24 Hours in Warsaw

We arrived to Warsaw, Poland at 11pm and quickly ubered to the Old Town's Castle Square to join up with Scott and Jeannette for a celebratory beer. 

We are spending the next 7 days traveling through Poland before we change countries.

Cheers! Let the trip begin!

After only two and a half hours of sleep, I woke up at 3:30am, not anywhere near rested, yet anxious to get outside and explore - because the birds were chirping and calling to me, as they do when the sky begins to lighten and prepare for dawn. Fortunately I was able to convince my body to get more sleep before going out for coffee and starting our day.

View of the Royal Castle from our window - at 3:54am

Walking the quiet, cobblestoned streets of Warsaw's Stare Miasto

Our apartment is in the yellow building facing Warsaw's Castle Square 

Starting with coffee at a cafe on an empty Nowy Świat, Warsaw's Royal Route

Up next on our itinerary was a 3 hour bike tour around the area near Warsaw's Old Town. We are visiting in July, Poland's rainiest month. However, it was an absolutely gorgeous day. Our guide kept saying how hot it was - the high was only 78 degrees.  I was in heaven!

After the World War II, not a building remained in Warsaw's Old Town. Everything was meticulously rebuilt by 1956, offering all the original charm and a bit of a fake Disney-esque sense of authenticity.

You won't visit Warsaw without hearing about one of its proudest moments, the Warsaw Uprising. With the end of the war in sight and the Soviets on the city's outskirts, the suppressed Polish resistance fought valliently for freedom. 

Warsaw Uprising Memorial

Our tour meandered two miles to the second tallest building in Poland, the Palace of Culture and Science.

The people of Poland don't really like the Palace of Culture and Science, gifted to them by Joseph Stalin. Our guide kept calling it the "monster".

During the war, Europe's largest Jewish community was forced to live within the crowded and miserable Warsaw ghetto. Nothing remains of the ghetto except for a few fragments of the 18km wall surrounding the 1.3 square miles. 

Gold strip in the sidewalk memorializing the boundary of the Warsaw Ghetto

The beautiful Royal Castle's gardens are peaceful and open to the public. We thoroughly enjoyed our relaxing and informative bike tour. 

Having built up an appetite, we headed down Nowy Świat (street) – the historic royal route that is now a boulevard lined with shops and cafes.  We sampled delicious Pizza By The Slice, sweets from A. Blikle (known for its traditional Polish cakes and pastries), and Piwpaw Beer Heaven's honey beer. 

Closed to traffic on summer weekends, there is plenty of room to stroll along  Warsaw's Royal Route 

Piwpaw Beer Heaven is a one of a kind, ultimate destination for beer lovers with almost 100 piwo beers on tap and 200 more in the fridge. 

A must-try classic paczki doughnut, sprinkled with candied orange peel and filled with traditional rose-flavored jelly, from A. Blikle, a popular pastry shop (across from Pizza By Slice)

Also along Nowy Świat, the Church of the Holy Cross has survived wars, occupations, and destruction. A symbol of resilience, it is best known for being the eternal resting place of a piece of Poland's most famous citizen, composer Chopin.

It only takes a minute to pop into the Church of the Holy Cross to satisfy your curiosity - in the first column on the left is the resting place of Chopin's heart

We barely made it back to the apartment in time to crash and burn, exhausted from our jetlag. After a quick catnap, we woke up rejuvenated.  "That felt good," Jeannette said, ready to go back out again.

Across the way from our apartment is St. Anne's Church, one of Warsaw's oldest and most beautiful churches.  Climbing to the top of St Anne's Church tower, 150 steps up rewards you with the best view over Castle Square and the Old Town. 

St. Anne's Church tower offers one of the best views in Warsaw

Walking back down the tower steps, Jeannette commented that going down is so much easier. Immediately after she said it, I heard a commotion behind me. "Did you just trip?!" I confirmed with Jeannette. Yes, lol, her perfectly-timed stumble had me laughing so hard.

For dinner, we ate at nearby Pyzy Flaki Gorące. Pyzy are like dumplings. Mine were  filled with with mince meat and covered with bacon and onions - uniquely served in a mason jar.

The filling and deliciously affordable Pyzy Flaki Gorące was a great find!

After dinner we walked to nearby Multimedia Fountain Park for its evening water show depicting the history of Warsaw and its legends onto a curtain of water and choreographed columns of water. The free show takes place every Friday and Saturday from May through September.

Similar to Disney's World of Color, Warsaw's water show dances to music and laser lights

To admire the water spectacle, it is best to sit on the grassy slope.  Holy cow, where were all these people hiding all day?!

I was in my happy place today, living my best life in Europe. So far Poland has been the perfect taste of what I love most about travel, esp. in Europe.  Except for the bike tour, we spent all our of brief visit in Warsaw within 10-15 minutes (walking) of the Old Town. With more time in Warsaw we probably would have gone to one of the most popular museums: The Museum of the Uprising or The Polin (Jewish history) Museum.