Eating My Way Through Poland

I was not able to say no to a trip to Poland with a native Pole. I traveled with Emilia and Jonathan to the great country of Poland last weekend. We visited Warsaw, Krakow, and Lodz. So we made a big loop around Poland. A night in Warsaw, 12 hours in Krakow, and the rest of the time at Emilia's house near Lodz.

Arriving in Warsaw brought upon the reality that this city was completely destroyed during WWII. Warsaw was a very different city and I think it struggles with its identity. There was a huge modern skyscraper next to a junky looking house next to an "old town" building. After seeing the pretty old town and a few monuments around the city, there wasn't much else to see. I had my first Polish meal consisting of pork knuckle and potatoes. Thus began my journey of eating my way through Poland, the land of meat and potatoes.

We stayed in Warsaw that night and woke up super early to catch a train to Krakow the next morning. I had the full Polish experience since there were no seats left on the train and we were assigned standing room only. I was a little nervous about a 4 hour train ride standing but like always, it worked out. We found a set of fold down seats in the aisle and stayed in those seats for the rest of the journey, even though we had to get up to let many people pass through.

Krakow turned out to be way better than Warsaw and more of tourist city like other cities I have visited. There were many friendly people, street markets, bars and restaurants, street performers, and a ton of sights to see. Krakow was never destroyed and thus had a much older city feel to it. We visited the Wawel Castle, Cathedral, the Dragon’s Den, Old Town, Kazimierz, and walked around quite a bit more. It was a very beautiful city with something to see around every corner. For lunch I ate some kluski and pierogi. Pierogi is absolutely delicious and I would even consider trying to make it at home! Dinner consisted of half of a duck, potatoes, beets, carrots, and cabbage. All for about $13! Poland was so cheap especially after being in Sweden for a few months. I think upon my return to the USA, I will think that everything is really cheap. Even though we only had 12 hours in Krakow we made saw a lot and ate very well. We caught a bus to Lodz that evening and slept most of the time.

We arrived in Lodz and Emilia’s dad picked us up around 2:00 AM. He was a very friendly man although he did not speak English. This proved to be difficult but Emilia worked as a really good translator. We met her mom when we got to her house in a little village outside the city. If it was my parents, they would have said goodnight, and see you in the morning. But, this was not the case. Her parents were very welcoming and offered us tea and chatted with us for quite some time. I think we finally made it to bed around 4:00 AM!

The next day was much lazier than the previous days, but no one would be able to do much with how much food we were fed. I’m sure Emilia’s mother spent the entire day in the kitchen since they fed us what they would usually eat during Easter. We had a big breakfast, massive dinner and a satisfying supper. (In Poland the three meals are breakfast, dinner, and supper). I was impressed with dinner and the mushroom covered pork. It was so delicious and there was also two other kinds of pork that was good as well. There was even three different cakes for us to try after dinner! I haven’t eaten so much food since Christmas! Polish people don’t go hungry, that’s for sure!

In the evening we went to Emilia’s University and she showed us around. The humorous part of the tour was when she showed us the architecture building, which was the ugliest one on campus! Afterwards, we met with her friend and walked around Lodz, seeing the various murals and the famous shopping street. Lodz was a nice city overall.

The next morning we woke up early to head back to Warsaw and catch our plane in the afternoon. We checked out the Warsaw Uprising Museum while in Warsaw and that was really cool. Lots of great information and really showed the struggles that the city went through over the years.

I was sad that our journey in Poland was coming to an end. I literally ate my way through Poland and would say that it was the best food I ate in Europe. That is probably because it was similar to what I grew up on, meat and potatoes. If you go to Poland, you cannot complain that you can’t afford to eat in nice restaurants! I recommend everyone to go to Poland to see what the Polish culture is all about. I’m proud to be 25% Polish. Thanks Grandpa.

You might need to wipe your mouth now as you may be drooling from the delicious looking food. J