Thought Bubbles by Ruthie

When I visited, the old town was undergoing some heavy-duty renovations. The locals I spoke to were rather apologetic about the renovations. They know how it looks without the works and lamented that those of us visiting wouldn’t see it in its full beauty. But I didn’t have anything to compare it to, so I didn’t mind the fence maze and yellow digger photobombing my tourist snaps! It almost added to the charm of the city – a bit of a hotchpotch of old and new, unordered and ordered, historical beauty and modern infrastructure – and it certainly made me want to visit again.

The main attractions of the old square remain – beautifully painted, charming merchants’ houses, each with a colourful pattern and lined up like rolls of exquisite fabric in a market. At the end of the row of houses lies the town hall – an impressive building reminiscent of a toy castle with little turrets and many arches. Concealed in the top, middle turret are two mechanical goats which grace the great outdoors at noon each day and move, slowly butting heads with one another. On the cobblestones below, crowds gather before noon to watch these endearing metal creatures have their spot in the limelight, whilst accompanied by trumpet players and the chimes of the clock.

Legend has it that two goats were going to be cooked up for a stew but ran away. They were found in the town hall, which was on fire. Hailed for saving the town by drawing attention to the fire, the goats have become a symbol of Poznań and depictions of them can be found on many souvenirs. You can’t miss seeing the mechanical goats at noon! 

How to get here: Head to the central tram stop ‘Pl. Wielkopolski’.

Along Lake Malta (which sounds much more exotic than it is), lies the largest and

most modern water park in Poland using natural geothermal waters. Termy Maltańskie is everything you’d want from both a wholesome spa and a water park. There is a good range of activities for all ages: swimming pools, whirlpools, outdoor slides, indoor slides, kids play areas, and lounging areas. I loved the outdoor slides which were good fun, had nice views across the lake, and shorter queues than the indoor slides (which are a bit tucked away).

How to get there:

Tramline 8 stops at ‘Termalna’, which is a short walk away from Termy Maltańskie, past the Novotel Hotel and round the corner. You could also take a tram or bus to Ronda Śródka and walk alongside the lake to get there. I didn’t do this, but the lady in the tourist information centre suggested it, so it must be decent. 

Entrance and cost

You can buy tickets online and skip the queue on arrival, but I struggled to figure the online system out. So I just queued for a bit outside (it was a Saturday in August!) and got tickets at the reception. 

I paid 66 zloty (about £12) to go in for 3 hours. There are additional costs per minute if you stay longer than your allotted time. It’s all worked out on fancy wristbands! I ended up staying for an extra 20 minutes which cost 8.50 zloty (£1.60). Whether you go in for 3 hours, 1 hour or the whole day, I would say it’s worth relaxing and not clock-watching all the time. If you pay a bit extra for staying later, it’ll be worth it!

It seems fitting to start with the tourist information centre given this was the destination of my first outing in Poznań. I love a proper tourist information centre with maps, leaflets, souvenirs and more often than not, friendly staff. The tourist information centre in Poznań didn’t disappoint. The free guidebook I picked up became my go-to for information and inspiration and is quite possibly the reason I stayed longer. Sitting on the main square, the tourist information centre is small but comprehensive. It’s easy to find and within walking distance from the central tram stop ‘Pl. Wielkopolski’.

The ‘Walkative’ free walking tour of the Old Town is a great way to spend a couple of hours. It starts at Freedom Square (Plac Wolności) and lasts about 1 hour 45 minutes. The Poznań walking tour provided an interactive, easy and enjoyable way to learn a few facts about the city, hear some stories about the buildings and get to know a bit about local traditions and customs. Our tour guide was a local who told us about Poznań, from famous croissants and the potato museum to uprisings and major historical events. It was a good and digestible balance between serious and light-hearted information and consisted of a good amount of walking. Although these are free, a tip is well deserved and keeps such tours going. Once booked, head to the meeting point and look out for the yellow umbrella!

The rather imposing red brick cathedral is the city’s oldest historical monument. It is very impressive from the outside but has a slightly eerie feeling inside (but that might just be my atheist bias!) The Cathedral stands proudly in a small square with a few other historic religious buildings and nice shaded seated areas. This part of the city is separated from the main old square by the River Warta and River Cybina. It lies in the Śródka neighbourhood, which is trendy and interesting. There are some lovely places to eat, gorgeous river walks and a breathtaking mural on a wall.

How to get there: Get tram line 7 to Rondo Śródka.

It’s worth a trip to Śródka just to see this incredible, spellbinding mural painted on the wall. There’s not much to say about this other than it is beautiful and way cooler in real life!

How to get here: Take a tram or bus to ‘Rondo Śródka’. 

There are around 50 museums in this small city! From the walking tour, I realised that Poznań has quite a troubled yet revolutionary history. Nowadays, it is a modern, friendly student city with lots of culture. The many museums of Poznań provide a way to explore the city’s past and present. There’s everything from an archaeology museum, ethnographic museum, and uprising museum to a potato museum and croissant museum. Ask in the tourist information centre for more details about each of the museums. 

This unsuspecting-looking café is in Jezcye, an area dubbed to be cooooool. ALEKosmos is a small café with a bathtub full of plants which oozed chilled, hipster vibes and served a delicious smashed avocado and tomato on toast, and freshly squeezed orange juice. It’s worth a visit for brunch, cake and coffee, and as an excuse to head to this edgy part of town.

How to get there: From the centre, take tram line 17 to ‘Polna’ and walk for 7 minutes.

Umberto is a delightful restaurant/café situated in Citadel Park and enclosed by an abundance of plants, flowers, origami flowers and lights. Sitting inside this beautiful paradise, it is easy to forget you’re in one of the biggest cities in Poland. The food exceeded expectations too, with my cynical mind wondering if it was all show and no substance. With a selection of vegan, vegetarian and meaty dishes, the menu offered a variety of meals from pizzas to salads. I went for the stuffed aubergine with couscous and veg and enjoyed every mouthful. I was hoping to go again to try out their breakfast but ran out of time, so you’ll have to go for me!

How to get there: Take a tram line 7 to ‘Park Cytadela’, ‘or ‘Armii Poznań’ or a bus to ‘Urząd Marszałkowski’. You’ll need to walk up the hill to get there.

On Wrocławska street, lined with bars and restaurants, Pizzatopia is a pretty average-looking pizza place. It has neutral colours, simple seating and signs with pictures of pizzas on wooden boards. But what makes Pizzatopia different is the build-your-own model. Literally a ‘choose-whatever-you-want’ pizza fest. The waitress seemed disappointed when I only chose mozzarella and expectedly asked “Another cheese?”.

When we moved on to toppings, I ended up pointing at different things until my pizza had most of the vegetable toppings on offer. It was then whisked away into the oven and then there were more questions. Balsamic? Yes. Spinach? Yes. Rocket? No. It tasted amazing. I’m not sure whether it was because I was really hungry, or had had such fun creating my pizza, or just objectively it tasted amazing, but it was a top-notch pizza. It was definitely more pricey than other pizza places, especially since they are not massive pizzas. But they’re bespoke and served on a wooden platter so go figure.

How to get here: Most of the old town and surrounding streets are pedestrianised, so you could walk from the central tram stop ‘Pl. Wielkopolski’.

Right next to the Old Square is Pierogarnia Stary Młyn, a cute old-fashioned-looking eatery. If you’re unfamiliar with Polish food, you’ll soon get familiar with pierogi – a Polish dumpling served boiled, steamed, fried, or oven-cooked. Sometimes drowning in beetroot soup (Borscht) and sometimes buried under onion sauce, these little doughy pockets of tastiness come in different sizes but in a familiar shape. Whilst strolling to the old town, the tables and chairs on the cobbled street invite you to sit down in what feels like a postcard.

Stuffed with potatoes and cheese and served with onion sauce, the pierogi tasted freshly made, homecooked and like a parcel of Polish cuisine on a plate. The bill, brought out by the friendly and patient waitress, was handed to me in a little wooden box shaped like a pierogi. It was a delightful end to a delightful meal. It wasn’t the cheapest meal it was worth every penny for the taste and location.

How to get here: I walked from the central tram stop ‘Pl. Wielkopolski’.

If you’re looking for taste sensations, an element of surprise and cheap alcohol that tastes -and actually is- classy, head to Ice Bar. There is a large board displaying a list of names and numbers, each corresponding to a carefully curated shot. I recommend choosing one at random and finding out what it is as the bar staff pour the ingredients into a glass for you. Discussing the imaginative names and trying to guess what some of the shots include is also a bit of a conversation starter – or icebreaker, you could say. Expect alcohol and syrups in flavour combinations that’ll take you (hopefully pleasantly) by surprise, and lead you to reach into your wallet for 9 zloty (under £2) for another shot – more times than you anticipated.

I went to Śródka one evening to take in the mural on the wall a little more. And there is no better place to do that than in the outdoor seating area of Hotel Śródka, directly opposite the mural. The restaurant served ‘Asian’ food, suitably in inverted commas because it was a mix of cuisines, ingredients and interpretations of Asian food.

The summer rolls and bao bun that I had tasted good, had fresh veg and herbs with them and were enjoyed whilst admiring the mural in the background and spotting new details. At the end of the meal I strolled off full of food and art, but I was slightly reluctant to leave this picturesque spot.

How to get here: Get a tram or bus to Rondo Śródka

I made my way to the social night market on a Sunday evening following a recommendation in the guidebook. I arrived in what felt like a random part of the city with not much in immediate sight. Across the road from the tram station, there was an entrance that was reminiscent of edgy outdoor places I’d been to before. As I entered, it somehow felt familiar but with a distinctly unique character.

There are food stalls, bars, benches and places to sit, a marquee and a sandy area with deck chairs. Through a slightly unsuspecting fence area, there are more food stalls, benches, graffiti-covered containers housing toilets, and some cool LED light decorations on the rugged brick wall.

As I sat and ate my very tasty Greek souvlaki dinner, which cost around 30 zloty, I soaked in the lighting, music and atmosphere and spotted people heading towards a door on the side of the bricked building for what later turned out to be a rave. Deciding that going to a rave on a Sunday night before work was not something I fancied, I opted instead to sit on the deck chairs with a (very sweet) cider.

 If you’re after a cool outdoor place for dinner or drinks, street food, deck chairs, funky lights or a rave, it’s worth stopping by. Check which days it is open! Located on ‘Kolejowa Street’, 10 minutes from tram stop Rynek Łazarski.

On a day the wifi went down in my accommodation, I had to quickly find a café suitable for working in. Kahawa came up top in Google results and came up trumps. Situated by Plac Ratajskiego, this unassuming-looking café also doubles up as a bookshop and seems to invite anyone in to chill and read, work, eat, drink coffee, chat or sit and watch the world go by. The staff were friendly and welcoming, and the food seemed freshly made and reasonably priced.

I started by ordering scrambled eggs only to learn that they come in a deal with the sandwiches. So, my breakfast for the day was a plate of scrambled egg (served as it says on the tin), and a hummus and salad sandwich on rye bread. Kahawa has a relaxed atmosphere and if I had had time to go back and sample a coffee and a cake, I would have done it for sure.

The bus and tram network around the city is brilliant. I don’t want to curse it for your trip, but in my experience, it was punctual, easy to navigate, clean and a pleasure to use. At each stop, there are clear timetables with the route numbers and routes. The ‘Jakdojade’ is a must-download app for Poznań. It is a very comprehensive and user-friendly guide for all inner city travel. The app shows the best routes, transport and connections for travelling from A to B, and is the go-to place to buy tickets. You simply top-up your wallet on the app and then can buy your tickets just before travelling. 

The transport is cheap; a 15-minute ticket costs 4 zloty (70p!) and would take you just about from one end of the city to the centre. There are other types of tickets available too. Public transport is regularly checked by inspectors who are more than happy to give locals and tourists a fine. The receptionist in my accommodation was unfortunately fined when his phone ran out of battery and he couldn’t show the inspector his ticket. So, the moral of the story is to buy a ticket and keep your phone charged.

And with such a good service, it doesn’t feel like a chore to shell out less than a pound to travel on a modern tram that zips you across the city.