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What I saw in Warsaw

PHOTOS: RISHAD SAAM MEHTA

DATE WITH HISTORY Vilnius boasts open spaces and ancient buildings

Theo, the tour director on our Globus coach tour from Warsaw to Moscow put it perfectly when he welcomed us all in Warsaw during the start of the trip.

“Let’s compare the wondrous journey that lies ahead of us to cooking” he said, “I am the chef and you’ll are the ingredients. Let us all try and blend together well to cook up a delicious holiday.”

We were 28 of us from all over the world and we were starting off on a road trip that would take us through the Baltics and Russia.

The Baltics have had a tumultuous history and are a hotspot of culture. During our day of sightseeing around Warsaw we were shown the sights by Alexandria, a young local lady passionate and well-read about her city’s history. She told us how 85 per cent of Warsaw was reduced to rubble during the Second World War.

Today, you can’t help but salute the fortitude and determination of the people of Warsaw who with pride and painstaking effort rebuilt the old town to resemble what it looked like before it was destroyed. The Warsaw of today, hasn’t forgotten its past but it is not letting it impede its future. There are steel and aluminium skyscrapers, malls selling international brands and fine-dining restaurants that go packed every day of the week — all signs to show that the city has embraced capitalism with open arms.

The next day, we hit the road to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. The cloudless sky was a deep blue when we started exploring the old town of Vilnius at The Cathedral in Cathedral Square. This with its huge columns and rich interiors gives an insight into the cultural wealth of this city. Then there is St. Catherine’s done up in Baroque style and the Gothic style St. Anne’s Church built in brick during the late 15th Century.

The KGB Museum though is a grim place that you need strong nerves to visit. It tells of the horrors that the Soviet regime brought to those who resisted Communism. The evening is when the pedestrian areas of the old town leading away from Cathedral Square really come alive with buskers playing flutes, accordions and violins, cafés spilling out onto the streets and the sound of laughter and tinkling of glasses crowding the airwaves.

An entire day spent walking had made us ravenous and Ramsay had sourced out a quaint Porto Dvaras restaurant serving authentic Lithuanian cuisine. on the table were specialities such as hot beetroot soup, smoked bacon with cabbage and potatoes, chopped pork, breaded fish and of course, the zeppelins — grenade-sized dumplings that are made from potato dough, filled with meat and served with sour cream and a meat sauce. Then there was another speciality, the cranberry drink that was so thick that it could have been made from melted lipbalm. But we had a good opportunity to digest the meal since our hotel was a 30-minute walk from the old town.

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