How I Spent a Sunday in Warsaw, Part I: Touring Old Town, Muranów, and a Bit of Praga (April 2026)

After my busy Saturday in Łodz (read part I, part II, part III), I had set aside Sunday for a fuller exploration of Warsaw. First on the agenda was a highlights / overview tour with one of our Warsaw partners. I'd be getting orientation in the Old Town, some additional perpective on the Muranów neighborhood, and also a quick pass through Praga. Our agenda was not necessarily the typical tour, but something of a hybrid and a chance to meet Marcin.

He came to pick me up in this:

It's a Zuk.

I had some concerns that doing a tour in one of these would be corny or really make me stand out as a TOURIST. But what I experienced was that people love the Zuk. Or are at least fascinated by the Zuk. Old timers seem to have a warm nostalgia for it. Younger folks were curious about it. And I did not see any others driving around Warsaw. It seemed unique, unlike the dozens of classic car tours you see rolling around Lisbon, for example. The vehicle was definitely an ice breaker / attention getter, but not in a crazy disruptive way. Just every time we parked there would be one or two people commenting and others doing double takes and smiling. I'd say it is maybe akin to the effect that a VW van has (had?) when you'd see one in the wild. But with more working class vibes than flower child energy.

Functional space in the back for tours up to maybe 6-7 people. I rode shotgun for my personal tour.

First stop, Sigismund's Column and the entrance to Old Town. Took a few establishing shots, including the prime location McDonald's (more to acknowledge the interesting juxtaposition than as a scouting shot for lunch later).

Our timing coincided with the trumpeter , so I snagged a video with some awkward audio as Marcin got self-conscious mid recording.



As we walked around Marcin explained how the area was destroyed in the war and rebuilt by the communists (who leveraged the reconstruction in propaganda illustrating how pro-Poland they were). He pointed out some elements here and there where you can see if something is original or was rebuilt. Honestly I don't remember those tips. But in the bottom two pictures below you can see how the bricks around the foundation are distinctly different than those further up the wall.

We maneuvered through the streets of old town and I took some of the obligatory pictures. I'm a sucker for tidy symmetrical scenes like this.

Also a fan of elevated walkways between builings. Bonus for the peek out to the Vistula river.

Kept moving to see the main Rynek and of course the mermaid statue.

After a spin through the old town we took the Zuk to the Muranów neighborhood, which was where much of the Jewish Ghetto was during WWII. My Friday tour covered some of the more traditional elements and sights related to the Jewish Ghetto. With this tour Marcin wanted to show some of the less obvious, perhaps overlooked aspects. We stopped on Nowolipki street, between Smocza and Jana Pawła II, near the church of St. Augustine (pic below).

The area is now residential flats, with some murals honoring local figures, some of whom participated in the Uprising, like Irena Kwiatkowska.

Marcin flipping through his materials

The detail that Marcin wanted to emphasize was how this area was built right on top of the demolished buildings of the ghetto. And that thoughout the area the bricks of the old buildings are still just under the surface. To make his point, he kicked through some dirt and turned this up.

The demolition was so vast and the resources to rebuild so scarce that they mixed the ashes and debris of the old buildings with cement and raised the apartment blocks right on top of the old ghetto ruins. So as you walk around what is now a peaceful seeming residential area, literally right under your feet are reminders of the absolute horror that took place 85 years ago.

After that soaked in for a moment we hopped back in the Zuk and made our way over to Praga. On the way I took a few scenery shots.

I liked this guy's hat

A glimpse down Przyrynek from Wojtowska. Marcin noted it's a very nice street for people who have more money than he does.

A shot over toward the old town while traveling on Wybrzeze Gdanskie

And then we entered into the Praga side via Most Slasko-Dabrowski. The intersection of Targowa and Aleja Solidarnosci had vibes of some big ol' Chicago intersections.

Maybe Western and Diversey or something like that. Maybe Fullerton and Ashland. On the edge of interesting neighborhoods but with a gritty/grim mundanity. The necessary 'vialidades' as we call them in la CDMX, that connect one part of a city with another, more practical than charming.

We only did a quick spin through a small slice of Praga, with the point being to illustrate how uneven the redevelopment is as a result of the very complicated issues related to determining ownership and accountability. Block by block, building by building, lot by lot, you saw how 80 years later this part of Warsaw is still wrestling with the weight and complications from the war.

Our time was winding down so Marcin pointed the Zuk back to my apartment where I'd grab a coffee to fuel up for the next stage of the day (next post).