took us above river level and up to the back of the Royal Palace. 

Back to Castle Square

We visited the statue of King Sigismund III Vasa, who in 1576 moved the capital of Poland from Kraków to Warsaw. 

We then came upon the statue of Jan Kiliński, a cobbler who commanded the Warsaw Uprising of 1794 against the Russian garrison stationed in the City.

Old Town Market Square

Even though by now the temperature was in the high 80F we decided it was worth continuing to explore the city, even though we were hot and sticky (my mother would have said, slightly moist, but used that as a euphemism). We walked on to the amazing Old Town Market Square, which is busy and exceptionally pretty.

Barbican

From the old city we went to the old fortifications, called the Barbican - the thick walls show that this city has been under threat from larger powers for centuries, be it the Ottomans, the Russians or the Germans, even the Swedes on one occasion, but in the immortal words of Dafydd Iwan, the Poles like the Welsh are Yma o Hyd (We're Still Here). I wonder if this tenacity against larger powers is why so many Polish people have settled in Wales and remain there even at a time when Poland's economy is booming and the UKs is not?

The New City

Leaving the  fortifications we stopped for a refreshing coffee outside the Dominican Church at a coffee shop called To Lubię, we had a coffee each and I had a sparkling water and Drew a coke.

In the Dominican Church dedicated to St. Hyacinth we learnt about Warsaw uprising near the end of World War two and how Warsaw was serverly bombed by the German Air Force, which was nominally the government at the time, due to the large impact of the uprising. 

We saw more evidence of this in a Benedictine church of perpetual adoration which had been completely flattened and was not rebuilt until the mid 1950s.

The Franciscan Church or St. Francis had a similar fate; as the images inside show. There is no sign of it in today's church but it emphasises Poland's role in Central Europe and the way it changed it borders constantly over the last 1,000 years - something hard for people on an island to imagine, except perhaps when we remember that we Welsh call the areas to our East: Lloyger -  the Lost Lands! People from elsewhere call it Angleland.

Returning to the hotel

Two blocks further on at Konwicktorkawe we caught the 178 bus travelling 10 stops to Ronda ONZ, just a short walk from our hotel. 

Well I say a short walk, the crossing is long enough to be a short walk in itself, as the green men (no hats here) allow crossing of four cycle lanes, two tram tracks and six lanes of traffic. 

We got back to the hotel at 5pm another 8 hour day. Both of us with clear evidence of being out on such a sunny day! We had enjoyed ourselves and had seen much more of Warsaw and its history than I expected earlier in the day. 

Restaurant Hektor

We got back to the hotel and looked, on Google, for restaurants which, after last night's failure, we wanted to make sure was of a good standard. 

Our public transport ticket will run out 24 hours from our arrival at 8pm ish last night. (It was 15 zł and we used it four times at 4.40 zł each - 17.60 zł so a small saving of 2.60 zł (50p)). So it made sense for us to look in an area within a mile of the hotel, as even with the public transport we had already walked 9.2 miles today! 

We found a Polish Restaurant with good reviews an easy walk 800 meters, from the hotel called Restaurant Hektor

We ordered drinks Coke Light for Drew and a large bottle of sparking water – Woda Gazoem in the local lingo for me – the Coke came, but with a small bottle of water, so the waiter went back in for the large one. Later in the meal, between courses, I asked for another, this never appeared, even though I reminded them again at least once!

 

Having had a fail in eating Polish last night we were determined to do it right tonight, so Drew starter with Chłodnik Z Botwinki, a Cold Beet Soup with cucmber radish, chives, dill and a bolied egg. It was the most amazing colour purple, even the camara can't do justice to it - he loved it.

 

I opted for Pierogi Z Ziemniakami I Serem – Dumplings with potatoes and cheese. It is Friday, hence the need for non-meat food for me as part of my abstiance on Friday as a Catholic. I'd had Pierogi previously in Bismark, North Dakota, an area with a big Polish emigre population. There the dumplings had been fried, here they came in their natural form and were better for it, tangy and warm, they were so easy to eat. 

 

For main I had what was called in Polish (and is also called in Spanish) Dorada – This gilt-head Bream was cooked with lemon, fresh rosemary and oregano stuffed into the stomach cavity, giving a rich and delicate odour to the whole of the lovely fish. It was served with Młode Ziemniaki Z Koperkiem – New Potatoes with dill and Ogórek Kiszony – Pickled Cucumber. Dill seems to be the herb of choice in these parts.

Drew had Placeki Xiemniaczane – Potato Pancakes with onions served with sour cream (He had ordered Brigand’s Pancakes, the same pancakes but with beef golash over them! We have no idea where the confusion came from, but we think getting orders wrong is perhaps a Polish thing, as we weren't alone.

 

Drew had also ordered a side of bread – no bread, to be fair none of the missing items i.e. my water or his bread, appeared on the bill.

 

We then ordered an Espresso Doppio (double espresso) for the both of us. 

 

In the time we had had and eaten our meal the people sitting on the table beside us had had no food. The teenage member of the family even said to her mother perhaps they needed to order in English as they (i.e. we) had got food faster that way. But no, we had ordered our espresso when they, as the Victorians would say in a slightly different context – bolted. Gosh, then you saw the slightly lackadaisical waiters put on a turn of speed as they ran down the street after them and dragged them back. To be fair they hadn’t actually eaten anything at this point, so weren’t leaving without paying, just leaving while their food was on order.

Meanwhile I’d seen our espressos on the counter for some time before the bolting, so went in and served them myself – the manager was shouting, in English for my benefit, "bloody Polish people, no patience, I will tell them this is not a fast-food joint!!"

 

The boulters returned and, as if by magic, had food in a few minutes, while I took the opportunity to go back into the restaurant and pay, as it didn’t look likely the bill was going to come out at any time in the next decade.

Preparation for tomorrow

We have an early train tomorrow and with the confusion between Central and Centrum earlier in the day we decided to walk back via Warsaw Central, to scope our walk - there is a busy dual carriageway between the hotel and the station.

We found where we needed to go and walked back to the hotel in just over 10 minutes. We got back to the hotel at 9pm and relaxed before bed at 10.30pm. A busy, a funny and a very enjoyable day.