Hi,
For knowing ‘urban’ Poland so well, I have never visited its 2 biggest cities, Warsaw and Lódz respectively. As the capital of an increasingly impressive European state, I hear that Warsaw is being cleaned up and is becoming more upbeat every year. Nevertheless, considering its history with WWII bombardment, my question is: “Has enough of Warsaw been restored or at least authentically recreated to give the city an overall beautiful appearance?” I ask because I have seen gorgeous places in Poland like Krakow, Lublin, Torun, Gdansk and Poznan (I’ve been to Wroclaw too). I do not know whether Warsaw will keep me smiling or whether it is not really on par with the great tourist destinations I did visit already.
Otherwise, I have a very similar question for Lódz. I know very little about this city, other than this ‘Manchester of Poland’ is known for its industrial architecture. Again, compared to the likes of Krakow, Lublin, Torun, Gdansk and Poznan, do you personally think Lódz is anything worth going out of your way to see or ‘only if you are in the area’? Thanks for your opinions, which I welcome plenty of!
Comparing Lódz&Warsaw to Tourist Favorites like Krakow, Gdansk, Poznan..
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The only people I know who have been to Lodz are people whose familes immigrated from there to the United States. They found it satisfying. Many people immigrated from Lodz to Paterson, NJ, because both were the centers of the silk industry for their respective countries.
Lódz - prior to my trip to Poland last year, I emailed a student who is also a guide and asked about several places in Poland to visit. She was living/studying in Lódz, although not originally from there, and advised that there is not much for tourists in that city.
Warsaw - what an ugly city, particular the new stadium that can be seen from just about anywhere. Lots of Communist era buildings. The old town was re-created but nothing else. The sightseeing is spread out. Old town square is not the gathering place as it is in Wroclaw or Krakow or Poznan. The people are also not as warm and friendly as they are in the other 3 cities. Go to Warsaw for the sightseeing (particular the Uprising Museum) but not for beauty.
We had an entirely different take on Warsaw. People were lovely.
Had a number of conversations with people before watching a free Chopin concert in the park during the Summer.
Hotel staff were very helpfull.
As for the city itself, we loved how the old city was reconstructed from the rubble. We loved the historical aspect of rising from the ashes.
Unfortunately the communist did build many buildings and as I recall many were apartment buildings. You can see the same apartment building in Budapest or Warsaw. Same set of plans.
But I respect other opinions. We just saw it differently.
www.inyourpocket.com/poland/warsaw and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw
If you are interested in modern art then the museum in Lodz makes it well worth going out of your way to visit.
http://msl.org.pl/en/
It is one of the first museums of avant-garde art. They have the work of two key members of the Polish avant-garde: Kataryzna Kobro and Wladyslaw Strzeminski. I think their work is amazing, most of it is in Poland, you can see Strzeminski's work in Warsaw also. Here's one of her works in the Pompidou Centre.
http://www.worldvisitguide.com/oeuvre/photo_ME0000055385.html
The contemporary art museum in Manufactura is also very good.
We stayed at the hotel that is part of Manufactura, it was great with roof top pool, beautifully designed rooms, excellent breakfast and it was very cheap. We didn't want to leave.
Here's the link to the hotel in the old manchester manufacturing area:
http://www.vi-hotels.com/en/andels-lodz/
Also, a further bit of trivia about Lodz, it's one of David Lynch's favourite cities, he filmed Inland Empire there. See the article about him here:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117980530?refCatId=1443