POLAND: SLEEPING AND EATING IN WARSAW

June 26-28, 2019

After flying to Warsaw from Krakow, we spent most of the first day at Treblinka and then checked in to "Stone Steps Apartment," which acted as our base in Poland's capital city for the next two days.

The apartment is at one end of the charming Old Town Market Place, a square that is the oldest part of Old Town Warsaw. The square almost made it through the war, but immediately after the Warsaw Uprising, which began on August 1, 1944, and lasted 63 days, the Nazis completely decimated the city, systematically burning or blowing up every single structure in Warsaw, including private homes, churches, and historically significant buildings. By the time they were done, 85% of Warsaw's historic center was gone, along with 150,000 of the city's citizens who were killed in the suppression.

Old Town Market Place, with its roots in the late 13th century, was obliterated. The arrow below shows the location of Old Town Market Place:

Here is the square from a different angle.  (These photos are from information stands that are placed around the Old Town district of Warsaw.)

Eisenhower visiting Warsaw's Market Square.
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

These are photos of other areas of the city that our guide had:

Some believed the remains of the city should be left as a memory of the war and that the Polish capital should be relocated. However, in one of the most moving stories of post-war Europe, this city square and surrounding Old Town buildings were meticulously rebuilt by locals during a five-year period ending in 1952. They salvaged what they could from the rubble and used 22 historical city landscapes painted by Italian artist Bernardo Bellotto in the late 1700s and other historical documents and photographs to reconstruct their beloved Warsaw. While many were employed in the reconstruction, it is said that the entire population of the city, and indeed of the country, contributed labor and materials.

And how was this massive building project funded? The sole source of financing was donations made by mostly Polish people to the Social Fund for the Rebuilding of the Capital (SFOS). In 1980, Warsaw's Old Town was selected to be part of UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage List.

Our view from the front steps of our apartment was this:

Compare that photo to this one from 1945. The tallest three-window level on the left of the above picture is the re-creation of the three-window level below.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

On our second morning in Warsaw, Bob took this photo:

Here's my panoramic shot of the square:

Warsaw is indeed an extraordinary city with extraordinary people.

Well, as you can guess from the pop-up umbrellas sprinkled around the square, the ground level of the buildings is a mixture of restaurants and shops, and the upper levels are apartments and offices.

After some trouble connecting with the landlord, we finally got the key and found the right address. I could hardly believe this was where we got to live for the next few days!

Our apartment, up a flight of stairs, matched the building's exterior: beautiful and well-maintained.

The view from our bedroom window was of a side street that leads to the central square of Old Town:

Why, yes, that is a Polish pottery shop just across the sidewalk from our apartment.

I spent a fair amount of time in that shop before we left Warsaw. My purchases were sadly restricted because of lack of sufficient luggage space, but I did manage to bring several pieces home.

But I digress.

Everything about our accommodations was perfect--except the fact that our rooms were unbearably HOT. As I mentioned in my last post about our visit to Treblinka, it was a day of record-setting heat, with temperatures reaching almost 100° F--extremely unusual for this area of Poland.  Because it was so unusual, the apartment did not have air conditioning. There was an oscillating fan, but it was definitely not enough. At 9:45 PM, it was still 87° outside, and it felt at least that hot inside our apartment.

While the temperature did not drop below 80° until the early morning hours, the good news was that the temperature was almost 25° lower the following day, and our second night in the apartment was deliciously cool.

After we checked in and got ourselves settled, we headed out to find some dinner. Two of our criteria were that the restaurant be nearby and cool. Restauracja Romantyczna, one of the restaurants in the square, seemed to fit those requirements. (We asked the waiter for the coolest spot, and he took us to the bar in the basement.) Besides, it was rated #8 in Warsaw by Yelp.

It was a romantic setting (in spite of being in a bar). Fresh flowers graced not only the table, but my beet salad as well:

For my main dish, I enjoyed delicious pierogi filled with wild boar and venison:

. . . but Bob was not impressed by his venison carpaccio, rating it only a 3 out of 5 . . . 

. . . which was the same rating he gave his pork knuckle:

Oh well. Ice cream after dinner at a little shop nearby helped satisfy our needs. In fact, there was ice cream after just about every meal we had in Warsaw. (We had a lot of needs to satisfy.) Here is a sampling of the dozens of ice cream shops we saw:

Besides ice cream, another notable landmark outside our apartment in the city square was this mermaid statue.  You would never confuse the Mermaid of Poland with Copenhagen's Little Mermaid, although one legend says they are sisters who got separated in the Baltic Sea.

According to Wikipedia, "There are several legends about the mermaid. The city's literature and tour guides say the mermaid decided to stay after stopping on a riverbank near the Old Town. Fishermen noticed something was creating waves, tangling nets, and releasing their fish. They planned to trap the animal, then heard her singing and fell in love. A rich merchant trapped and imprisoned the mermaid. Hearing her cries, the fishermen rescued her. Ever since the mermaid, armed with a sword and a shield, has been ready to help protect the city and its residents."

Don't mess with this lady. She'll take your head off.

On our first full day in Warsaw, our guide took us to eat lunch at a restaurant that a Polish friend in the States recommended: Restauracja Zapiecek. It was so good that we ended up eating dinner there as well.

Here we are in the restaurant with our stellar guide, Pawel--truly one of the best guides we've ever had. More on him in future posts.


Here is a view of the restaurant's interior.

How could we not get what "our Grandmothers recommend"?


Both Pawel and I ordered #4. Pawel instructed me to put a dollop of cream cheese on each pierogi. These fruit-filled pierogi are considered a main course in Poland, but for me it was like being allowed to have dessert for lunch. It was outstanding, and I'm sure the taste was enhanced by the beautiful Polish pottery the pierogi were served on.

Bob had about six different kids of savory pierogi. The best were the ones filled with mushrooms and some others filled with local cheeses.

Bob also ordered white sausage--denser and more flavorful than the German weisswurst.

The food was so good that we couldn't stop talking about it. By dinner, we were ready for a second visit and another go at the menu.  This time I ordered potato pancakes smothered in mushroom sauce, a dish I had several times in Poland and which never disappointed.  At Restauracja Zapiecek, however, this dish was beyond all the others. It was incredible. In my notes I gave it a 10+.

I didn't write down a rating for Bob's pork ribs. I'm sure they were good, but there's no way they were as good as my dish.

Later in the afternoon Pawel also took us to Cukierna Pawlowicz, a donut shop. A donut shop, I thought. Huh. Not what I associate with Poland. How good could it be?

Actually, pretty darn good.

Based on Pawel's recommendation, we had a rose jam-filled donut and a wild blueberry-filled donut. They far exceeded our expectations. It didn't hurt that they were so fresh that they were still warm. Pawel said there are often lines a block long at this shop.

This donut shop is a place we likely would not have found on our own. Having a guide who understood our love of good food made Warsaw an even more fun destination for us.

READING:

I think my love and admiration for Poland began fifteen years ago when I read Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw.  At 635 pages, it is a commitment, but Norman Davies has written an amazing history of one of the most anguishing events in modern history, the courageous, desperate, and ultimately disastrously unsuccessful attempt by the Polish underground to overthrow the Nazis, who had Warsaw in their horrible claws. 

Davis begins by giving critical background about the four key populations involved: the Allies, the German occupiers,  the Russians, and, of course, the Polish people. Part two covers, day by day, the 63 days of the uprising and the crushing response, including the shameful failure of the Allies and the Russians to fulfill their promises of aid, which cleared the way for the subsequent takeover of Poland by the Soviet Union. The final section describes in detail Hitler's merciless revenge after the rebels were defeated.

This is a book that will make you question your view of the morality of war, and specifically of some of our own country's choices in World War II, but it is also a tribute to a people who risked everything for freedom. When they lost everything, the few who were left ultimately rose again to rebuild their beautiful country.