Up by the riverside

And so to the capital. Regrettably, neither of the two friends I met up with last year are here this time, but we three make our own time. It's nice to be staying in a different part of the city to last year, airy with a fine view of the river, the parkland and the national stadium. A certain amount of party noise at the weekend though.

A few stops on the metro takes us to the New Town, a meticulous reconstruction after WWII damage, as it merges into the Old Town. There are some wonderful sculpted details on the houses. Emerging into the majestic Krakowskie Przedmiescie (Krak Przed perhaps for short), we get some free entertainment with folk dancing. Statues of various characters adorn the street as it marches south to the prime shopping location of Nowy Swiat.

To the west of here in the unashamedly modern district, people use the Palace of Culture ("a 1950s present from Moscow") as a photo opportunity. It lies on the edge of the former Jewish ghetto, which housed nearly half a million people before they started being transported. The area was flattened in 1943 after the Jewish uprising; the rest of the city was almost obliterated the year after, in a more general uprising. It's remarkable that the synagogue in this quarter survives.

Back on home turf, I get into the unpretentious and slightly grubby corner of this neighbourhood. There's a final treat at an unlikely bar serving Czech beer, deep in the bowels of a railway bridge. Three days in Warsaw well spent.Read more