We had originally planned to visit Poland back in 2022 as part of our Finland trip, but had to change our plans due to covid restrictions. With the geopolitical situation in that part of the world, we decided to go ahead and visit Poland and the Baltic countries this year while it is still relatively safe and stable, and also to check off few more countries in Europe on our bucket list.
10D9N in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia & Estonia
25 May 2024 (Sat): Gdańsk - Warsaw
After spending a day in Gdansk, it was time to continue backpacking (literally) to the next city. It was an early start for us. Checked out of our hotel at 7.30am and it was nice to see the main street completely empty, what a contrast from the day before!
Walked 15 minutes to the train station. It was Saturday morning and the city was still asleep.
Arrived at the Gdansk Glowny railway station at 7.45am with about 25 minutes to spare before our train departure. The train station was clean and easy to navigate with screens clearly showing which platform each train was departing from.
There were quite a lot of passengers waiting on the platform but we were able to find a place to sit. The train arrived on time at 8.12am.
The train departed on time at 8.15am and we found our seats easily. The train was clean and quiet.
The journey from Gdansk Glowny to Warsaw Central took 2.5 hours. We bought 2nd class tickets and the seats were comfortable. There were racks to put luggages on both ends of the cabin but we were able to place our backpacks on the rack above us. There were power ports for each seat, which came in handy as I was draining my phone's battery editing our Antarctica videos during the journey. The scenery along the way was all farm lands.
We booked our PKP intercity train tickets from Gdansk to Warsaw online on Apr 29 (about a month before) when the schedule opened so we were able to get it at a good price of PLN 99.40 ($25) for 2. The train conductor came by to check the tickets about 30 minutes into our journey into our journey and it was super easy. I downloaded the PKP app and was able to just show and scan the QR code.
Arrived Warsaw Central station on time at 11.30am. Glad our 1st train ride in Poland went smoothly.
Walked about 15 minutes from the train station to our hotel. Google said 5 minutes but we spent 10 minutes navigating the underground train station to figure out where we were going.
Made it to our hotel - Intercontinental Warsaw at 11.45am and glad we were able to check in early. Redeemed this stay using my IHG credit card Free Night Award.
We were assigned the king classic high floor room at 32nd floor.
Good view of Warsaw from our room!
After freshening up and changing our outfit for the hot weather, it was time to get out and explore Warsaw. Our first stop was conveniently across the street from our hotel.
Palace of Culture & Science. This building is a great example of Stalinist architecture...a gift from Stalin to the Soviet people.
Spot the sun halo? Did we bring it from Antarctica to Poland?
European city vibes and the Roman Catholic Church of the Visitants. As much as I love sunny days and blue skies for photos, the weather was actually hotter than we expected for end of May.
Wanted to visit the Warsaw University Library Garden, the largest rooftop garden in Europe, but someone reserved it for a private party. This building looks very 'green'.
St. Anne's Church is the oldest church in Warsaw and one of the few that survived WW2. The church is home to a number of important works of art, including a 14th-century sculpture of the Virgin Mary and a 17th-century painting of St. Anne.
Warsaw Old Town Square, Sigismund's Column, and the Royal Castle.
Royal Castle of Warsaw
The Swiderki ice cream was perfect for the hot weather. Also did some shopping here.
St. John's Baptist Cathedral. We saw the choir practicing.
Warsaw Barbican for cool medieval photo.
Cute buildings around Warsaw Old Town Market Place
Decided to have late lunch/early dinner at Pod Jarzebina in the Old Town marketplace.
Ordered the Ksiazece IPA, Ksiazece Red Lager, Rural dumplings with potato and bacon, Sour rye soup in bread with sausage, egg and horseradish, and Apple pie with ice-cream. The food was ok but not as good as the one we had in Gdansk. Total cost for this meal was PLN 147 ($38).
Walked about 35 minutes from Old Town back to our hotel. Walked through Saxon garden and there was an event in the park that day. Saw a brass band performing Mamma Mia as we walked by.
Made it back to the hotel at 5.30pm and it was time to chill for the rest of the evening. Went upstairs to check out the swimming pool and it was busy. The view is similar to the one from our room.
Also checked out the gym which was above the swimming pool. It was very well-equipped.
Views of Warsaw from the hotel. We could even see Warsaw Old Town.
Night view of Warsaw from our room. We were lucky with the good weather during the day as it started raining heavily at night. That's a wrap for Warsaw. We've got an early start the next day.
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