Woolly says – I woke up to a slightly grey sky with a very cold wind which was nothing to do with me! We had arrived in Warsaw, Poland at teatime the day before and having settled in we headed for food and an early night, today we needed to start our discoveries.
Warsaw is the capital city of Poland, Warsaw standing on the river Vistula in east-central Poland. The city can trace its origins to a small fishing town in Masovia, rising to prominence in the late 16th century, when Sigismund III decided to move the Polish capital and his royal court from Kraków. Warsaw was bombed and besieged at the start of World War II in 1939 much of the city was destroyed and its diverse population decimated by the Ghetto Uprising in 1943, the general Warsaw Uprising in 1944 and systematic razing.
As we set off in the biting conditions I looked around at the mix of modern and much older properties that lined the streets, there was so much to take in. Our route took us through the Saxon Gardens a 15.5 hectare public garden and the oldest public park in the city. Founded in the late 17th century, it was opened to the public in 1727. Hundreds of trees had started to turn colour and in a week or so the ground would be littered with leaves. We arrived at a group of sandstone statues which had been removed from Saint Petersburg in 1794 and placed in the Summer Garden. Originally there were 70 but by 1797 there were only 37 sculptures left, only 20 of them have been preserved until now. Four of these sculptures were completely destroyed during the blowing up of the Saxon Palace in 1944, but they were later reconstructed.
A wonderful fountain gushed out water behind which we could just see a flickering flame, I raced over to investigate and found the tomb of the lost solider.
Arriving in the old town I was immediately impressed with the architecture which dated back to the 14th century, now a tourist hub it had been nearly totally destroyed in WWII until the renovation work had been started and boy what an amazing job they had done.
A lovely statue surrounded by an incredible ironwork fence caught my eye.
A few feet further on and we found a most impressive yellow coloured church with a separate bell tower, Jo headed straight for the door, and I was right on her heels.
St. Anne’s Church is a Neoclassical church and is one of the oldest buildings in the city having survived all bombs and war efforts. It has seen many reconstructions resulting in its present-day appearance, unchanged since 1788. Currently it is the main church parish of the academic community in Warsaw. The interior was stunning, I stood for a while just trying to absorb the ceiling and walls before turning to look at the organ in the balcony above which was incredible.
Finally dragging ourselves way we continued further into the old town itself, passing the royal palace and saying hi to the statue in the centre of the square, Sigismund’s Column was erected in 1644 built to commemorate King Sigismund III Vasa, who in 1596 had moved Poland’s capital from Kraków to Warsaw.
Onwards we went moving further into the old town, every building was worth looking at and so many churches we barely knew which way to look.
St John’s Archcathedral had been constructed in the 14th centre, but the war had razed it to the ground, it wasn’t the prettiest of the religious buildings but inside was quiet and dimly lit. The modern mosaic stained glass was lovely, and I took my time looking at all of the wall memorials that it displayed.
A few feet on from St John’s was the centre square of the Old Town, Rynek Starego Miasta, restaurant tables lined the area and having taken a quick look at the prices we moved swiftly on but not before taking a picture of the statue in its centre.
We followed the cobbled streets round and found a fort like building, The Warsaw Barbican is one of few remaining relics of the complex network of historic fortifications that once encircled Warsaw. Erected in 1540 in place of an older gate to protect Nowomiejska Street it was designed by Jan Baptist an Italian Renaissance architect who lived and worked in the Mazowsze region of 16th century Poland and was instrumental in the redesign of the 14th-century city walls, which by that time had fallen into disrepair.
Passing the statue of Jan Kiliński (1760 to 1819) who was colonel of the Kościuszko Uprising, participant in the uprising plots, a member of the Warsaw City Council from 1791 and a diarist. We decided to take a break and have some food before the next part of the day.
With rain having started and the women freezing in the wind we decided to hop on the hop on hop off tourist bus. We rarely do these but should as we got to see so much more of the city with short and easy to take in commentary, the only downside were the dirty windows, so we apologise for the pictures.
It took us all over the city through the former Jewish Ghetto’s, across the river, past palaces and passing buildings that still showed damage from the war.
Finally dropping us off at the incredible building that housed the museum of culture and science just in time for a drink at the Hard Rock Café where Jo and I spent our time admiring the brilliant display of memorabilia that was on offer.
Exhaustion had set in, and it was all I could do to eat my tea and head back to the digs for a night of rest before seeing more tomorrow.