We saw Warsaw! – A Travel Escapade to Warsaw, Poland
We saw Warsaw! – A Travel Escapade to Warsaw, Poland, what started as a trivial game amongst friends turned out to be a great travel escapade to Warsaw, Poland. My colleagues and I were on a plane to Berlin, Germany to attend a seminar of some sort when one of them brought out the travel magazine resting in the front pocket of the seat and just blurted “I will randomly open this magazine and whichever random page I end up with will be the place we will spend our free weekend. Are you game?” We just went with the flow. He leafed through the magazine and stopped at a random page. Lo and behold, it was an article about an annual music festival that takes place in Warsaw every June. He closed the magazine, placed it back in the seat pocket, and said “We’re going to Warsaw this weekend.” And boy, we were glad that we did!
Three of us were sent to Berlin to attend a convention about world innovation and being IT practitioners, we were tasked to represent our company. The convention ran for three days and as a perk, our company gave us extra three days to go around the city. One of our colleagues, Mike, didn’t want to go around Berlin. He said that there is nothing to but the Berlin Wall Memorial so it’s just going to be a waste of three days. When my other colleague Bret played the magazine game, Mike became more excited about spending extra three days in Europe. As for me, I just went with the flow.
Prior to flying to Berlin, we had to apply for a Schengen visa. Even if the purpose of our travel was for business, the embassy still gave us the same requirements as those who applied for the regular tourist visa. If you are wondering what those requirements are, here is a list:
- A filled out Schengen visa application form
- Valid passport and copies of the front and back pages
- A couple of recent passport photos with white background
- Travel Insurance – It is best to get it from Schengen Travel, a more affordable and reliable insurance provider for Schengen Countries.
- Proof of Travel – flight booking, hotel booking, and travel itinerary. You may get a Flight Booking, Hotel Booking, and Travel Itinerary just to get a Schengen Visa without having to pay for the ticket, reservation, or tour packages.
- Personal Coverage Letter
- No Objection Letter – This may come in handy when applying for a Schengen Visa.
- Bank documents
Should you need assistance applying for a visa or securing a hotel or flight booking, click on this link and one of their representatives will gladly help you. We saw Warsaw! – A Travel Escapade to Warsaw, Poland
A Travel Escapade to Warsaw, Poland
We saw Warsaw! – A Travel Escapade to Warsaw, Poland
As soon as we settled in Berlin, we immediately bought tickets to Warsaw via AirBerlin. I think we paid $100 each for our round-trip, evening flight to Warsaw. We didn’t check out from our hotel in Berlin because we needed to go back for our return flight home. Plus, we didn’t want to bring all our stuff to Warsaw as we didn’t really know what to expect in the hostel we will stay in Warsaw.
I believe we arrived in Warsaw around 10pm and got us a taxi to our hostel, Okidoki. Mind you, my friend chose this hostel by virtue of its name. We didn’t even know if the location is accessible or if it is even safe. The taxi didn’t have a hard time finding the hostel which gave us the impression that it is a bit known. When we entered the hostel, it was like entering a whole new world. It was an artsy place with different themed rooms. We got The Hut room, a triple room with an ensuite bathroom. The room was actually too girly for us because it’s filled with floral paintings and wooden birds, but what the heck we were just glad that the place seemed safe.
I guess our adrenaline are still high that evening so we asked where we can hang for the night. The receptionist drew us a map to this bar called Ulubiona. As we were walking to the bar, we were imagining it to be a big place packed with people but it was quite the opposite. Ulubiona is like a hole-in-a-wall type of bar but we’re happy it served a wide range of beer and liquor. After a quick night out, we walked back to the hostel and called it a night.
For our only full day in Warsaw, we planned to see the Old Town of the city. It was quite a walk from Okidoki but the weather was fine that day so we didn’t mind a little exercise. As soon as we set foot in the Old Town, we felt nostalgic as if we were in the movie Somewhere in Time. I actually love the colourful old buildings that were really built beside one another. The feeling was so dreamlike; I felt like I was in a Hollywood studio.
We first visited the Royal Castle of Warsaw. It is a very large, terracotta colored palace that used to be the residence of the monarch of Poland. Now, this structure is a large museum that hosts guided tours for tourists like us who are curious to see where old monarchs live and what kind of lifestyle they had. We decided to take the guided tour and the first photo that greeted us was the Royal Castle’s ruins during WWII. The entire castle was destroyed which meant the castle we were in was just a reconstruction of the original one. The guide informed as though that most of the paintings and furniture are original because the locals hid these during the war.
After an hour and a half in the palace, we went to see the Old Town Observation Terrace. The observation deck is right by the entrance of the Old Town. If you cannot find it, you have to ask the locals where the Taras Widokowy is. It is an old tower with stone stairs of about 150 steps – yes wear rubber shoes – that will take you to the highest part of the Old Town. From there, we saw the panoramic view of Warsaw’s old part that somehow marries to the new part of the city. It is such a great contrast. I recommend you see it as well.
After visiting the deck, we walked inside the Old Town and stopped by Sigimund’s Tower and Sigismund’s Clock. We also noticed that there were several large churches within the Old Town which gave us the impression that Christianity was very strong in Warsaw during the ancient times. This was actually proof that this city was once part of the Roman Empire. Before ending our tour, we stopped by the park where we took a rest.
That night we went back to Ulubiona to celebrate our impromptu weekend getaway. We walked back to our hostel in the wee hours and got ready for our morning flight that same day. I guess it is fine to just be spontaneous once in a while and enjoy life’s surprises. Imagine if we didn’t embark on this journey, we wouldn’t have had a travel escapade to Warsaw, Poland.
We saw Warsaw! – A Travel Escapade to Warsaw, Poland