Strolling around Old Town Warsaw

Warsaw was a revelation to me.

First, I visited it (if a short walk around and a night in Airbnb may be called a visit) in September 2022 on the way to my first HiveFest in Amsterdam. I briefly googled where to go and didn't find anything that I'd recall.

I remember a Soviet-style buildings near the Central Station (which I would rather not see), and a really nice park Ujazdow Park with wide shady alleys, beautiful lakes and charming old architecture. Oh, and tasty ice cream called lody. 😊

After all, that was my first time when I escaped from the war but it was still vivid in my mind. All the time. Constantly. I remember how I was sitting on the cold bench at the bus station waiting for my bus to Kyiv for 4 hours. All this peaceful life seemed not real to me. I just didn't want anything else, I wanted to go home. And it was probably the biggest cognitive dissonance in my life when I witnessed a whole different peaceful carefree civilian life while the most terrible things were happening quite close, still in Europe. But it is a bit irrelevant.

2 years later, I got a second chance to get to know Warsaw better. And I didn't miss it because I was not on my own this time, my loved ones were with me, and I always do my best for them.

We had 2 incomplete days in Warsaw since we were flying to Split from it. The day before the flight to Split and the day of returning from Split. I came across a great guide for 1 day in Warsaw, with all the itinerary including where to have breakfast, lunch and so on.

But everything went differently from the beginning. My daughter's bus and our train were a couple of hours late. Therefore, there was not much time left before departure. Besides, I'm not used to going sightseeing with a big backpack on my back dragging a suitcase on wheels. But still, the Old Town seemed the best place for spending a few hours, besides my daughter, my hubby and I were all starving! I hate myself when I am hungry (frankly, not just me).

Warsaw, here we are!

It was a WOW effect at first sight. Sooo beautiful!

And so crowded!

The war changed my attitude to travel completely. It destroyed the sense of control over the situation. I'm used to planning everything carefully, studying the route and history, looking for beautiful angles for photos. Tried to do and see as much as possible. If something didn't go according to plan I was very upset and sometimes the trip seemed ruined. When I saw something beautiful, but knew nothing about it, it seemed to me that I was walking blindly.

Now it's not like that anymore.

Actually, during the war I don't travel anywhere but HiveFest. At first, I had neither the energy nor the interest to plan anything. And I also realized that you can enjoy what you see just by strolling around with your eyes wide open. Wander the streets and find unexpected curiosities. It's so exciting - to study the inscriptions and details, and try to guess what it is? What was here before? Who lived or worked here? Compiling a story like a mosaic of what you already know and what you see in front of you plus your imagination. It is a new amazing experience.

So these are pictures taken on Sep 8th and 16th 2024 right before and after the HiveFest 9. I will combine these 2 days into one story.

The Old Town Warsaw is so much different from what I saw on my first brief visit. It is very harmonious and complete. Although in fact the old city is not that old. Fascists destroyed it several times during the World War II. Just like the Rashists now in Ukraine, the Luftwaffe shelled residential areas and deliberately destroyed cultural heritage. And you know what? The Poles carefully rebuilt everything, and the result is truly impressive. Now the Warsaw Old Town is included in the UNESCO list "as an exceptional example of an almost complete restoration of the historical period between the 13th and 20th centuries".

Let's enjoy it!

This is the Royal Palace. The bus/tram station Stare Miasto is right here too. Very good starting point.

Warsaw Stadium.

Is he playing an Invisible Man? Or just a Mirror Man?

I find it amusing to view various statues and drawings that decorate buildings. The one above is a theater, I guess. And below is a pelican with small chicks. She covers them with her wings, I think it is their mother. The pelican is a symbol of self-sacrifice, mercy and love.

Beautiful arches next to the Church of St. Anne.

Approaching to the Warsaw Barbican.

Nearby streets are like directly from the old movie. Actually, the feeling of being in the movie hasn't left me all day.

You may notice that the old town is not flat. It sits on the hill but its streets run down to the Vistula River. BWT, the Polish name of the city of Warszawa derives from Wars and Sawa, two characters from the legend. Their monument stands on the hillside nearby. I didn't photograph it as it is ... too contemporary for these old quarters.😜

We will go there later. And now let's walk inside the walls...

And here is it, the main square, the heart of the old town.

The square is surrounded by the summer sites of numerous restaurants and souvenir shops.

Among this motley crowd, you can easily miss the monument to the Mermaid in the center of the square. I was very surprised by the fact that the Mermaid is the symbol of the city, which is on its coat of arms as well.

Or this Chess tournament. By the way, they played for money. My husband found it out while I was walking around the square with my camera, dragging my luggage on wheels. Sometimes I needed both hands to focus so I let go of the luggage for a few seconds. And sometimes it fell to the cobblestones, and once I got carried away and forgot it on the sidewalk. It was very funny. It's good to have my loved ones with me coz someone needs to watch me.😅

Wandering around Old Town on the second day, sometimes I got a feeling that I captured every house here. 😅 But still could stop it.

It was interesting to see advertisements of that time on the houses. These were drawings on the walls, very interesting. Depicting craftsmen, or animals real and imaginary, like unicordns, also fancy plants.