Warsaw - Day 1, 22 May 25

 Hi all

Yesterday we left Krakow and took the train to Poland’s capital city, Warsaw. We had a pleasant journey and found our apartment easily. After the usual stocking up, we found a nice restaurant for dinner, Butchery and Wine, it was great and surprised us with the news it was a Michelin Star restaurant. Pretty reasonable prices nonetheless and as you can see we were surrounded by beef!

Today we explored the Warsaw old town, which unfortunately was almost completely destroyed in WWII, firstly in bombings when the Nazis invaded, then in 1944 in retaliation for the unsuccessful uprising by the Polish people. This was the St John’s Cathedral at the end of the war, most of the old town looked the same.

In one of the few good things to come out of the Soviet era occupation of the Country, amazingly the Cathedral, Castle and Old town were faithfully rebuilt on the original plans - remarkable. These photos of the Castle and the old market square, with its row of 17th century houses shows the outstanding work done between 1970 and 1984.



The restoration of the 17th Century Castle of King Stanislaw, with its many staterooms, apartments and even the original parliamentary sitting rooms. Is stunning in every detail. Including the King’s audience chamber and ballroom:




We walked through the old town market square and a few of the churches in the area, including the fully restored Mother church of Warsaw, St Johns.


The photo below is a house decorated in1950’s Soviet style mosaics - interesting.


We are staying in the more modern part of town, midway between the main station and the old town - about 25 minutes walk away. This morning we took the local bus to the old town, but after a traditional Polish lunch of Hunters Stew and Sour Rye Soup (both excellent) we walked back down what we discovered was the Royal mile back to the apartment - passing many fine building on the way, including the President’s Palace.


We had a bit of couch time watching Geelong play Footscray while we get ready for dinner. A lot more exploring to do in the next few days here. All our love from the Travellers ⛪️🧳🍷🏰🚂


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