Warsaw

[Nudga]

Me and the missus are going next year to see System of a Down but are planning on making a long weekend of it.

I've never been to Poland so looking for tips from the more seasoned travellers on here please.

Edit;

Forgot to say that I'm not interested in the ww2 stuff.

[BillyStubbsTears]

95% of all the buildings in Warsaw were destroyed in WWII. There's very, very little of any pre-WWII historical interest left.

Mind. Might be WWIII by then...

[Nudga]

Well that was helpful, cheers.

[SydneyRover]

Didn't make it that far east so not that helpful either Nudga, but we visited Gdansk and Krakow 2 years ago the food is good (tourist areas) and public transport was good and cheap.

[Sprotyrover]

I think you will find that they rebuilt most of Warsaw using pre war Photographs.
Done a good job too.
Another interesting place is the area around St Nicholas Church in the old East Zone of Berlin, the Church has been left as a ruin, but the East Germans rebuilt the old St George’s Square area in concrete again from Photo Archives.

[mushRTID]

I think Poland is my favourite place.

Good and cheap food/beer, friendly people, decent nightlife, very relaxed atmosphere and some decent walking tours, beautiful buildings.

I can’t help you with Warsaw as Iv only been Krakow and Gdańsk, but loved them both and will do Warsaw soon.

[drfchound]

95% of all the buildings in Warsaw were destroyed in WWII. There's very, very little of any pre-WWII historical interest left.

Mind. Might be WWII by then...

We already have had WW11.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I've visited Warsaw several times with work.

It's changed beyond recognition in 30 years and is a successful modern city now, but still a hell of a lot of the buildings are Stalinist Brutalist architecture. Like the colossal Palace of Culture and Science that dominated the skyline before the main business area developed.

The Wilanow Palace is worth a look. And like Sproty says, they did rebuild the little Old Town Square after it was flattened by the Nazis.

I know you said you're not interested in WWII stuff Nudga, but if you really want to understand Poland, you have to visit the Ghetto.  And the Warsaw Uprising Museum. The partisans attacked the Nazi occupiers when the Red Army got to the banks of the Vistula, thinking the Soviets would combine with them. Instead the Soviets sat outside the city while the Nazis killed maybe 200,000 Poles in 3 months, and deported over half a million others.

 It leaves an indelible mark on you about what happens if we allow fascists to take over. I've never forgotten it, and the Poles certainly will never. That's why they are currently renovating and rebuilding bomb shelters in Warsaw as a defence against their eastern neighbour.