Łódź

City of the factories.

It has been almost two years since I have been living here, in Poland. I honestly had no expectations before I came here. I knew little about today's Poland, moreover anything about Poland's "then hidden" jewel's such as the wonderful city of Łódź (pronounced Uâci in my language). 

Ever since I have put foot on lovely Kraków, I have had the pleasure of exploring most of central Europe and of course, Poland. Cities such as Wrocław, Tarnów, Zakopane, Warszawa, about which I am going to write in the future. All of them are jewels in my eyes and it is a must to visit if you want to understand Central Europe better.

As for Łódź, it is the third-largest city in Poland and a former industrial city. Located in the central part of the country, it has a population of 685,285. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is approximately 120 kilometres south-west of Warsaw. It is also home of one of the longest streets in Europe, but we will briefly go over that later on.

What I saw different in Łódź compared to other cities I've been to Poland, is the relaxed vibe of the city. Most places in Poland, at least the famous cities, go very much around the historical part, such as Krakow with it's bountiful history in the state's medieval as well as recent past. With Łódź, being an ex-industrial city, there is not much history to be said, but the city sure has embraced it's industrial past and combined it with partying. 

A large number of ex-factories of the city had been transformed in hotels, restaurants, bars, even malls (the famous Manufaktura). Not only you get the party - factory partnership, the city also has hidden or in plain sight graffiti drawings supported by the city council. I would say that Łódź was indeed one of the most "hipsterish" cities I have ever visited.

Łódź Fabryczna railway station

They say the first thing you see when entering a city will stick to your mind. In my case it was the train station. Although there isn't much to say about a train station in general, unless you are leaving a google review, I felt the need to mention about this one.

I think it is hands down, top 3 most beautiful train stations I have ever been to. I was not expecting such a modern and large train station for a city that even though it is the 3rd largest in Poland, compared to the rest of Europe...it's not that big. I've later learned that the wonderful people of Łódź are in general pleased with their lady-mayor miss Hanna Zdanowska who has been taking care of the city since 2010. She also made sure in late 2016 that Łódź will have an awesome train station and there you have it!

The Hotel

After being awed by the train station, we hopped on an Uber and got to our crashing bed, at hotel Tobacco. It was already 10 o'clock in the evening, after a 3 hour and a half train ride and 8 hours of work. We get to our hotel, which by the way, it was an ex-tobacco factory and I thought it was really awesome because they kept parts of the original factory in the reception as well as the facade of the building. 

We get to our reception, we get our door card and we go straight up to our dormitory. When we try out the card, boom! Not working. Go back to the reception, try to explain the card is not working. Get another one and go back to our door (it was 2nd floor and we were basically cruising the elevator up and down at this point). Card working this time! Yay! Open the door, boom! lady in pajamas is in our room! (not kidding). We quickly close the door trying to not giggle, and we go back to the reception. Apparently they gave the pajamas lady the wrong room (our room). So, of course, they gave us pajamas lady's initial room. Go there, boom! Single bed, no room for two people to sleep. Go back to the reception, the receptionist being also extremely stressed at this point because she realized there were no other rooms available! We tried to laugh it off, as it was already 11 in the evening, we were extremely sleepy and all we wanted to do was sleep! My girlfriend immediately pulls out her phone and in no-time we book a room at Holiday Inn, much closer to the center. We take an Uber again, and finally, we managed to get inside our room for two!

Zoo (under construction)

As I said, Łódź is not a place for visiting castles, art galleries (in case you are a fan of such types of activities). It is a place for entertainment, and as a local taxi driver told us "Łódź is the party capital of Poland, being also located in the center of the country". So of course we went in the day time to the local Zoo and Planetarium. 

Even though the Zoo was under construction, being renovated into what I found out "an Orientarium" which is going to be unique in the world, it was a really relaxing day-time activity. I'm not a Zoo fan, but I found the activity of walking past cute animals and eating ice-cream, a very relaxing one regardless if your are with family, alone or with your significant other. I'm definitely going to come back here, because there were pictures everywhere with the projects...and it honestly looked breath-taking. 

Oh, quick-mention. Apparently Poland loves interesting Zoo's, so there already is in Wrocław an "Afrikarium" which also looks very awesome if you look it up online.

Łódź Planetarium EC1

Another fun-activity which can be done in day-time, is visiting the Łódź Planetarium EC1, which is located near the city-center. From what I have learned, it is the most modern Planetarium in Central Europe and it really was a fun experience. The building per-se is not for visiting, but the huge cinema inside. You get to see a 3D movie about planets and the Universe in general, and you do have to go through a lady talking in Polish for the first 20 minutes, but the cinematic experience is indeed extraordinary and it is worth a visit if you are into such things.

Longest street in Poland

In short, Piotrkowska Street is the main artery of Łódź, and it is one of the longest commercial thoroughfares in Europe, with a length of around 4.2 km. It is one of the major tourist attractions of the city. It runs in straight line between the Liberty Square (Plac Wolności) and the Independence Square (Plac Niepodległości). From the very beginning this street was the central axis, around which the city grew bigger, and its development spontaneously gave the present shape to its centre. At first the city was mainly the highway, but later it changed into the city's showcase, the leisure and shopping centre, where the life of growing industrial agglomeration could be observed.

And it was also one of the most beautiful streets I have ever took a stroll on. It's not about the architecture, as it looks like any other major touristic street in Central Europe, but the abundance of restaurants, bars and shops. It is literally drunken-heaven, as it is very hard to get lost. All you can do is walk from one end to another. It is also filled with ex-factories transformed into bars, as well as a couple of sky-scrappers which give the city the hipsterish-vibe I was talking about. 

The street also gives you that unwinded vibe through it's people. The people of Łódź: 

Biciclists pedaling along the street, small dead-end streets connected to the main artery from place to place where you discover even more restaurants and bars; The interbelic architecture and the multitude of colors of the structures.

Łódź is not a major city like I said, but for cities like these, small and bohemic, I believe it is worth more to explore.

Manufaktura

The Manufaktura is an arts centre, shopping mall, and leisure complex. A major tourist attraction of the city as it includes the largest public square in Łódź, which acts as a venue for cultural and sports events.

The Manufaktura opened in 2006, after 5 years of planning and the subsequent 4 years of construction. The work involved the renovation of an old textile factory building. The Manufaktura is located in the central part of the city, in the former industrial complex founded by Izrael Poznański

The revival of this major factory was aimed at preserving the place’s historical atmosphere, which is why the Manufaktura is now dominated by genuine industrial architecture, with unplastered red brick buildings.

That is also why I have named Łódź, the city of bricks. Not only in Manufaktura, but all over the city you can see the industrial architecture. 

There isn't something historic to visit in Manufaktura (besides the museum of the factory), but it surely is worth to take a stroll all around this wonderful complex. It is here that, in my opinion, Łódź gets a lot from it's hipsterish vibe. Plenty of restaurants as well as cinemas, this commercial complex is the place to be for people of all ages.

A funny thing which happened to us, was the fact that we failed to realize how crowded this place can get on a Sunday afternoon. We decided to go to the movies, randomly, and go eat at a restaurant in the central square of Manufaktura. We were shocked to see when we got out of the cinema how every restaurant was so packed with people, and the few places where there was a seat available, we kept hearing "waiting time one hour".

We eventually managed to find a place to sit and eat, and were lucky enough to find a taxi driver enjoying a local doughnut "You have to try the doughnuts from this place" as he said, right before he invited us in his car to get back to the train station.

Summary

In summary, I believe Łódź, as most cities in Poland (besides the capital), is one of those not so well known places which are worth more to visit than major cities such as London or Paris. You really get a real vibe of Europe, or at least Central Europe and you get a better understanding of the local culture as the city is also not so filled with tourists like other major destinations. Łódź is worth visiting for the vibe and the awesome industrial architecture. The city of bricks as I mentioned.

I also want to mention about the local cuisine, which I absolutely loved. Łódź has a significant jewish culture influence, as many business-people in the past as well as present from Łódź are of Jewish descent. Thus, many restaurants have Jewish-pallets of foods to offer, and I wanted to mention about a specific restaurant where I had the most awesome breakfast I ever had at a restaurant in Poland. I never thought about eating home-made hummus, with home-made Polish bread baked with fruits inside, as well as Chicken roasted in truffles oil. Absolutely amazing and I really recommend this small place, located between buildings somewhere on Piotrkowska street. (Trip Advisor, Restaurant Website).

As a finishing note: Keep exploring! 

Budapest

• Introduction

I have passed many times through Budapest during my travelling years, but I've never knew it was so beautiful. If I knew, maybe I would have stayed longer last times I was in transit.

Last ten years of my life I have traveled approximately through 25 countries and lived in 5. I'm not one of those "travel addicts" who think everyone should travel and is not aware that most people either cannot afford or don't have the time. For my case, it was context. It was the need to "escape" my home-country, knowing that it doesn't have many opportunities to offer. All the money for my travel experiences was either borrowed or saved by my parents, and eventually my own budget after I successfully found a job abroad. As long as your mommy and daddy aren't rich, you're going to have a hard time going somewhere abroad year-by-year. 

I never had the desire during these ten years to keep a travelling blog, due to the fact that my travels were mostly with an academic or professional context. But in the last years, after I found a job abroad, my travel experiences became more and more diverse thus, I decided to start a travelling blog, with the last place I have visited which is...Budapest!

The City

Budapest is, as it was called by many, a relaxed city and it gives you a bohemian vibe. I'd say I've felt the same vibes in cities such as Belgrade, Krakow or Thessaloniki. All of these cities are different in nature but they all contain that relaxed vibe. The kind of city you'd definitely want to visit in the summer time. I'd not even recommend using the usual transit in such places If you are there just for pleasure. Just grab yourself a Kürtőskalács with ice-cream from Molnár's kürtőskalács (Trip Advisor), and have a walk along the Danube river, right under the citadel and along the bicycle lane, towards the beautiful Margaret park and Island.

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The city is fairly cheap, drinking and eating is very accessible compared to "big boy" cities in Western Europe, such as Paris, London or Madrid, as well as taxi (or Bolt) rides and Metro. The city has many cafe's, restaurants, bars and pubs as well as plenty of places to visit so I'd say Budapest is a city for all tastes and personalities

Train Ride

This is the 3rd or 4th time I have been to Budapest, but the 1st time I had a real tour of this city. The way I got there is worth a mention. After visiting my folk's hometown as well as my girlfriend's parents (Bucharest and Oradea), we decided to take a train, traveling most of the Panonian plains to the Hungarian capital. Nothing interesting to see on the window as almost all of Hungary is covered by plains, but the train was very interesting, as it was an old one, most probably from the 90's, still having a "smoking" compartiment sign, even though it is strictly prohibited to smoke in any train all over the European Union states. It also showed the contrast between what I was expecting and what I got! 

From a nostalgic train which I used to ride when I was a little kid in the 90's with my parents, on some dull plains with nothing interesting to see to the middle of Budapest, in their main train station!

The Metro

One of the perks of my travel through Budapest, was of course, the Budapest metro which is the oldest electrified underground railway system on the European continent, and the third-oldest electrically operated underground railway in the world, predated by the 1890 City & South London Railway and the Liverpool Overhead Railway in 1893-96. Its iconic Line 1 was completed in 1896, more than 123 years ago!

If you travel with the metro in cities like Bucharest, Lisbon, Paris, Rome, or similar, you will certainly feel a significant difference when you go on Budapest Line 1 underground! It's almost as you are travelling by an underground tram. Everything is so small and fancy and it really resembles a time when there weren't so many people in need of transit, and everything was more relaxed. Maybe due to the bohemian vibe the city preserves through it's locals, it is also one of the reasons why there are no security bars for checking tickets when you enter this historical jewel. I'll be honest I did not even feel like travelling the metro, compared with a couple of months ago when I was in the Rome sub, and a simple train rain simply exhausted you with lack of air to breath. 

New York Palace Café

One of the other perks of my travel to Budapest, was visiting what has been called my many other travelers as "Europe's fanciest cafe' with the fanciest desserts". Although to be honest the reviews on google for anything else other than desserts were pretty low.

New York Palace Cafe is a luxury hotel on the Grand Boulevard of Budapest's Erzsébet körút part.

Previously known as Boscolo Budapest from 2006 to 2017, the building was constructed in 1894 by the New York Life Insurance Company as a local head office. It was designed by architect Alajos Hauszmann, along with Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl. The building opened on October 23, 1894. The cafe has been a longtime center for Hungarian literature and poetry.

Upon entering this wonderful building, I could not ignore the beautiful Cimbalom (Țambal - Romanian instrument) standing on top of the staircase, watching over the usual customers, or curious tourists like me. I was told that there is always live music playing in this beautiful cafe', and the servants always smile and try to offer the best services an eating place can offer in all of Budapest. The prices weren't so high either (compared with what I was expecting). I only had a plateau of cakes, not too many, 3-4 and I paid around 10 Euros. That is not a lot for a place which looks like this. Customers are of all the nationalities you can imagine, the music is always suave, the the desserts are one of the best I ever had in my life. This is indeed an experience one shouldn't miss when in Budapest. It even has a hop-on-hop-off station right in front so it is very accessible for any tipe of lazy or energic traveler. I could not stop thinking while I was there "I wonder if anyone had a birthday party in this place!".

Terror Háza Múzeum

Two of the things I was really looking forward to visit in Budapest was the Terror House and the Holocaust Memorial. Living in Poland, and being a Romanian, I was inevitably influenced by Nazist and Communist history and I was always interested in reading or watching documentaries about these two dreadful periods in history. Living in Poland I had the chance to visit the famous Auschwitz camp or visit Schindler's Factory in Krakow, but I've heard a lot of stories about the Terror House.

This museum is also a memorial to the victims of these regimes, including those detained, interrogated, tortured or killed in the building.The museum opened on 24 February 2002.

Much of the information and the exhibits are in Hungarian, although each room has an extensive information sheet in both English and Hungarian. Audio guides in English and German are also available.

The memorial is very moving, from outside to the interior. On the outside walls there are pictures with a part of the victims who suffered by the "Hortist" or "Communist" movement in that building, and inside there is a tank under a huge wall with all the names of everyone who was ever detained in that building. As I mentioned, most of the information is in Hungarian but there are audio guides in English and German and there are also sheets of paper with English writing. Even though, you don't need an audio guide to understand what happened on the underground floor. The floor is filled with detention cells, from large to extremely small, and the museum kept those rooms intact just as they were during those times. Similar thing I saw in the detention cells at Auchwitz or at the Communist prison in Sighet (Romania). It is very moving to see how such a relaxed city used to be ruled by people who were able of such violent acts.

Holocaust Memorial Center on Páva u., 1094

The last, but not least place I wanted to visit in Budapest, was of course the Holocaust Memorial Center, which is dedicated to all of Romani, Jewish descent, as well as all Jehovah Witnesses, Homosexuals and Political Prisoners residing within the Hungarian state during WW II (Including Romanians, Slavic minorities, Slovaks, Croatians, Serbians, Austrians, Hungarians, and others).

The museum is also part of a complex which contains a renovated synagogue that dates back to the 1920s. It is the first Holocaust Memorial Center in Central Europe founded by state. Architecturally, the building is asymmetrical. A set of stairs lead visitors to the exhibitions, meant to "symbolize the distorted and twisted time of The Holocaust. 

The feeling you get while visiting the museum is very deep, as you are accompanied by deep and sad music in all rooms. Most of the exhibits contain a lot of writing in English and Hungarian and you need a lot of patience to read a lot to understand what you are seeing, but it is worth the walk and the lecture! Being a Romanian myself, I also learned about a pair of Romanian female twins which ended under Doctor Mengele's terror. The museum doesn't have interesting or shocking exhibits, but as I mentioned, having the patience to read, you will learn how the Austro-Hungarian empire came to end, and how that affected the Hungarian state to enter WWII on Hitler's side and eventually leading them to lose land as well as committing harsh crimes, such as the Ipp Massacre in Romania, by the Hortist troops (More info).

In conclusion.

In conclusion, I have included Budapest in top 5 of the best cities I have ever visited, after Istanbul, Lisbon, Florence and Dubrovnik and I really think it is a must if you want to get a deeper vibe and understanding about Europe in general, especially if you are not from Europe. It is also, like I mentioned, way more chill compared to other "big cities" I've visited, such as Rome, Paris, Vienna, Athens, Istanbul. The city is also well preserved and keeps their recent 200 years history roots in terms of architecture.

I also grant it as a must if you want to visit something interesting in general, regardless of your place of origin and I think it is one of the great starting points for someone who wishes to travel and doesn't want to spend a lot of money.

10/10 I would came back here in the future.