Had an absolute blast in Poland and Norway in late August, early September. We had such a good time in Poland (our first stop) that we were afraid Norway was going to be a letdown. That didn’t happen. Two completely different cities visited; Warsaw, formerly communist and completely destroyed during WWII and Oslo, extremely wealthy due to the oil reserves they posses. In this post I’ll just cover Warsaw.
Warsaw was a last minute decision. Our original destination was Oslo and perhaps Helsinki Finland but the more we looked at things to do we felt we needed to diversify. Warsaw fit our flight options so off we went. This is our second time flying on SAS (Scandinavian Airlines). They run flight deals a couple times a year and you can snag a premium economy seat for a really good deal which is what we did. On our flight back to the states we flew business class, yasssss! We’ll discuss that in the Norway post.
The cost of things in Warsaw are CHEAP. We stayed at a Marriott Luxury Collection Hotel and we were upgraded to a one-bedroom suite. It was fabulous. We had an entry foyer with a half bath, a living area, bedroom, dressing area, and marble bath complete with a bidet. They even welcomed us with a handwritten letter and macaroons. I highly recommend the Bristol Hotel.
We did three main things while we were in Warsaw; a cultural food tour, Auschwitz Concentration Camp, and Wilanow Palace.
I have given a few teaser photos of our food tour but here is the full review. I thought we were going on a group food tour but I guess I wasn’t paying attention and booked a private food tour with Mona. You can see Mona below in the green overcoat/kimono.
Our first stop on the food tour was for pierogis stuffed with mushrooms and sauerkraut, ground beef stuffed pierogis and cottage cheese, onion, and potato stuffed pierogis. Adam and I’s favorite was the mushroom and sauerkraut. It was soooooo good. I could’ve eaten 20 of them but then I wouldn’t have been able to finish the tour. We ate a lot of food! Next stop was ice cream. I got a mascarpone cone and Adam got a cup of raspberry cheesecake. The mascarpone was the clear winner. Tasted just like home! Next, we stopped at Bar Mlecznys (Mile Bar), a Polish cafeteria which during the Communist era provided government-subsidized traditional Polish cuisine at low cost. The name comes from cheese cutlets, which were often sold when meat was rare.
After the fall of the communist system and the end of the centrally planned economy the majority of milk bars went bankrupt, as they were superseded by regular restaurants. However, some of them were preserved as relics of the communist era welfare state to support the poorer members of Polish society.
In the early 2010s, milk bars began to make a comeback. They became small, inexpensive restaurants that took advantage of Polish People’s Republic nostalgia while providing good quality food and customer service. Due to their good locations, milk bars often fall victim to gentrification and are defended by activist groups. Today milk bars are privately owned, but partly subsidized by the state, which allows it to offer low prices (source, Wikipedia).
At Milk Bar we tried Chłodnik, a summertime only cold soup with beet root, boiled egg, and dill. Oddly enough, it tasted kind of like tzatziki but the more you ate it the more the beet flavor came out…um, no thank you. Then we tried pink Polish potato dumplings, Silesian kluski, with ground beef and duck meat on top. Tasty. And finally, crepes with a cream cheese filling and they were filling! We still had more stops after this…oh boy. Next we went to Zapiexy Luxusowe for Zapiekanka, Polish street food consisting of french bread with a mushroom spread and cheese melted on top. They serve ketchup on the side but that was totally unnecessary! We also tried a local lemon soda. Then we went to Cukiernia Pawłowicz for Polish doughnuts (Paczki). Polish people love their doughnuts. Dunkin Doughnuts has tried and failed to enter the market in Poland. Polish doughnuts don’t have a hole and are stuffed with a fruit type filling. We tried the rose flavored Paczki, well Adam did. I had to get mine to go, too stuffed, but I still had room to finish the day with a vodka tasting. So our final stop was for a flavored vodka tasting. The shots were approximately $2 a piece. That could dangerous quickly! I tried the raspberry and hot sauce flavor and Adam had plum. It was a perfect way to end our food tour.
The next day we went to Krakow to tour the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. The day started with a train ride at 5:30 AM. The train took about 3 hours to Krakow and then from there around one hour to Auschwitz. But it was so worth it, very moving and absolutely tragic. We heard stories of how some people escaped (non prisoners who worked in the camp smuggled some people out, a group of men stole SS uniforms and a car and escaped). The physical and mental abuse afflicted on these people was horrific. The people were starved and the Germans would put sand in the bottom of their water and vegetable soup. They were used as science experiments. In addition to Jews, Auschwitz contained Slavic people (considered sub-human), Polish people, gypsies, people with disabilities, Russians and many more. You weren’t allowed to take pictures but there was tons and tons of human hair that was saved. They shaved everyone’s head at the camp when they arrived and shaved their heads after they died in the gas chambers. I read after the fact the hair was used to make socks for submarine crews and to manufacture felt stockings for railroad workers. The hair was also used to make ignition mechanisms in bombs, ropes and cords for ships, and stuffing for mattresses.
Our tour ended at Birkenau (Auschwitz II). The majority, probably about 90%, of the victims of Auschwitz Concentration Camp died in Birkenau. This means approximately a million people. The majority, more than nine out of every ten, were Jews. Our tour guide told a story of a baby born to a Jewish woman who was fed to the rats (who were as big as cats) by one of the General’s wives.
In Auschwitz all of the gas chambers were destroyed. There were 3 million Jews in Poland before the Nazis took over. Just 10% of Poland’s Jewish population survived.
Our last day in Warsaw we went to Wilanów Palace. It was built for king John III Sobieski in the last quarter of the 17th century and later was enlarged by other owners. The reason we chose this palace is because it survived WWII. Today, it is still missing artifacts from German and Russian looting during WWII.
I would describe traditional Polish food as “homey”. But, they had some great modern restaurants and cocktail bars with wonderful bartenders. The bartenders were so generous and offered us so many extra tastings. With the average price of a craft cocktail at $10 USD it was quite the bargain. Let me address the “Lord’s Skin” candy (Pańska skórka). It is sold at cemeteries on All Saints Day but I am sure you are wondering what it tastes like. It tasted like vanilla cake icing. Surprised?!
We were really surprised by how much we liked Poland. Most people spoke English, it was very safe, and so affordable. I would love to go back soon but we have lots of other countries to check off the list. My review for Oslo, Norway is coming soon.
Spotswood House 
New ideas for the next remodel?
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