AD | Novotel Poznan Malta review

Poznan is my favourite city in Poland and, I think, just my favourite city. It's colourful and gorgeous and so much fun, and so friendly, and not too big. We recently spent a week there, and we stayed at the Novotel Poznan Malta. So, what did we think?

Novotel Poznan Malta | location

First of all, the location of the Novotel Poznan Malta - it's near Lake Malta, as the name suggests, around a 5-10 minute walk from the water. This places it around a 15-20 minute tram ride from the old town, and around a half an hour drive from the airport. We got an uber to/from the airport, which was only around £7, and we each got a weekly tram ticket using the Jakdojade app. This cost us around £10 per person and was absolutely perfect, as we got the tram pretty much everywhere! The hotel has a large car park, if you're driving, and the tram stop is about a 3 minute walk from the hotel doors.

The location means it's out of the way of the city, more in nature, and has a real 'holiday' feel as opposed to 'city break' feel, if you know what I mean... there is a park, thermal baths, aqua park and more within walking distance, and you can hire bikes to get around if you want to.

The food & amenities

We had breakfast included in our stay, and every morning there was a large array of hot and cold buffet food from croissants to scrambled eggs to pasta salad to smoothies. Bread, cheese, cold cuts, coffee, cereal, juice, sausages, cheesecake, the whole shebang. We also ordered lunch and dinner a fair few times, especially when it was too hot to be going out anywhere, and we never had a bad meal at the Novotel Poznan Malta! Highlights included the Caesar salad, cheese burgers, pizza, and chocolate fondant dessert.

The bar was really well priced, given that it's a hotel, with pints of lager coming in at around £3.50 - bargain. The hotel has plenty of outdoor seating, and some indoor bar seating too, as well as sun loungers and hammocks around the small (but big enough and well supervised) swimming pool. I was SO glad to have a pool, as it got to around 33 degrees some days - jumping in was the perfect way to cool off. There is a volleyball court on site, too!

Novotel Poznan Malta is hot on sustainability; you can request no housekeeping in exchange for Accor rewards, and there is a cold filtered water machine on every floor so there's no need to buy bottled water. There's information about food waste to encourage you to only pick up what you'll actually eat from the buffet, and the hotel has their own veg/herb garden too! We were so impressed with this aspect, and definitely made the most of that cold water...

From the foosball table to the Xbox to the indoor & outdoor kids' play areas, there is plenty for little ones too. There weren't many kids there at the same time as us, but I can see it being a great place for a nice family holiday.

Our room at the Novotel Poznan Malta

We had a superior room, which was really spacious with a comfortable bed, separate toilet & bathroom, desk space, a TV, a wardrobe, a sofa and big windows. The one thing we missed was a mirror in the bedroom area, but it didn't matter too much. There was a coffee machine, plugs next to the bed, various lamps and lighting, and air con. It was a brilliantly sized, clean room with everything we needed for a chill week away in Poznan!

I'd definitely recommend a stay at the Novotel Poznan Malta if you're planning a summer trip to gorgeous Poznan - the staff can't do enough, the location is spot on, the food is incredible and the amenities are brilliant. 10/10 from us :)

Where we ate in Krakow

We spent 6 days in Krakow which meant that we tried out a fair few places when it came to eating and drinking - and I like to share the bad *and* the good so without further ado, let's dive into where we ate in Krakow on our recent trip... and whether you should follow in our footsteps!

Pierogarnia Krakowiacy

I absolutely love pierogi and my girlfriend, Kate, had never tried it before so I knew it was a must on day one of the trip. I'd looked online for a few places and found the one I wanted to go to - but when we got there, we genuinely could not find a door or way in whatsoever. Very odd! 

But just a few doors down we found Pierogarnia Krakowiacy, which seems to be a small chain with a few locations across the city. There were plenty of different options to choose from, including some vegan pierogi - we opted for 8 each of the tomato/mozzarella/onion and the pork/onion. I have to say they weren't the best pireogi I've ever had, but I still enjoyed them. Kate wasn't a fan! For both portions with a side of garlic sauce, a Pepsi and a homemade lemonade it came to around £16. I think this is fairly pricey, but it's a very central location.

Hard Rock Cafe

Any time I'm on a city break and there's a Hard Rock Cafe, you can guarantee I'm going there. We visited after our long day trip to Zakopane, and I was so excited for their twisted mac n cheese which comes with chicken and garlic bread. It was just as good as it always is, and Kate's burger looked amazing too. You simply cannot go wrong, and it's a really affordable place to eat especially given its central location and the fact it's a chain. They had some great memorabilia here too, from Oasis to KISS and loads more in between.

Pod Wawelem

One of our best friends told us we *had* to go to Pod Wawelem which is right by the castle. I'd heard of it before and given its location I thought it would be brilliant - they serve steins of beer and a variety of traditional Polish/Galician dishes. When we sat down they immediately presented us with a giant pickle and some sauerkraut, and we both ordered cokes as we don't actually like beer that much. Kate went for a kebab, which she'd been promised was huge and amazing, and I went for one of the more traditional dishes which ended up being a breaded chicken breast, some peas and some mash although it sounded a lot more appetising on the menu.

Kate's kebab looked impressive hanging on a board with a flame at one end, but it was pretty standard and a lot of the accompaniments (rice, potatoes etc) were cold which was a shame. All in all we felt pretty let down by our meal, though it wasn't too expensive either... It's a great setting and I've heard some great reviews previously, but we weren't fussed at all. I think it came to around £20 which would be a fantastic price point for somewhere so central, if the food had been better...

Nova

Where to start with Nova! Located in the Jewish quarter, just a few minutes on the tram from our hotel, we'd spotted this bar/restaurant a few nights earlier - lit up with fairy lights, it was so dreamy. We decided to go there on the Friday night for a proper date night, and it didn't disappoint. We had Long Island iced teas bigger than our heads, and Kate had a fancy steak dish while I opted for a creamy garlic pasta. Everything from the setting, the decor, the staff, the drinks, the food... it was all absolutely perfect. 10/10 couldn't recommend more. Cooked to perfection, the food was just delicious. Our only regret was that we didn't find it earlier so we could go more than once! It was about 230 zloty or £44 for the two cocktails and two mains, so definitely one of the most expensive meals we had but SO worth it. 

They also have a club which opens a lot later on, and we did try to get in but there is a strict dress code - it sounded pretty good though! 

Lajkonik

This is a bakery/cafe chain all over Krakow, like an upmarket Greggs maybe - we popped in here mid-morning before heading to the Salt Mines and got a sandwich, as well as another sandwich each to take with us and eat later on as we didn't know how long we'd be out for on our day trip. I can't remember or find the prices, but there was a huge variety of sandwiches, paninis, bagels and so on; you can see the menu here if you want! I popped back another day to get a donut for Kate, and they had loads of options for sweet treats too. For somewhere quick and easy especially if you're on a budget, you can't go wrong.

Well Done

This was where we ate in Krakow on our first night; it wasn't too far from our hotel, and it did cocktails and milkshakes alongside a variety of American-style food. I opted for chicken strips and fries which were tasty, although I found the chicken to be quite dry. Kate got a huge Jack Daniels burger and she said it was amazing - it definitely looked it! I got a sex on the beach and Kate got a vanilla milkshake, and we both absolutely loved our drinks. Again, not an expensive place at all - with an added Pepsi, our whole bill only came to around £21GBP. You get free popcorn on the table, too!

We actually came back here for dessert one night, where Kate got pancakes which she said were fab; I ordered the brownie which sadly they were out of, but it is what it is.

Primo

One day when I was *very* hungover we went for a walk around the Podgorze area, which is where our boutique hotel was, and we decided to stop at Primo for lunch - a little Italian, they had all your typical pizza and pasta dishes available. I ordered a cheese pizza off the lunch menu; they brought out a pizza with very thin parma ham on it, but I ate it anyway (I think I pointed to the wrong pizza on the menu so I wasn't about to kick up a fuss, especially in my fragile state). It was still really nice, a very thin and flavoursome pizza. Kate opted for lasagne which I had a bite of too, and I can confirm it was lovely. This was yet another affordable option for food, especially being further out from the city centre. I think we spent just over 60 zloty here, so just over £12 for two mains and two soft drinks.

So that's everywhere we ate in Krakow! As I say, Nova was a definite highlight and if you're going there as a couple, or with friends/family, I'd highly recommend going for dinner one evening. Top notch!

My experience at an Ekstraklasa game in Poznan, Poland

I've just come back from a solo trip to Poznan in Poland, and I wanted to share my experience at a Lech Poznan Ekstraklasa home game while I was there! Keep reading to find out how it went...

What is Ekstraklasa?

The Ekstraklasa is Poland's equivalent of the Premier League - their version of top flight football. It was founded in 1926, and is currently sponsored by PKO Bank Polski. There are 18 teams, playing each other twice throughout the season both home and away. The current champions are the team I support: Lech Poznan, who I chose after loving the city so much on my previous visit.

Getting tickets

When it came down to it, getting tickets was fairly easy. They go on sale two matches at a time, so when I first checked they weren't available; I signed up to the site in the meantime and waited for them to come on sale. When they did I logged in, chose where to sit (the difficult part for me!) and purchased my ticket which cost around £12 GBP.

Choosing where to sit was really confusing, but after some Googling I figured out that the ultras (very passionate singing fans who have some sort of organised drummers, massive flags, and general hooliganism going on) sit behind one goal so I knew to avoid that - this article was really helpful!

Getting to the ground

There are tram and bus stops near to the ground, so you can get there really easily from pretty much anywhere in the city; I personally got the number 12 tram from near my hotel, and it was then just a couple of minutes walk around the corner to the stadium itself. There were loads of fans on the tram so I definitely knew I was going the right way!

Away fans have a completely separate entrance for safety reasons, which is wild, but everywhere is really well signposted and I found my correct gate easily.

The game itself

Okay so we lost 2-0 but it was still a great atmosphere; the ultras, scary as they can be if you're not used to it, definitely added a bit of oomph to the whole thing. The stadium was only around half-full which did surprise me, as did the sorry state of the pitch. It's a far cry from the Premier League, put it that way. But I had a great time and really enjoyed being surrounded by Poznan fans watching the match.

Would I recommend an Ekstraklasa match?

As I just said, this league is nothing like the Prem. But would I recommend going to a match if you're in Poland? I absolutely would! As a football fan, I love going to games in general and am aiming to go to as many as possible in different countries just for the experience. So it was great to tick this off my bucket list, and of course Poznan are a team I already had a vested interest in. Overall, for £12 a ticket, yes I'd definitely say you should head to a game while you're away!

Have you ever been to an Ekstraklasa game? Let me know your experience in the comments...

Travel at home: Polish snack swap

I've pretty much ruled out any 2020 foreign travel as it stands, because everything is so up in the air and I just don't want to risk booking anything for it to be cancelled, plus I'm not sure if I'm ready to travel yet. Regardless, I still want to create travel-related content so in a bid to be creative, I reached out to the lovely Dominika from Into the Bloom who lives in Poland. We decided to set a budget and send each other some snacks from our home country. And oh did she deliver...

Savoury Polish food

My favourite crisps in the world are pizza monster munch, so I was thrilled to see a bag of them in here. These were closely followed by pizza bake rolls (I love pizza-flavoured snacks), so I was just buzzing. And then there were some paluzski, which are essentially salted pretzel sticks - these are really popular in Poland and incredibly tasty.

Polish sweets

Then it's on to sweet food - first up, a box of chocolate-dipped marshmallowy things from Wedel. Dominika says they're a love-hate thing, and I'm so excited to try them! Next I pulled out some Katarzynki, which is chocolate covered gingerbread, and four different chocolate covered wafer bars. These are another really popular snack to buy in the shops in Poland; from classic to coconut, they're just an all-round good time. There was some raspberry jaffa cakes in the box, and some fruity jelly sweets, and the Wedel karmel love chocolate WITH WAFER FLAKES. Game changer!!!! At the bottom of the box were some various Polish pick 'n' mix chocolates (including one with vodka in the centre) and a milk chocolate czeko tubka, which is pretty much just a squeezy tube of chocolate spread and therefore an incredibly good time.

Extra goodies

That wasn't everything, though! Dominika had popped in a spray toner and body scrub from my favourite Polish skincare brand, Ziaja, which I'm so excited to use. There was also a face mask from Eveline, so my pamper night is sorted. Last but absolutely not least, Dominika had sent me a notebook and pen with Gdańsk on them - something to fuel my wanderlust as I'm getting some travel-writing notes down on paper!

And that's everything! I can't wait until next year when I can (hopefully) head back to Poland and eat all of these snacks again. A huge thank you to Dominika - I feel so spoilt, and so grateful. I hope you like your goodies too!

Travel at home: making pierogi

So we can't travel - and it's been a long time since I was in Poland, which as you probably know is my favourite country. I want to take this moment to remind you that there is a war against the LGBT+ community currently happening in Poland, and it would be great for everyone to educate themselves about that here. It's so important to keep the conversation going. But today I wanted to bring a bit of travel back to the blog, because I really miss Poland and city breaks and cheap vodka - so I thought I'd make pierogi for the first time!

I've been banging on about doing this for ages, and my best friend got me some dumpling moulds for my birthday which are perfect for making pierogi - so I took myself to Morrisons, bought the ingredients and spent a Sunday making them from scratch for the first time ever. I mostly followed this pierogi recipe, so I'm not taking the credit, but here's what I used and how it went...

🇵🇱 241 grams of plain flour (I used Asda's own)
🇵🇱 1/2 tea spoon of table salt
🇵🇱 1 egg
🇵🇱 113 grams of soured cream (from the fajita aisle)
🇵🇱 57 grams of unsalted butter (room temp)

Firstly I mixed the flour and salt together, then added the egg followed by the soured cream and butter. This didn't take too long, and then I kneaded it which was horrible because as you can imagine, it's a very sticky dough. Eventually I felt like it was just about done so I covered it in clingfilm and put it in the fridge for a few hours while I went out for lunch.

I decided to experiment and fill & cook half the dough after 2-3 hours, and the rest of the dough after leaving it to prove overnight just to see if there was any difference. So I split the dough in two and started cooking some filling - my first option was quorn mince and onion, cooked in a bit of olive oil and herbs. After the filling was done I cut circles out of the dough, placed them on the dumpling moulds, added around 1 teaspoon of filling and folded them in half - the moulds seal and shape them for you, which is just amazing.

Then I popped them in some salted boiling water, and waited for them to float - this signifies they're cooked, and it only took a few minutes. You can eat them like that but it's much nicer to just sauté them in a bit of butter and let them go brown. Serve with some garlic sauce and a sprinkling of crispy onions and you've got a lovely little Polish dish.

For a first attempt, I think I did a really good job and I'm so excited to make them again, playing around with different fillings etc! Have you ever made pierogi? What filling would you go for?

8 fascinating facts about Poland

If you read my blog or know me 'in real life' then you'll know Poland is my favourite place in the world. While I'm desperately missing it, I thought I'd take the time to write a blog post with 8 of my favourite fascinating facts about Poland... Enjoy!

The national dish is Pierogi

It actually took me until my tenth visit to Poland to try pierogi, and I had it three times during that trip. It's delicious, if you get the good stuff. Like tiny dumplings, generally filled with cheese or meat and served with sour cream or garlic mayonnaise and little crispy onions, it is just AMAZING. I'm yet to find any in England so I am, at some point, going to attempt to make it from scratch. Wish me lucky...

Marie Curie was Polish

A lot of people don't seem to know this, but it's true. This incredible scientist and Nobel Prize winner was born in Warsaw, Poland's capital. There's a museum dedicated to her in the old town centre but, try as we might, we couldn't find the entrance when I was last there. Very strange!

There is 328 miles of coastline in Poland

Right along the Baltic Sea, Poland has so much lovely coastline and many beaches. My favourite is the beach in Sopot, home to hundreds of swans and the longest pier in Europe. It was pouring down and freezing cold when I visited, but still so beautiful.

Picking wild mushrooms is a family activity

In Poland, it's common to go mushroom picking as a family - they teach kids early on how to distinguish between edible and poisonous mushrooms too. I just think this is so lovely; what a joyous way to spend an afternoon out in the fresh air!

University in Poland is free

Sorry?! How cool is this?! State-run universities provide free education to Polish citizens. That's way better than paying 9 grand a year if you ask me...

There are 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Poland

I love visiting monuments, historic sites and ancient ruins - and there are plenty to choose from in Poland. From the old town in Warsaw to the Białowieźa Forest, they are really diverse too. It's such a gorgeous country with such a rich cultural history.

The Polish alphabet has 32 letters

I'm currently trying to learn Polish on Duolingo and let me tell you it is difficult. I'm just about there with the basics but it's only going to get harder...

The biggest section of any supermarket in Poland is the 'candy' section

And I can confirm, they have a great variety of sweet snacks. My favourite is Wedel's Karmel Love chocolate which basically tastes like Caramac but far superior in my opinion. Their pick and mix variety is huge, too!

There you have it - 8 fascinating facts about Poland. When we can, I would highly recommend you visit this gorgeous place. However, I want to mention that as much as I love the country, it's not all sunshine and roses. Currently there is an ongoing struggle for LGBT+ rights in Poland and it would mean the world to me if you read this information and signed some petitions regarding this horrific situation. It will only take you a few minutes. Thank you!

Visiting the Crooked Forest, Poland

I saw a photo of the Crooked Forest when I was about 12, and tucked it away in the back of my mind in a box labelled "cool places I'll probably never visit". But it's only in Poland, and I go there quite often anyway - and I realised it's not that hard to get there from Szczecin where I was already planning to go. So, I was able to visit somewhere I'd been hoping to see for half of my lifetime - the Crooked Forest. I couldn't find much information about how to get there, so I hope this posts is helpful if you are planning on visiting the Crooked Forest!

What is the Crooked Forest?

The Crooked Forest is a bit of a phenomenon. It's a grove of weirdly shaped pine trees just outside of the Nowe Czarnowo village. This is near Gryfino in Western Pomerania, Poland. Nobody knows why the trees are crooked, but there are plenty of theories. Was it a storm, or aliens, or human technique? It doesn't really matter, though - all that matters is that this is truly like stepping into a fairytale.  Keep reading to find out more about visiting the Crooked Forest...

Getting to the Crooked Forest

I was staying in Szczecin, so this post explains how to go about visiting the Crooked Forest from the city. You will want to head to Szczecin Main Railway Station, and buy a return ticket to Dolna Odra. There a few different routes that go via Dolna Odra, but none of them are any earlier than 1.10pm - this is worth noting!

The return journey costs just under 20 PLN per person. Be warned, if you are buying tickets for multiple people they sometimes just give you one ticket that states the number of people travelling - just so you know, to avoid any confusion. From Szczecin to Dolna Odra, the journey takes around 25 minutes.

When you get off the train at Dolna Odra, you'll be on the platform with one track either side. What you need to do is, once the train has left the station, cross the track that you arrived on. I know this sounds dangerous and terrible but we did it and it was fine, I promise. Trains aren't very frequent, so you'll have plenty of time to do this but it does only take a minute.

From here, head down the wide cut-through until you reach the road - this has bus stops on it. Ahead of you, to the right, you should be able to see a giant water pipe (pictured below) with a colourful block of flats to the left of it. This pipe serves as the entrance to the forest, so walk towards it. From Dolna Odra to the entrance of the Crooked Forest, the walk should take less than 10 minutes. Google Maps will have you going in a completely different direction, so be warned.

With your back to the train tracks, the forest will be straight ahead to the right. Google Maps was trying to get us to go left and all the way round, which would have taken about an hour - so ignore it!

Once you walk under the water pipe and into the forest, the crooked section is well signposted. It is absolutely beautiful, and SO worth visiting. If like us you have booked trains that are a couple of hours apart, walk through the rest of the forest and down towards the little river bank - it's so chilled out, and perfect for a relaxed walk.

👉🏼 Hotels in Szczecin 👈🏼

If you are planning on visiting the Crooked Forest in Poland, I hope this post has been helpful. If you're still a bit confused about how to get there, drop me an email (katygilroyblog@hotmail.co.uk) and I'll do my best to try and explain it in even more detail. 

Where to eat and drink in Szczecin

From what we could find, there aren't a huge amount of bars and restaurants in Szczecin. But that's absolutely fine, and we were (mostly) really happy with where we ate and drank in Szczecin. Here's the low down, in case you're planning a trip and want to know where to go!

Where we ate in Szczecin

Our first meal was breakfast at Orsola Coffee. A cute little nautical-themed coffee shop on our street, we headed here ravenous and slightly hungover. I had a ham, tomato & mozzarella baguette, while Holly had bacon and eggs with toast and a side of pickle, which she didn't eat. I chose water and Holly got a coffee - everything came to 39 zloty. This is just under £8, which isn't bad at all. We also got fro-yo here and it was just lovely.

After walking some of the red route we were fairly peckish again, and had decided we wanted to try pierogi at some point during our trip. As we were heading back in the direction of the main town, I spotted 1 2 3 Pizza - and their sign which said they did pierogi. So we went in, and ordered some with spinach and mozzarella in it as well as a bottle of Pepsi each. Unfortunately, this place is just a bit grim - kind of like a Polish greasy spoon, if you will, and the pierogi was vile. Too much spinach, way too soggy and salty and just not that nice. For 10 pieces and the two drinks we paid just under 23 zloty, so around £4.50 - you get what you pay for! If you're looking for where to eat in Szczecin, this one might be best avoided...

That night we both grabbed some Belgian fries from the Christmas market - which is obviously seasonal, but they were lovely and a large portion with sauce was around 13 zloty. This is £2.60 ish, so not dirt cheap but definitely worth it. They were steaming hot and absolutely delicious.

On the Wednesday, before our trip to the Crooked Forest, we stopped at Pub Piwnica. This was recommended to me by a friend who had eaten pierogi there, so we decided we would give it another try. And I'm so glad we did! I had their house pierogi, which had sausage meat/bacon/onions inside and is actually deep fried - Holly opted for your classic pierogi with pork inside. Mine came with garlic sauce, and we got some chips to share too. We definitely didn't need them, as the pierogi is SO filling! For two portions of pierogi, the chips, an iced coffee and a coke it came to 55 zloty. This is around £11, which is more than reasonable for what we had. We actually went back here on our last day; I had a pasta dish with chicken and broccoli in a creamy sauce, while Holly had pork and chips or something similar. Again, we weren't disappointed! THIS is where to eat in Szczecin, for sure.

Where we drank in Szczecin

The very first bar we went to was Cesky Film. It has old cinema seats, and a screen that plays films, and cool Polish film posters on the wall. I had a vodka and Holly had a beer - I can't remember how much it was, because I'm useless, but I remember thinking it was neither particularly cheap nor really expensive!

After that we made our way to an area recommended to us by a barman, where we found Bar Seta. There was karaoke going on upstairs, and they serve food (though we didn't try any), and you can sit outside under a sort of awning. For a large vodka with fizzy orange and a pint of lager, it came to 15 zloty - three quid!!! Incredible. We did actually witness a fight here between two local lads, and there was pepper spray involved, but if you want cheap booze and somewhere that's open late then this is where to drink in Szczecin...

EXP Pub & Games Room was our absolute favourite. Underground, it's almost like being in a little cave and they have every board game you could think of down there. For a pint of cherry beer and a bottle of cider it costs 19 zloty, just under £4, so also really cheap! There's plenty of seating, an indoor smoking area should you need it, and everyone was really friendly. Would highly recommend this as where to drink in Szczecin - it's the best.

So that was everywhere we ate and drank in Szczecin, Poland. If you're planning a trip there, I hope this post has been somewhat helpful!