Exploring Warsaw’s Nowe Miasto, with my top 6, sometimes quirky sights.
My previous post focused on Warsaw Old Town (Stare Miasto). This post focuses on Nowe Miasto, Warsaw’s New Town. The Old Town dates from the 13th century. The New Town is still pretty old and dates from the 14th century, when it was an independent City with its own council and town hall.
It was, of course, all destroyed in World War 2. The reconstruction program started in 1954.
It lies immediately to the north of the Old Town. I spent one day in the Old Town and one day in the New Town. No need to hurry.
The Warsaw Barbican marks the boundary between the Stare Miasto and the Nowe Miasto:
A Quick Top 6 Sights in the Nowe Miasto in Warsaw
1. To Lubię Cafe
First up was a break for some tea at the To Lubie Cafe.
I’ve taken to drinking tea when I am out, over coffee. I had a rather nice green tea, “Yamamoto”, with lemon grass, lemon peel and mallow flower:
They offer a nice selection of coffees, teas, and mead, as well as house-made cakes and pastries. It’s located in the tower of the Dominican Church.
2. Warsaw Uprising Monument
Suitably refreshed, bear in mind that I woke at 5.30 am (don’t ask why?) and was backpacking Warsaw at 8 am, I headed off to the Warsaw Uprising Monument.
Poland is a classic example of What Did the Germans Do For Us? Not only did the Nazis hate Jews, but they also hated the Poles, who were mostly of the Roman Catholic Faith and saw them as ‘sub-human’ and occupiers of land, vital to Germany (yeah, the truth hurts eh!).
The story of the Warsaw Uprising is horrific and the small museum on the corner of Dluga and Plac Krasińskich tells the story.
The Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK), the underground resistance movement, initiated the Warsaw Uprising in an attempt to liberate the city from the German occupation and reclaim Polish independence.
It began on August 1st, 1944 and lasted 63 days. It was the single largest military effort undertaken by resistance forces to oppose German occupation during World War II.
The Germans eventually retook control, murdering more than 180,000 men, women and children in the process with over 11,000 more sent to the German death Camps.
Yes, it’s a story that needs to be told and not just focus on the Jewish part of the story.
3. Maria Skłodowska-Curie Museum
It’s not every day that we learn something. It would be great if we did though. Education and knowledge is so important.
So here’s the thing. Marie Curie, who was awarded The Nobel Prize for Physics in 1911, was not French. She was Polish.
Born Maria Sklodowska, in Warsaw in 1867, she later married Frenchman Pierre Curie, and together with Henri Becquerel they were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics but in 1903. She became a French citizen and is known worldwide as Marie Curie, but she was Polish.
I went into the museum on Freta Street. Tuesday is free entry. Worth remembering.
4. New Town Market
The New Town Market Square or Rynek Nowego Miasta was established in the 14th and 15th centuries as the central point of Warsaw’s Nowe Miasto.
It is much more low-key than Plac Zamkowy and Rynek Starego Miasta in the old town.
There is a small well and the Roman Catholic Church of St Casimir.
5. Maria Skłodowska Curie Monument
I’ve already detailed Marie Skłodowska Curie above, and there is a statue of her at the end of Košcielna:
6. Samborska Street, the Shortest Street in Poland
I always try to bring you something wacky and occasional educational facts and figures (and not just the standard tourist stuff), hence the To Lubię Cafe, located in the tower of a church mentioned above.
Samborska Street fits the bill quite well. At just 22 m in length, it is Poland’s shortest street. The two buildings on either side of the entrance are actually on Przyrynek Street, and the street is a dead end, so there are no buildings addressed as Samborska. Yet another quirky fact. Two for the price of one.
