Warsaw The Phoenix
City
From being pulverised during World War II to
turning around as an
`incredible
example of complete reconstruction', the Polish capital
refuses to capitulate to external challenges
As I
stand here in central Warsaw, observing and absorbing the city's
rhythms,
the unmis takable glow of the Polish capital is hard to miss.
Luxury hotels sparkling with the spoils of
privatised industry dot the
cityscape
as do spiffy malls, fine dine eateries, atmospheric cafés and
electronic
billboards flashing Western products.
Across
my hotel -the glamorous 414-roomed InterContinental Warszawa
famed
for hosting Salman Khan during the shooting of Kick, there's plenty
more architectural glamour -the 231
metre-high Palace of Science and
Culture, the vertigo-inducing Warsaw Trade
Tower and shiny corporate
buildings,
among other.
With
such lavish imagery on offer, it's tough to believe that Warsaw was
pulverised
and reduced to rubble by the Nazis during World War II.
Adolf
Hitler's blitzkrieg, that triggered World War II on September 1, 1939,
led to mass bombing and burning across the
city killing thousands of Poles.
Yet so
remarkable has been Warsaw's turnaround -wrought over the years by
its diligent craftsmen and architects -that
it leaves one gobsmacked.
Virtually
everything one sees here -palaces, cathedrals, landmarks -is a
recreation. Workmen toiled through nights to
reconstruct the city
brick-by-brick using oil paintings,
postcards, news photos, old family
albums
and other memorabilia unearthed from the ghost town's debris.
The
recast of Warsaw's Old Town, based on Bellotto's paintings from the
18th
century, for instance, has earned it a place on the Unesco list as an
`incredible
example of complete reconstruction'.
“There
are about 3,000 castles across Poland,“ the guide Wojciech
Mlotkowski
informed me. “Most were built for kings or aristocrats in the
17th
and 18th centuries. But they were completely wrecked during the war.
So the government restored them and they now
serve as heritage structures
or
museums.“ The Old Town, full of cobbled streets, leads to tiny squares
buzzing with people and cafés.The soulful
tunes emanating from street
performers'
instruments around corners is a treat for ears deafened by
Delhi's blaring horns and traffic. The
Market Square flaunts the bronze
statue
of the `Mermaid of Warsaw', the city's symbol whose `sibling' resides
in Copenhagen. Legend has it that a
fisherman found the mermaid and
saved
her, and she stayed on to protect the city.
The
Castle Square, also part of Old Town, lies at the end of the Royal Route,
another reconstructed area. It is arranged
like a semicircle with Sigismund's
Column
in the middle.The square also houses Royal Castle, once a hub of
imperial activities, now a vibrant
marketplace. You can sit here for hours,
watch people and quaff a froth-topped
cappuccino.
Chock-full of Hang-outs
Despite
visible signs of cosmopolitanism, Warsaw still remains a work in
progress.
Yet the surround sound of whirring cement mixers, and cranes,
is
also a reinforcement of the Phoenix City's attempts to unshackle itself
from a stifling communist past and come into
its own. After years behind
the Iron Curtain, the new Warsaw, or `Vershawa'
as the locals fondly call
it, appears ready to take its rightful place
as one of Europe's cutting-edge
capitals, its new hub of creativity.
Warsaw's
vibrant neighbourhoods -like Praga, on river Vistula's right bank
and
Mokotów occupying the left bank -bustle with quirky cafés and galleries
registering
high footfalls from the city's ever growing demographic of young
artists
and designers. Erstwhile stodgy factories and warehouses have been
repurposed
to host chic galleries, art centres and hangouts. The energy
extends
to Warsaw's spirited club and music scene and an annual calendar
chock-full of street fests, funky art
openings, and plenty of Chopin
centred
music festivals.
With
the changing cultural landscape has come a food revolution
Polish
cuisine is expressing itself through a new vocabulary now.
Gone
is the former uninventive cuisine of communist times.
The
staid kielbasa-dumpling-sauerkraut triumvirate is fast paving way
for a
smorgasbord of exciting dining options. Pizza parlours, standalone
restaurants serving everything from French,
Italian, Korean to Japanese,
Chinese,
even Beirut cuisine, are vying for punters' palates.
Quintessential
Polish cuisine is still widely available of course.
Though
for visitors it remains an acquired taste consisting essentially of
soups (tomato, chicken broth with noodles or
`rosol' and sour rye soup,
or
zurek, with sausage. Dumplings come in varieties with fillings of cheese,
potato, cabbage, meat and even plums. Then
there's `Bigos' -a hearty stew
concocted
from sour cabbage and sausage.
Diversified Palates
However,
local chefs speak excitedly about a more diversified food basket.
And newer ingredients being flown in from
western Europe.
Norwegian
salmon, Italian truffles, American wild rice, foie gras are
embellishing dishes that glisten with
creativity. Trendy touches such as
oversized dinner plates, rims dusted with
exotic salts minced herbs and
smoked offerings of eel, wild boar,
pike-perch are hardly uncommon.
Despite
such plenitude though, Warsaw remains one of the cheapest capital
cities in the European Union (EU). While
Poland is now a part of EU, its
government
has put off adopting the volatile currency until at least 2019.
So
while visitors may resent the non-acceptability of eurosdollars at most
transaction
points (only Zloty is accepted), there's succour to be derived
from
the fact that the stratospheric prices of London, Berlin, Paris and
Rome
are missing here.
As a
result, eating is a bargain in Warsaw. Even in fine dine restaurants,
rarely
are main dishes -crafted from expensive produce --priced above $12.
“We are not tied to the euro, so prices in
the bars, restaurants and hotels
are
quite accessible,“ explained a local restaurateur. Wines, on the other
hand
are steeply priced as import taxes are deliberately kept high to bolster
the fledgling domestic industry. Vodka, the
preferred aperitif,
on the
other hand is inexpensive. As is beer -typically Brok, Dojlidy and Lech.
Medley of Emotions
Intriguingly,
despite its stabs at modernisation, Warsaw still retains much
of its
old-world charm.And green cover. (Both are usually a victim of the
onslaught
of `westernisation' in global cities.) Almost a quarter of the city
flaunts
fields, parks, gardens or green squares replete with historic works of
architecture,
palaces, castles, and royal residences. Lazienki Park, which
houses
the picturesque Palace on the Water, hosts atmospheric Chopin
music
concerts during summers attracting music connoisseurs from across
the
world.
The
remarkably well-reserved Kampinos National Park is home to abundant
fauna
(bison, lynx, moose) and is criss-crossed with hundreds of kilometres
of
trails for hiking and cycling. River Vistula, which divides Warsaw into two,
remains
the city's leitmotif, also bestowing pecuniary benefits on it through
a thriving cruise industry.
Warsaw
also allows easy access to Polish countryside punctuated by beautiful
waterways,
clean rivers, lakes and well-maintained canals. We get to the
picturesque
Masurian Lake District via a seamless highway, our coach
windows
en route constantly filled with a montage of emerald fields, grazing
cows and verdant pastures.
Known
as the `land of a thousand lakes', Masurian is the epicentre for
outdoorsy
activities -sailing, kayaking, trekking and paragliding.
The
region offers hundreds of kilometres of signposted trails through
sun-dappled
forests and lakes filled with swans and lilies. Over 200 lakes
in
Masurian are interconnected with rivers and canals offering great
possibilities
for kayaking especially on Krutynia river.
After
a short demo by our guide, we sidled into our kayaks to negotiate
our
way through the serene Krutynia river. The sounds and smells of the
rainforest came alive as we glided through a
complex biotope comprising
hundreds of years' old weeping willows,
pines and birches.
White
and pink waterlilies floating on the river added to the journey's allure.
Yellow
nuphars, visible all along the route, generated collective amusement
as the flowers kept popping back up on the
river's surface despite repeated
pummelling from our oars and kayaks.
An apt
metaphor for a city that refuses to capitulate to external challenges.
ETM13DEC15
|
Monday, December 28, 2015
TRAVEL SPECIAL ............Warsaw The Phoenix City
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