European Holiday 2025 - Warsaw, Poland

My wife and I are currently in Warsaw, Poland enjoying the first city of our European holiday.  We've found Warsaw to be lovely; the people are friendly, the city is easily accessible by foot and public transport, and the food is great.

We have participated in two "free" guided walking tours so far, the Old Town and the Warsaw Ghetto.  The tours were both interesting, moving and informative.

We have also already done some obligatory book hunting.  Yesterday we travelled by tram to the Mokotow district to visit The Books.  This store sells both new and second-hand English language books.  There are two premises around 100 metres apart.  We learnt about this bookshop from a video on YouTube but sadly the store owner, who features in the video, wasn't behind the counter.

Here's some James Bond books we found including several printed by Penguin as a promo give away with The Times in the UK back in the 2010's.   Some of these books were found in the main store while most were found in the second.

From The Books we travelled by tram back toward Warsaw and stopped near the University Polytechnic where we visited the only other remaining English language book store in the city, As You Like It.  A compact store with books shelved from floor to ceiling, and a friendly staff member behind the central counter.

Opposite our hotel was a bookstore that only sold new books, Empik.  Here we found several new Bond novels in Polish.  This is one of a chain of book stores in Warsaw that are great places to visit for toys, magazines, music, books and many other items.  It actually reminded me of an old Borders store.  Fortunately these Empik stores are always busy.

We also encountered several other book stores during our travels.  Here's a few photos:

My wife was excited for me when she noticed an international book fair being set up near our hotel.  There were tens of white tents being pitched.  Sadly it will occur this coming weekend when we will have already left for Krakow, Poland.

Finally, here's some photos of our travels so far:

The Old Town

My favourite building in Warsaw, The Palace Of Culture And Science, which with a name like that was obviously built during a communist period in Poland's complex history

The short row of remaining buildings from the Warsaw Ghetto

The only remaining Jewish synagogue in Warsaw constructed prior to WWII.  The only reason it still exists is because it was used as a storehouse by the Nazis

A statue commemorating the Warsaw Uprising during WWII

Another statue commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during WWII (which also appeared in the recent film "A Real Pain")