An autumn weekend in Warsaw
Thanks to Alexandra Jordan, Specialist Nurse (Travel Health) The National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) London, for sharing her Polish sojourn with us.
“I’ve won a competition at work and the prize is a weekend at the Warsaw Hilton in Poland. Would you like to come?” When Elizabeth’s invitation came through, it wasn’t hard to accept. Knowing the Finance Manager of a well known international hotel chain has certain advantages!
Just a two-and-a- half hour flight from London Gatwick and 30 minutes by taxi from the Frederic Chopin Airport, Warsaw is eminently accessible. Not surprisingly the hotel was a real winner – the reception area’s high ceilings, dramatic lighting and marble floors; the bedrooms a statement in modern luxury and the restaurant the purveyor of the ultimate in splendid food at all times.
The history of the city goes back perhaps as far as the ninth century and the name Warszowa is documented from 1281. The Barbican, where the old and new towns meet, and the city walls that lead from it date from 1548.
Bearing the brunt of war
Most of the Old Town was completely destroyed during World War II. The re-building project started soon after and continued right up until 1962. The results are a realistic re-construction of the original city, but totally unbelievable when compared to pictures of the post-war destruction.
The Royal Castle, where Polish royalty lived as far back as the 14th century, was completely rebuilt from a pile of rubble between 1971 and 1984. During reconstruction furniture and artefacts, and even pieces of the building’s interior, poured in from exiled Poles around the world where they had been secreted away. The opulence must be seen to be believed!
We visited a little restaurant in this part of town to try out the Polish speciality of pierogi; little dough pockets that contain all sorts of savoury and sweet fillings. A treat not to be missed!
Memorials to wartime suffering throughout the city
Possibly the best known memorial commemorates the Warsaw Uprising of the summer of 1944. After five years of German occupation, the underground movement recaptured large areas of the city, but it was a short-lived victory. The Uprising was crushed and over 20,000 Polish troops and 150,000 civilians were lost.
The Uprising Museum in a former power station is filled with interactive displays, video footage, personal accounts read out with the noise of machine guns and Stukka dive bombers booming through speakers. We felt somewhat overwhelmed, but we came away with a much better understanding of what it was like to live during the period and knowing we will remember the images for a very long time to come. It was deeply moving.
Our other enduring impression of wartime Warsaw was the experience of the Jews who were interred in the Warsaw Ghetto from 1940. Covering 18 kilometres and enclosing 73 out of 1,800 streets, at its height the ghetto contained 380,000 people. In 1941, 100,000 died of starvation and in 1942 a policy of annihilation began with a total of 265,000 people sent to the gas chambers at Treblinka.
The Palace of Culture and Science was built by Stalin after WWII as a thank you to the people of Warsaw. Inside it is a maze of parquet-floored corridors, magnificent brass chandeliers and myriad conference rooms and offices – an ideal film set for a spy movie! Soaring 231 metres above the city, for a few zlotys you can visit enjoy 360° views from the 30th floor, including the river Wisla and the red roofs of the Old Town.
Renewal and regeneration
Space permits only a mention of other highlights – the house where Marie Curie was born, a reconstruction of Chopin’s salon, our Sunday afternoon promenade down the wide and fashionable Krakowskie Przedmie_cie, a mini tour of the New Town or the statue of a bear wiggling his bottom in the air! But that leaves you with much more to discover for yourself.
Warsaw is a very attractive city and the trees in the many parks put on a good display of autumn colours. It has a varied and enduring history, the most well-known of which is a dark horrific chapter in the relatively recent past. However, Warsaw appears to be gradually coming to terms with its legacy and is now definitely on the path to renewal and regeneration.
You should go to be educated, entertained, surprised, but above all to help the people of Warsaw along that path to a brighter future. Highly recommended!