Trip to Prague :) Have you ever been here?

Do you know the place called Wrocław? It’s about time to get to know a little about Prague. It’s a capitol city of Czech Republic. I had never been interested in visiting Eastern European countries, but recently I changed my point of view. Those countries are beautiful and definitely worth visiting. Moreover, nowadays it’s very easy and cheap to get everywhere if planned wisely.

This time I traveled from Warsaw with Ecolines. It was the first time I used this carrier and I was extremely satisfied. Good service, quite comfortable and extra small screen with some movies and music.

I arrived to Prague in the morning. The bus station called Florenc was somewhere nearby the old town, so I decided to go on foot to explore as much as possible of the place. I walked past the Old Town which was a very beautiful part of the city. The big square in the middle of which was a big statue and around big and very old buildings. Each of them stunning and unique, obviously old, but in good condition.

Walking in the straight line I arrived to the Vltava river. The river separating the city is something unusual for me, maybe because of that I love to admire bridges. Prague have got few of them where the most famous is the Charles bridge. When I look at any bridge I love to admire its original shape,  its enormous size. Bridges are a big achievement of humanity and is a very useful invention. It connects two banks of the river providing a safe and short passage.

I took my time to admire a castle on the other side, a big park, buildings and of course bridges. The sky was blue that day with the Sun shining from above. The perfect day to take some pictures.

As I was still with my luggage I headed to my hostel to drop it off there and meet my friends. We arrived to this city to go to the club to listen to the DJ Andrea Oliva, but about that later 😉

Me and my few friends who arrived from Wroclaw with BlaBlaCar met up at our hostel located about 10min walk from the centre. The perfect place to be. We had a room only for four of us. Unfortunately one of our friends decided to come late and booked his accommodation in a different place, which wasn’t an obstacle to have a great fun together.

After having some delicious local food in a nearby restaurant we decided to go for a walk. We were taking pictures and having laugh. On the Charles Bridge which I mentioned before was a lot of tourist enjoying a walk and taking photos. We were no different. I don’t remember how it happened, but probably because of our photographic passion, we met 3 Russian girls passing by. It would had been only a short encounter if not our Ukrainian friend who started to have a chat in Russian with them. This way they accompanied us on our walk through the hill and the park. Finally they arranged to smoke shisha together just before we go to the club. This way we went back to the hostel, had some rest and after 8pm we went to meet up with 3 ladies. They took us to some fancy Russian place, one of them studies here, so knows Prague very well. We had few cocktails and smoked a lot of shisha. This way I was unable to speak with them in Russian as my had was too dizzy, so I just enjoyed nice music. We headed to the club where we stayed till the morning. Actually Ukrainian friend left early, because didn’t like the music and one other friend was kidnapped by some girl, so left few hours before the end of the party. He missed some great music, but like we got to know later h had a good time too.

The funniest part of all that weekend in Prague was of course a love story. One Russian fell for one my friend and an Ukrainian boy was talking all the time with the other one. We agreed to go out with them on Sat night, the next night. ok. If they like each other why not. Unfortunately it wasn’t so sweet as it could be. The third Russian started to fancy the Ukrainian boy, so the second one girl suddenly went home in a bad mood as the boy changed his object of interest. When finally when everything was sweet and cheesy he showed his wedding ring?! to apologize?! I don’t understand that behaviour till that moment as the second Russian got upset, angry, or who knows what else and decided to go home, so finally we stayed in the club, enjoying great electronic house music until the end, after being part of unnecessary affair disappointment :/

Overall Prague left on us a very good impression. We’ve seen many beautiful places, we tried some local food – I liked the sweet dough which was round, big and empty inside. I bought it filled with nutella. I loved it! Next time I have an opportunity to eat it I would definitely buy it. Go to Prague people, discover the city and have fun with people around you. Just don’t break women hearts if you’re married. I don’t recommend that.

Racism in Poland, Warsaw and not only…

This weekend we went with friends to Warsaw to listen to Alan Fitzpatrick. He is a DJ and plays drumcode kind of music which we enjoy to listen to with my friends and one of them even loves it! The party was amazing. We had a quality time! I am so happy I could be there. As I have been living back in Poland for a few months it was for me an occasion to observe how does Polish people behave. It was the worst part of my overall weekend experience.

My friends are from different backgrounds and I always get on well with them as we are open minded people. I don’t judge people by just looking at them. What can I know about the other person by just looking at him/her?

At the entrance to the club I noticed there is going to be a lot of Polish people inside. Queue was quite long and almost each Polish person was pushing onto another instead of waiting patiently. The doorman needed to tell many times to not to squeeze at the door and take a step backward.

By the counter wasn’t possible to pay by card, so I paid an entrance for my friend from Congo. As I paid one of the bouncers must had seen me, because when I passed the counter and was entering the club he pulled me rough by my jacket to search me like he shouldn’t do. Short conversation in Polish looked like that:

I said: -‘I can unzip my jacket to make it easier for you.’ -‘What did you say?’ -‘I will unzip my jacket, ok?’

He just touched my front pockets and let me go without saying anything. I think he didn’t realize I’m from Poland and I’ll be able to talk with him.

That was just a small incident. The other one which for a long time will stay in my memory is what had happened in the morning. We were walking to an after party in the city center of Warsaw when suddenly one of the passers by walk onto my friend from Congo. When I realized what had just happened they almost started to fight which I avoided by holding them aside. What the Polish guy said next was something which I would have never expected… -‘Poland is my country and all foreigners should walk out of my way!’

Where all those dumb people are coming from? This one was lucky, but the next one will have more painful lesson for messing up with my friends. Wake up Polish people! You are not the centre of the Universe!

Trip to Wroclaw, Poland

Hey. In February Ryanair was doing big discounts on some flights, so I decided to go somewhere for a weekend. One of my good friends study in Wroclaw and I promised to visit him, then the choice was very easy for me. Trip to Wroclaw was the next thing to do in my itinerary.

I found a return ticket for 4 euro, but as I delayed with the purchase one day, it went up to 7 euro. Still a great deal, so I bought it. There’s no often an opportunity to visit other cities, so it’s good to grab a chance when it’s available and this time it was a definitely good idea.

I arrived on Friday morning, so I had some rest after the travel and we went to the city. I was going to sleep in a dormitory of my friend on Friday night, on Saturday night we were going to have a crazy night out and on Sunday we were going to sleep in a dormitory again.

On Friday night we decided to go out for a beer with some other friends to have some fun. We met some other people and some girl started to like my friend and next thing we were in a disco club. It was fun, however the music was quite old. I mean like 10 years old, but with friend was fun. Finally one of the girls liked my friend, so she invited us to her house. Her friend gave us even BIGOS, a traditional Polish food. We needed that, it was very tasty. Finally all of us went to sleep tipsy and tired. We woke up about midnight and it was time to come back to dormitory. oh LOL, I’ve just paid for the stay for a night that I wasn’t here. On Sat I won’t make the same mistake!

Saturday night we spent all evening smoking and drinking and later we went to a disco club with techno music. They were closing at 5am, so we met some people which showed us an other place which shut at 7am or even later… We stayed only till 6:30am. Too tired. A lot of fun!

Sunday I spent sleeping  almost all day, but in the afternoon I managed to do some sightseeing. About 11pm the next party begun as some students arrived to our room. We drunk a little, laughed and listened to the music.

Finally at 2pm was the time of departure, so I left the dormitory and headed for my plane to the airport. I went straight to work happy that I had such an amazing time in Wroclaw. The next trip we planned was to Prague 🙂

Traveling by plane

I like to travel. What about you? Traveling by plane is the most convenient for me and if you wonder why I will share with you my point of view. Many of you have got means of transport like a bicycle and a car or traveled by train to some distant destination. I am sure you enjoyed most of your travels, but don’t you think that traveling by plane is the quickest, the safest, the most reliable? I have many friends who’s never been on the plane and all I hear from them is ‘Ahhh! turbulences! I’m afraid of that!’ hahaha

At the beginning of this month I traveled from Malaga to Warsaw. These two cities are very far from each other. The first thing that I needed to do was get to the airport. Usually there is many buses which I can choose from. Once I am on the airport I sit down and watch people. I like to watch through the big windows of the waiting hall planes taking off. Sometimes when the flight is at the unusual hour or I slept not enough before my travel I use the time I need to wait for a short nap. Of course having a nap isn’t the safest option as it’s easy to oversleep. I recommend to set an alarm clock which will ring some minutes before opening of the gate. If you have someone traveling with you you may ask your companion to do the same.

Once on the plane I relax again an if I am at least a little tired after my trip to the airport I let my body to fall asleep. If the flight lasts more than 3h then rarely I manage to sleep all duration of the flight. Otherwise I wake up when the pilot starts to prepare to land and communicate to fasten the seat belt.

I am rested again and then the final bit of the travel left. It’s very convenient to fly, as opposite to driving, there’s less responsibility and the experienced pilots care to take me safely home. I feel very comfortable while traveling by plane. I hope it would stay like that forever. I recommend all of you to try if you haven’t done so.

Beautiful day in Granada :) Sacromonte, Albaicin, Mirador de San Cristobal and San Miguel

Have you ever been to Granada? As I live there believe me that here is plenty of beautiful things to see and always something to do. I wrote an article about my visit to Alhambra and now I would like to share with you one of my days in the city, so you may imagine how is it to live here.

Granada panorama

It was one of many sunny days, so I decided to do some sport. I put on my running shoes and set off from Cerillo de Maracena neighbourhood. I run nort east through small streets and hills. I love to see buildings in different parts of the city. I don’t know how it’s possible, but they are always stunning. Have a look at some pictures!

Puerta de Elvira Granada
Puerta de Elvira Granada

Puerta in GranadaRoundabout Granada
Granada Tower

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I stopped for a while on Mirador de San Cristobal which is not too far and it is possible to admire most of the city. Here is the photo, so you can imagine, but of course it is better to be there and feel it!

Mirador de San Cristobal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I continued to jog uphill, because in Sacromonte neighbourhood is a church on top of the mountain. It is much higher point, so the view is much better as well. Climb is absolutely worth the effort, to see all the city and Alhambra. On the way down you may stop in some of the bars to have some delicious food or maybe a drink with tapas? Whatever you fancy, because food in that city is delicious and you can’t miss it.

Church of San Miguelview of Granada

 

Granada

I like a lot to climb on top and just look down at the city, look up at the blue sky and look around on the mountains of Sierra Nevada. It makes me very realxed and I feel better. try it. Believe me not everyone is so lucky, to have a short walk and be in the place where all surrounding area is below your feet. If you feel lazy, or just don’t have enough time, you may take a bus to get there. I hope that my pictures convince you to be in Granada 🙂

Stairs to walk to the Mirador de San MiguelHorses in GranadaChurch in Albaicin

Chopin and Modlin airport in Warsaw. My personal experience.

Hello everyone 🙂 Nice that you came back to read my blog about my experiences from different periods of my life. As I fly quite often – on average one flight per month – I have quite big experience from airports all over the world. I will write about ones from Warsaw airports as there I always feel strange and strange things happen to me.

Chopin airportlotnisko rozkład lotów

This one is located in the city centre  of Warsaw. I fly from here sometimes. Once I had a transfer here. I had half empty small jar of Nutella in my hand luggage. I love chocolate and always try to carry some on me. As I passed security on other European airport noone even told me to take it out of the bag. On Chopin airport they did something unbelievable. They scanned my hand luggage, told me to open it, took out and opened my Nutella. I was shocked! I always have chocolate in my hand luggage and those people told me I would need to leave it. I had a short argument with all people working by the scanners, but it didn’t change anything. I needed to go to catch my plane and leave delicious Nutella behind.

Modlin airport

Just fed days ago I flew from Modlin airport to Malaga. I haven’t been living in Poland for 7 years now and I may look different for them, because always they check me very carefully and look at me suspiciously. Once even were checking seams in my jeans to check if something is hidden there. This time I took off my shoes and removed all metal objects except my necklace which was a stone hanging on a small piece of metal. The machine beeped, i was routinely searched and later all my things, I mean clothes on me and thing which came through x-ray can like my jacket and my belongings inside my hand luggage were scanned by some detector – probably metal.

To sum up, I love to fly to distant different places, but I think people in Poland check me always as carefully as possible which is usually annoying. They don’t even smile.

The Great Orchestra of Christmas Aid

The Great Orchestra of Christmas Aid (GOCA or WOŚP – Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy in Polish) is one of the biggest charity organizations in Poland. It is non-governmental and non-profit. It collects money for causes connected with human health and helping sick children. It provides courses in CPR and ECC which is connected with saving people lives too.światła miasta Siedlce nocą

The Grand Final of The Great Orchestra of Christmas Aid happens every year on first or second Sunday of January. On the day of Grand Final are organized music events all across the country. Those events are sponsored by companies from Poland and organized by volunteers except only one the biggest event in front of Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw which is hosted by GOCA. All day long and during those events many volunteers heart of The Great Orchestra of Christmas Aidwalk on the streets with cans where everyone can donate money and support The Great Orchestra of Christmas Aid. Each volunteer has got an identification card and in return for a donation hands out a red sticker with heart and name of the charity on it.

 

At the end of the day at 8pm in every place all across the country is an event called ‘light to the heaven’ when fireworks displays are carried out.

 

food stall Siedlcechoinka w centrum Siedlec

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Great Orchestra of Christmas Aid in Siedlce

This year I was in Poland, so I decide to participate in the event in my hometown Siedlce. Norbi SiedlceIt was small, but well organized. It was cold, so we went mainly to see the fireworks display. But before it happened we had an opportunity to listen to one of the Polish music stars – Norbi and his top song – Kobiety są gorące 🙂 Was fun. Later some announcements from organizers and sponsors and Dr Magda Daniel who is my cousins aunt and fireworks display started. I post some pictures for fireworks lovers.

 

During that event I met couple nice people, but Polish people are very shy and distrustful. Those features make hard for me life in Poland. I think everyone should be open and outgoing like for example in United States, Canada, Russia or Brazil.

fireworks Siedlce fireworks Siedlce fireworks Siedlce

Clubs in Siedlce | Here are the best of the event?

Last weekend, while in Poland, I went out with friends on browarki and i started to think about where are the cool clubs in Siedlce, to enjoy a night out with friends as long as possible. I believe that from time to time you have to play well.

We went to one of the bars in the vicinity of the city centre. Initially, the plan was easy to sit back, watch the game and talk. After a few piwkach, conversations, several people what they came and they came out, I thought it might be somewhere to go and listen to local music, see how they're playing to local people and do you really in Poland so much drunk:)

There were a few volunteers and we decided that we would go to the nearest club, as the weather outside was cold. From what I know the most popular clubs in Siedlce there are two. After a short walk and climbing to the second, and perhaps the third floor, while feeling as the tenth-we were in the middle.

The music played, it was a little people and we decided that from the very beginning we're going to have fun, because we did not want to spend the entire night, and MAX two hours. Jared bought a bottle of vodka, I went to the room in search of nice people who would like to have a drink with us and keep us company.

Few people would look strange that everything speaks to them, but at some point, groups of 5 people how they heard that I want them to help us enjoy a little bit of alcohol quickly and 'serca zmiękły joined our table.

For myself, I went after a drink, because these large vodka glasses work for me as a deterrent. I came back with a few more in. Polaliśmy, everyone drank and before I even had time to warm the seat 'przyjazna a bunch of ' fled somewhere?! Able to sit out, but as I do not have anything interesting to say, it's good that they went:)

Clubs in Siedlce

Dopite and the instead of sitting and for a while to assimilate the excess alcohol, someone threw a password that we go to the dance floor. Well OK. I could go in and I wanted some boy nailed five. Then he started wyklinać me. It happens that some people have a problem with the head. I answered him in English that do not understand anything and I went over to the next, which turned out to be his friends and started talking the same thing. With them were still about 3 girls who started to beg me, I myself went. I still do not understand that quite moved away a little. None of them reached what's going on. Nobody apologized, so I went back to ask anymore how the pole Pole about what they mean. Chłoptaś pushed me. Still politely you like asking why me insults and even repels, what I advised not to do more, ocekiwałem, that will understand in the end your stupidity. Then shoved me even tighter and at this point my patience is over. Got it, and with me he began to jerk his mate. With a view to having a good time, not a brawl while lying on the ground I told him that I'm not going to beat them and let ochłonie. We got up and jumped on the next two guys. Their friends? The protection? Who knows? Stand several inches in front of me, so I next went fist, because what is there to wait. They came from.

This caught me a bodyguard-so it seems to me, because he pushed me until I fell over after a few steps-alcohol did.

In this sty I didn't stay a moment longer, so i got up and I went to the exit. Pseudo security guard followed me, and even with the fist hit me in the ribs to give. Sick. In the fuck you've got for cwaniakowanie and to this day has not learned. To meet him yet I said that those villagers moved out, because I've been here I come.

Are there any clubs in Siedlce, in which you can play? It seems to me that you do not and for the next event I'll fly myself abroad. Let the critics play themselves.

 

Christmas customs in Poland

I would like to share with the world some info about Christmas customs in Poland. I don’t celebrate each year like that, but all my family do. I want to show you some typical Christmas food and tell some more about things we Catholics do.uszka i pierogi

I am going to tell you about Christmas Eve’s dinner. The first rule says that it should consist of 12 different dishes, because we have that many months in the year or because there were twelve Apostles, and each participant of the ‘feast’ should try them all.

Christmas customs in Poland from the beginning:

Before we even start to eat there is a custom that we need to wait for the first star on the ryba i bigossky which is a symbol of the star of Bethlehem which guided Three Kings on the night when Christ was born. Usually we may start to look for it on the sky about 4 o’clock. Tradition says that on the Christmas Eve’s table should be always one free cover. Situated there in case of wayward wanderer or an unexpected visitor.

When the awaited star finally appears we sit down by the table and one member of the family reads a passage from the Bible. Then we take a special wafer and share it with everyone exchanging best wishes for an upcoming year.

Soziemniaki-czerwony barszcz z uszkami-karpme families, especially from villages, put under the tablecloth some hay – before people placed in the corners of houses sheaves of hay and straw. This custom should ensure a good harvest in the coming year and it reminds the poor conditions in which Jesus came to the world.

Since few years the Catholic Church allows to eat meat on Christmas Eve, but Polish people are very traditional people and their tables are still dominated by fish.

Christmas customs in Poland require that on the table should appear dishes like:

  • carp
  • beetroot soup with ravioli
  • dumplings (pierogi)
  • sauerkraut-and-meat stew (bigos)
  • “ryba po grecku”
  • dried fruit compote
  • cabbage with mushrooms
  • Croquettes with sauerkraut
  • Christmas Eve’s gingerbread

Finally after the dinner comes time to open gifts which where brought by Santa Claus to good children and adults 🙂 Hope that I helped you at least a little to understand what’s going on in Poland during Christmas.

Modlin airport to Warsaw – how it may be done

So you decided to come to beautiful Warsaw and because you’ve heard it is very cheap in Poland. On top of that the flight was a bargain. Don’t tell me that once you landed you started to feel lost? How to get from the Modlin airport to Warsaw? Nothing to worry. It is not a rocket science. I will explain it to you in a few words.

travel modlin airport to warsaw - trainThere’s 3 main ways to get from Modlin airport to Warsaw: taxi, ModlinBus and by train. I wrote them from the fastest and the most expensive to the slowest and the chapest.

Of course to get a taxi is the easiest way to move around. You won’t need to wait for departure and it will take you to the preferred address directly. However, you will need to pay the most. Probably between 100 and 200 polish zloties.

Second option is ModlinBus. It runs frequently – once per hour – and you travel by coach directly from the airport to the Palace of Culture and Science in the city centre of Warsaw. It cost about 33zl and it takes 40 minutes to get to the destination.

There’s one more and the cheapest – 17zl – way of transport which I usually use, because I Modlin airport to Warsaw timetableneed to travel either to my friends in Warsaw or to my hometown. If you need to travel outside of Warsaw you may like this option. First of all you should go to information desk or to the big touch screen where you will be able to get more information about buses/trains you need to catch. Once you know where you’re going you start your travel in a bus which takes you in 10 minutes to the nearest train station. There you take one of the trains which take you to the city centre of Warsaw and in the city centre you may use any public transport for 1h what is included in your 17zl ticket. 3 in 1 🙂 Cool, but takes about 70 minutes to get to the Warsaw city centre.

Modlin airport to Warsaw

Flying to Modlin airport the flight is cheap and in most cases it is definitely worth doing it. You just must be prepared to spend some time in a taxi, bus or train to get from Modlin airport to Warsaw city centre.