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!