Craig left at 5am on Wednesday morning to head home and surprise his sister for her birthday, leaving me alone to explore Warsaw on Wednesday and Thursday morning. Craig chose a rather complicated route home consisting of 8 different connections- he missed one but thankfully made it home!
I got the bus into Warsaw city centre easily enough- quite a few of the buses we have gotten in Europe have been well labelled and have electronic screens indicating the next stop, much easier than getting a bus in the UK. I was pleasantly surprised by Warsaw, a few people we met in Slovakia described Warsaw as “just another city”, and Piotr also explained that much of Warsaw was destroyed in WWII, so it is not very old. So I didn’t have the highest of hopes, but I found Warsaw to be quite beautiful. I walked for about an hour before reaching the old town, which was apparently rebuilt after the war using original bricks etc. I stopped at Podwale 5 for lunch, a quiet place with chilled music and free wifi. The waitresses were really friendly but did struggle to translate the daily set lunch menu, but I opted for it anyway and enjoyed a tomato and lentil soup followed by a really yummy grilled chicken breast with couscous and salad. Really delicious and all for 25 zlotys (around £5) with a 0.5L beer too. After exploring the old town a little more I got the bus back and picked up some beer and dinner on the way, and settled in for a lonely wifi-free night. I admit I was quite nervous staying somewhere unfamiliar all by myself - hence the beer! I enjoyed Warsaw much more than i expected, however, it wasn’t quite the same without my travel buddy.
On the Thursday I pottered back into Warsaw to pick up a few bits and pieces and then got the bus to the airport to fly to Barcelona for my friend’s hen party. As a bridesmaid I have been helping plan this weekend for months so I was very excited! I landed late Thursday night and got a good nights sleep in a hostel before meeting the other hens on Friday. It was great to see some familiar faces from home, and meet some new faces before the wedding in October!
After the girls left on Sunday I stayed in Pension Aris for the Sunday night. I can recommend both this and Buba House for solo travellers in Barcelona. Pretty basic but very welcoming and I felt very safe the whole time (Pension Aris had a finger print scanner to get in!).
The excitement continued into the following week as on Monday I flew from Barcelona to Budapest where I would be reunited with Craig, and also my parents (yippeee) for 3 nights, which will be covered in the next blog post!
Things we discovered:
- Polish mosquitos are the worst!
- They enjoy wafers in Poland. Whole supermarket sections were devoted to differently shaped wafer for home baking.
- Almost everyone we met in Poland also has an English name that they introduce themselves with. Eg Piotr = Peter, Jurek = George, Kasia = Kate
Total joint spend: €1850
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