Europe Trip 2025 - Łódź

We had both an awesome and a terrible experience in Łódź this time.

The good was the Zoo - big, modern (most modern in Europe?), interesting. With elements of an amusement park and playgrounds. Some animals (elephants, orangutans) looked sad/stressed though. 

A fighter plane at the bottom of the ocean.

A transport plane after crash landing in a jungle.

Funny story: I touched and was shocked by a live electric fence here. There was a warning sign, but either I saw it only afterwards, or I did not realise that it applied to that wire. I only remember that I was quite surprised by an electric shock while trying to take this photo.

These looked unreal.

Pygmy hippopotamus. Endangered.

The company sponsoring the kangaroo exhibit. "Na spacer i w góry, noś się jak kangury" - "when going for a walk or into the mountains, carry it/yourself like kangaroos" - cute.

Neither of these guys saw Australia.

Restaurant, quite expensive, but nice.

Underwater tunnel.

Orientarium is the mostly enclosed part of the zoo.

Food court with moss roofs. The unfortunate Polish name "Strefa gastro", means the "gastronomy zone".

This peacock was walking free.

Butterfly garden.

A capybara sharing an enclosure with some birds.

The bad was the city itself, on a late afternoon, early evening, workday. Dark side streets with dilapidated buildings. Lack of any public restrooms.

We came by car this time and trying to get near a specific point to pick up the rest of the group was almost impossible, because of a maze of one way streets, streets closed because of construction, and lack of parking. I kept driving in circles, never being able to stop anywhere close to where I needed to be. 

Then came the people. Youth drinking in public. Drunk man vomiting on the street, right next to us. Playground with graffiti. 

It didn't help that we were tired by that time, our phone batteries were almost depleted and the youngest one had a bad nappy emergency. 

 

Depressing.

An old beautiful villa.

Piotrkowska street.

The mural behind the tree asks "WZRASTASZ?", meaning, are you growing up/growing roots? 

Saw a few Palestinian flags.

What is the history of this place?

Łódź is a fascinating city with an interesting and sometimes very dark history: from September 1939 to January 1945 it was part of Germany proper and known as Litzmannstadt. Before the war the city was 31% Jewish, and one them was the later founder of Commodore and Atari - Jack Tramiel.

Europe Trip 2025 - Poland - Remnants of war and urban decay

In 2025 Poland's economy is set to be the 20th biggest in the world: 

Poverty rate is in the low range for OECD countries:

Unemployment rate is one of the lowest in OECD:

The real minimum wage in PPP is decent:

The motorway network is approaching the status of being complete:

Green - complete.

The first new high speed rail (HSR, max 320 km/h operational speed, max 350 km/h design speed) is being built, with the planned opening of the first section between Warsaw and Łódź in 2032 and the rest of the 480 km Y line connecting Warsaw, Łódź, Poznań and Wrocław by 2035.

Still, there is a lot to do to. The scars of the 1939-1945 war are still visible on some buildings in Warsaw:

9 Dymińska street - bullet holes.

224 Grochowska street - see the shell explosion pattern.

21 Hetmańska street - bullet holes.

There is a lot of dilapidated buildings, uneven pavements, missing footpaths, abandoned lots. Drivers park on grass and footpaths and destroy them. It's too easy to buy alcohol (you can buy it at any time of day or night at regular food shops and even at petrol stations) and it is too cheap (you can buy 0.5 litre beer bottle for about 2.5 PLN - 1 AUD, and a 0.5 litre bottle of vodka for 25 PLN). 

There is too much graffiti and grime. Some buildings need a wash. The iconic Palace of Culture was almost white when it was built in 1955: 

1958 photo by John Shultz

 

Now it's dirty grey:

Abandoned building:

11C? Żółkiewskiego street

Katowice were a beautiful city with tree lined streets and squares on some pre-war postcards. Since the fall of communism they lost 20% of population:

Łódź lost 24% of population since the fall of communism. This city has probably the biggest task of all Polish cities to renovate, but I believe it will pull through. Its advantage is being in the middle of Poland and close to Warsaw. In 2032 it will get a high speed rail connection to Warsaw, with travel time of about 40 minutes. 

Kraków, despite growing population, and a public image of a beautiful city, there are places like these:

Kazimierz district

Wrocław, despite being a beautiful and cared for city in general, also has many ugly places:

The graffiti at the base of the building and the van parking on grass.

So many cars, and even a smokestack.  

An alcohol shop where an apartment building should be.

Cars make grime, grime stays on facades.

How are these chain spikes legal? They are at a small child's eye level.

Most of this street is for cars. No place for trees, bikes, benches.

Someone is fighting ugly graffiti with street art. The message says: Don Quixote is the patron of people fighting the plague of illegal graffiti.

Inside one of the old buildings.

Dirt and lack of maintenance.

Abandoned shop.

Abandoned historical building.

Street art being destroyed by graffiti.

Hopefully this one will get renovated soon.

Lublin, a beautiful old town, but not all of it has been restored yet:

And then when you step outside:

What is the history of this building? Is it missing its second half?

Abandoned, but secured. Hopefully, it will become something useful again soon.