Warszawa & Berlin – Day 3

Published on 14 October 2023

On-On with Warsaw H3!

On my last day in Warszawa, I managed to be downstairs in time for breakfast in the hotel! Some breakfast elements—different kinds of sausages, cooked vegetables—must be typically Polish…

One more museum on the schedule today: the Stacja Muzeum, a train museum. Maybe it’s not as slick as the one in Schaerbeek, but the number of trains on display may even be bigger, and some definitely even cooler!

The main event of the day, however, was my run with the Warsaw Hash House Harriers. It was a small pack—there were just eight of us—and the markings were quite peculiar, to say the least… The trail was nice though—albeit rather short—and it led me to some parts of Warszawa I hadn’t seen yet.

After circle, I went back to the hotel for a shower and change, to head out again for dinner.

Tonight’s pick was Zapiecek, where I had some bigos and potato dumplings with cottage cheese. The bigos was not my favourite, I must admit, the sauerkraut taste was stronger than I expected…

My last beer stops in Poland were the very hip—think fancy cocktails and bouncers—Cuda na Kiju, and the infamous PiwPaw Beerheaven.

Warszawa & Berlin – Day 2

Published on 13 October 2023

Time for Some History…

Since I had to catch up on some sleep—working some night shifts, followed by an early arriving sleeper train will do that to you—I woke up just too late to have breakfast at the hotel. I was hoping they would have something at Ministerstwo Kawy—yes indeed, this translates as “Ministry of Coffee”, like in London—but I had to settle for a piece of pie with my coffee.

The plan was then to visit the Muzeum Życia w PRL (Life Under Communism Museum), but for some reason I couldn’t figure out, it was closed.

On to the Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego (Warsaw Uprising Museum) then!

For lunch I had somę pierogi and a glass of kompot at Wałek Warszawski. Quite a popular place apparently, since I had to queue for over twenty minutes! The pierogi were really nice though, so in the end, totally worth the wait.

After another coffee at Forum, my next stop was POLIN, the museum of the history of Polish Jews.

My last educational visit was at the Muzeum Marii Sklodowskiej Curie, in the house where she was actually born.

All of a sudden I was in a really nice and historical looking part of town, although everything looked so clean and fresh, I have to check how old it actually is…
(Edit: indeed, the “Old Town” has been rebuilt after WW II…)

In the old town I had some beer at Same Krafty and Same Krafty vis-à-vis.

For dinner I went to Zapiexy Luxusowe for, well, zapiekanka, a toasted open-face sandwich, which apparently is a popular kind of street food in Poland. I had the Chłopska zapiekanka, with—of course—cheese and mushrooms, and a topping of kielbasa sausage, bacon, and onion

Then it was of course time for more beer! On the menu for this evening we’re Hopito Chmielna, Hoppiness Beer & Food, and Chmielarnia Multitap. The last one was quite the experience: think bar in the basement of a sports hall crossed with an Indian restaurant… Still some great beers on tap though!

Warszawa & Berlin – Day 1

Published on 12 October 2023

Welcome to Warszawa!

My European Sleeper arrived in Berlin Hbf bang on time—even though the stewardess warned me it often arrives early—so I could stick to my schedule and go full Hobbit: have a second breakfast!

I actually saved most of my packaged train breakfast for later, so there was plenty of room to indulge in the breakfast buffet at the InterCityHotel Berlin Hauptbahnhof. More importantly, it provided me with a very comfortable ‘waiting room’, since my next train would be three hours later! I’ve spent enough time aimlessly wandering through the Berlin train station or just having fast food on previous trips, so having some comfortable seats, power, and clean toilets was nice for a change.

My next train was the Berlin-Warszawa Express, run by the Polish rail operator PKP Intercity. In a little over five hours it would take me to Poland’s capital Warsaw. At about 1160 km from Brussels, this also marks the furthest destination I’ve reached by train… so far!

The train was a bit of a special one: lots of 6-seater compartments, and for first class it was the only option. Not my favourite seating arrangement, when not travelling with people I know… However, since the booking system didn’t allow me to pick a specific seat, I booked first class anyway, so I would at least have slightly wider seats. And complementary snacks and drinks, apparently!

After finally arriving in Warszawa, I took a bus to the ibis budget Warszawa Centrum check-in. I booked the hotel when I was still hoping the Warsaw Beer Festival would be this week, hence the location slightly out of the centre of the city…

Bags dropped off, it was just a short and easy walk to Kawiarnia Fabryczna for some coffee.

My first beer in Poland was at Gorączka Złota. Not your typical craft beer bar, but a great start. And I managed the whole visit without a word of English being spoken! A very important phrase I looked up and memorised was “Mały, proszę” (small, please), otherwise I would have been drinking pints all night…

I had been told to check out the phenomenon of ‘milk bars’, so for dinner I went to Bar Mleczny Bambino. There I had my first taste of traditional Polish cuisine: gołąbki—stuffed cabbage leaves—and kluski leniwe—potato dumplings.