How I spent a Saturday in Łodz, Poland: Part 1 - Manufaktura & Poznański's Palace

After paying my respects at the Radegast Station Holocaust Monument, I called a Bolt to bring me back to the city center. My plan was to work my way north to south, then back up to the train station for my ride home.

Perhaps the best known sight in modern day Łodz, Manufaktura sits at the northern edge of old town, just west of Park Śledzia. I just learned through its Wikipedia entry that 2026 is its 20th birthday. You should check that link out for the full story. An impressive example of urban redevelopment and civic pride.

My Bolt dropped me off at the modern entrance over on the west side of the complex. Maybe he was trolling me. Maybe that's the best and easiest drop off point. So my first view of Manufaktura was pretty generic.

Pop inside and you have the standard scenes from a modern mall set virtually anywhere on Planet Earth.

Leroy Merlin, which seems to be a French answer to Home Depot, with outlets across Spain, Portugal, South Africa, Brazil, and, yes, Poland

Some sort of pop-up pet expo, best I could tell. Spotted a handful of folks happily walking their dogs in the mall before I came upon this and put 2+2 together.

Smart looking shops with names I'd never heard of

Eventually made my way out to the eastern side, where you see more of the traditional character.

First restaurant I spotted, The Mexican, made me smile

The plaza is a public gathering and event space used throughout the year, albeit not on this grey mid-April Saturday. However you can see its potential.

Fun ferris wheel and carousel for family enterntainment at the other end. Surely more popular during better weather. But I can say that both the pretzel and doughnut kiosks were doing solid business when I passed by again later in the day.

I strolled the park briefly. Nice. But I'd come back through here a little later.

Since I was in the vicinity I did a quick fly by a couple of hotels ...

Vienna House by Wyndham Andel's Łodz

PURO Łodz Centrum

And then it was time to visit Izrael Poznański's Palace, which now houses the Museum of the City of Łodz. First thing that got my attention was the coat check system. You head over to these smart lockers, drop your stuff, take the key with you, and that's it. No extra charge.

As far as 19th century residential palaces go, I suppose it was pretty nice.

Liked the billiards room

The phone is what caught my eye originally. Now I also see a manual pencil sharpener?

Strong mantle. VERY strong winter coat.

Nice view through the gardens over toward his factory complex

I spent about 30 minutes cruising through the residence and took a couple dozen more photos. You get the idea. Then you can progress to a lower level with more of Łodz's general history.

Worth a visit, no doubt. If I was spending more time in Łodz I would have spent more time with the city-focused exhibit. But I got a flavor of it and moved on to the next stage of my Saturday in Łodz.

My visit to the Radegast Station Holocaust Monument (Łodz, Poland)

I had plans to cover a lot of ground during my Saturday in Łodz. One thing I wanted to make sure I saw was the Radegast Holocaust Monument. It's roughly 3 miles outside the city center and I didn't know how long it make take me to do everything else on my list, so I decided to head there first. Ordered a Bolt from the train station. Took a couple of vibe shots while waiting for the car to show up.

The location now feels modest. It is set back on an elbow-shaped side street, maybe 300m from route 72 that runs east-west across the northern part of the city. The entrance is a somber, simple brick structure with what at first looks like a chimney on top.

I thought that might have been some reference to Łodz's industrial history. But Gemini tells me it is the Column of Remembrance, and symobolizes lives cut short.

The weather was appropriately grey while I was there. And I had the place virtually to myself.

(Not sure what that bus was doing parked nearby, but it was not any kind of group tour visiting the site.)

It was just me and the two people who parked their bikes out front.

Viewing things through my travel advisor prism, I noted that the entrance was easily accessible.

As you walk through the tunnel the different sections illuminate. I imagine it's largely a function of smart design for energy savings. But it also serves to guide you through the chapters of the location's grim history.

Out back is a station house and rail car, which you can peer into. The simplicity of the site is powerful.

There is some additional information provided out back. And the view toward the entry is haunting. Imagining the last view of those being shipped off to Chełmno or Auschwitz.

You could easily spend 45 minutes here reading everything provided. I stayed between 15-20 minutes, which was plenty to make an impression.

My experience taking the train from Warsaw to Łodz

The next few posts will cover my full day in Łodz. I got there at 10:20am and left at 8:27pm, so 10 hours covering as much ground as I could. But it all started with the train ride.

Last year Judy and I relied on the trains as our primary mode transportation, including the major legs from Krakow to Wrocław and Poznan to Gdansk, as well as some locals, like visiting Malbork Castle and checking out Sopot. So I felt pretty comfortable with taking the train to Łodz for a day trip.

Started smoothly enough with a bus to Warszawa Głowna where I quickly found the departures info and my designated platform.

Took a couple of vibe shots. What you would expect from a major train station.

Also found this allegedly helpful screen that suggested where you could expect your wagon to stop along the platform. Nice idea. Maybe eliminate the last minute scramble from one end of the platform to the other when you see your wagon number whizzing by you.

Well, I was in Wagon 7 and I lined myself up at edge of sector 2 & 3 and I don't think that's where the wagon ended up stopping.

But then, I also wasn't sure of anything once I boarded the train. Found seat 75 and it looked nothing like what I expected. It was one of those configurations of 4 seats facing each other around a table set in between them, which I knew I did not book. Hmm. Now what? The train was not full so I kind of wandered through a couple of cars until I found another seat 75. I sat down there. I was a little puzzled because, naively I guess, I was not expecting multiple seat 75s on this local train to Łodz.

After about 5-10 minutes the ticket taker came around, scanned my ticket, and told me I was in the wrong car. She pointed off in the direction I should look for my seat, and off I went. What I ended up learning this day -- and who knows if it's a univerally relevant lesson or just was the method in place for IC 1906 that morning -- is that while the wagons can have various numbers on them, only one of those numbers is actually correct.

e.g. this is not wagon 13, it's wagon 7 ...

... and this is not wagon 2, it's wagon 6 ...

... and I guess the number on the LED screen within the car should have been a clue, too?

End of the day, I got there. It's a short, comfortable ride that drops you in a nice looking train station. Clean, small platform area.

Clean, quiet waiting area at entry level.

Note well: the toilets there are coin-op - bring some small złoty change if you want to be able to use them

Snagged a shot of the dramatic entryway as I waited for my Bolt. Next post will focus on where that Bolt took me to start the day of sightseeing in Łodz.