One Full Day in Warsaw | Poland, Warsaw, Poland

Warsaw was never high on my list of places to visit. The name stirs up images of concrete and glass buildings, stacked Brutalist reminders of the reaches of the Soviet Union. I penciled it into my 5-week Europe trip solely because it made geographical sense. After Lithuania, I wanted to get to Lviv, Ukraine, but I had limited transport options. The only thing that made sense was to break up the journey with a stop in Warsaw. I had always heard mostly negative commentary about Warsaw - about how it is just a gritty, urban city with leftover Soviet scars and not much to do.

Despite these negative ideas my head had been filled with, I did my best to arrive with an open mind, and I am so glad that I did. Sure, the downtown area is like any other big city, loud and full of concrete and characterless buildings. I found the Old Town of Warsaw to be incredibly charming, the people very kind, and the food delicious and cheap.

This hostel was great. Very centrally located, literally right in the cute part of old town, next to bars and restaurants. Clean with all the amenities you’d need, and a fun staff. I did my laundry here for €3. Dorm beds all had privacy curtains, storage space to put your things while you slept and lights/sockets for charging. The breakfast was not included but I believe it was something like $3. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).