It’s nudging 3.30 on a December afternoon and Warsaw is already cloaked in icy darkness. The city’s two million inhabitants are long used to the challenges of a Polish winter, and go about their business nonchalantly, fur coats and hats pulled close; bodies braced against a bone-chilling northerly wind.
Although night falls early during the city’s long winter months, Warsaw’s shops and cafes glow with a December buzz, and the streets twinkle with a fanfare of Christmas lights. In this area of the city – Nowy Swiat, or literally, ‘New World’ – the tidy, thriving streets with their Neo-Classical facades look beautiful in the winter twilight. They manage to give away little of Warsaw’s turbulent past.
Turn back the clock a little way, however, and the picture is very different. As recently as 1988, the city was under communist rule and had suffered 50 years of destruction. At the start of World War Two the Nazis invaded Poland and there followed five years of occupation, during which the Jewish population was all but obliterated.
Over the course of the war a staggering 80 percent of Warsaw was reduced to rubble and the ill-planned construction that followed left the outskirts and parts of the centre scarred by an uncompromising, jumbled landscape of high-rise concrete.
The fate of the reconstructed Old Town was brighter, however; it was meticulously restored to its original 17th and 18th century appearance and is now Warsaw’s most attractive and remarkable area, and a World Heritage Site.
Other parts of the centre are also far removed from the concrete jungle evident in some areas: the city’s palaces, parks, churches and neo-classical architecture – along with its growing café and restaurant culture – stand in defiant contrast to the harsher legacies of the past.
Certainly wandering around present-day Warsaw on a translucent wintery afternoon, the horrors of the city’s recent history seem remote. For those who do want to know more, the museums and cemeteries are a salutary reminder of what Warsaw and its inhabitants have been through.
Looking to the future
While its unforgiving past will always underline the fabric of the city, Warsaw in 2006 is resolutely forward-looking.
Sixteen years after the end of communist rule and 20 months after Poland joined the EU, the city is determined to shake off its cobwebs and stand self-confidently in the heart of the new Europe.
The authorities are keen to paint a picture of a city poised for great things and statistics suggest Warsaw could be on its way to commercial success.
In a 2005 survey, European Cities Monitor, by property firm Cushman &Wakefield Healey & Baker, Warsaw was ranked twentieth most attractive city for foreign investment – up six places from the two years ago.
The authorities are ambitious: they aim to see it ranked in the top ten within a decade. One third of foreigners who arrive in Poland come here for business reasons, many of them attending conferences and congresses.
The city is certainly changing fast. You don’t have to wander far in Warsaw to see new buildings going up and a palpable sense of change hangs in the air.
Tourism, too, is gathering pace. A host of airlines now offer reasonably priced flights direct to the airport, located a handy four miles away from the centre. Revenue from tourism in 2005 is predicted to clock around $6bn, 12 percent higher than the previous year. People are staying for longer and in greater volume, according to the Institute of Tourism: over a period of eight months, 42.1m foreigners visited Poland – 5.1 percent more than the previous year, and only 2.3m fewer than the number of tourists visiting Spain.
Warsaw’s impressive line-up of five star international hotels caters for this demand: the Intercontinental, Marriott, Sheraton, Best Western, Hyatt, Meridien Bristol and Sofitel are all here, and the Hilton opens next year.
Most, like the Intercontinental – one of the newest kids on Warsaw’s five star block – offer a plethora of restaurants, bars, conference facilities and even a spa with panoramic 44th floor views. Two acclaimed boutique hotels, The Rialto and Le Regina, complete the line-up.
Playing catch-up
But despite the new hotels and flights that are allowing Warsaw to make its presence felt on the global stage, the city’s inhabitants are the first to admit it has an image problem to overcome.
Melania Kozyra, a Warsaw citizen and public relations and communications manager for the city’s Intercontinental hotel, says: “People still think Warsaw is somehow dark and scary. Although perceptions are now beginning to change it will take a long time.”
Minister Krzysztof Trepczynski, head of economic and commercial at the Polish Embassy in London, admits there is more to be done to raise the international profile of Warsaw as well as the rest of Poland.
He says: “We do need to promote the country more. We are taking part in travel fairs and the number of people coming to Poland is increasing every year. I am convinced that the new air network will help raise awareness. Warsaw, as well as centre such as Krakow, are a very strong point of interest for foreign investors.”
Exploring
Anyone still imaging Warsaw as an inward-looking, slightly forbidding place with little to offer the business or leisure visitor, is in for a big surprise. The city has an expanding choice of cafes, restaurants and shops, and most of the centre is attractive and vibrant, punctuated by green open spaces.
So where to begin? An exploration of Warsaw should start with the re-built Old Town (Stare Miastro), established at the close of the 13th century around what is now the Royal Castle.
The town has maintained its medieval scheme, the centre of which is the Old Town Market Square (Rynek Starego Miastra) – a stunning space lined with colourful, authentically rebuilt burgher’s houses, restaurants, cafes and museums. Other sights in the Old Town include St John’s Cathedral, Pod Blacha Palace and the Royal Castle. Above all, this area of the city – the most touristy, although hardly packed – is a wonderful place to spend a few hours taking drinking a cold beer or sampling a pancake. For a traditional Polish meal in memorable surroundings, check out Fukier on the market square.
The Royal Route is another must-see area of the city. Beginning by Castle Square (Plac Zamkowy) and running along Nowy Swiat, the thoroughfare developed in the late Middle Ages and soon attracted the city’s wealthiest citizens. Seventeen and eighteenth century palaces and churches sit side-by-side with newly fashionable boutiques and cafes.
If time permits, a stroll in Lazienki Park is worth the five or ten minute taxi ride from the city centre. This area of the city boasts government departments, the two chambers of the Polish Parliament and museums. It’s also home to Belvedere, Poland’s most expensive restaurant.
Warsaw’s new-found self-confidence, its emerging café and bar culture, and its unprecedented appearance in the world’s top 20 cities for foreign investment, combine to make it an exciting proposition for the future. It’s a stoical, underrated city, only just beginning to make its presence felt. Many will be watching Warsaw’s progress like a hawk.
Warsaw facts
How to get there?
Warsaw is well-served by direct flights to Okecie airport (four miles from the city centre), Centralwings operate two flights a day in either direction, see www.centralwings.com for more details.
Where to stay?
Warsaw is not short of world-class hotels. Many are reasonably priced for international standards, at around 100-200 euros a room per night. Weekend deals can be far cheaper. The main ones are:
Hotel Intercontinental: www.warsaw.intercontinental.com
Marriott: http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/WAWPL
Sheraton: www.sheraton.com.pl
Best Western: www.bestwestern.com
The Meridien Bristol: www.lemeridien.com/poland/warsaw/hotel_pl1276.shtml
Sofitel Victoria: www.sofitel.com/sofitel/fichehotel/gb/sof/3378/fiche_hotel.shtml
Hyatt Regency: http://warsaw.regency.hyatt.com
Le Regina: www.leregina.com
Rialto: www.hotelrialto.com.pl
