Visiting the remains of the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw is an emotional experience. Truth is, there are not many physical remains of the largest ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe, but the bleak soviet-style housing, old prison, various memorials and an excellent museum are all reminders of the suffering Jews and Romani suffered at the hands of Hitler, not to mention the bravery of the Polish people during the Warsaw Uprising. After the invasion of Poland, Hitler’s armies created the Warsaw ghettoes (there were two joined by a bridge) north of today’s Al Jana Pawla II (or John Paul II) Avenue. They enclosed the area in a red brick wall (fragments can be seen in Sienna Street) and incarcerated about 100,000 people in Pawiak Prison, the Gestapo’s operational base in Warsaw. Now a museum, its grey walls and chambers are a chilling reminder of their cruelty (ul Dzielna 24, free admission). Very close to Pawiak Prison, in a charming little park, is the Ghetto Heroes Monument, a memorial to the fallen in the Warsaw Uprising of 1943. (Somewhat ironically it is made of the granite the Nazis hauled over for their own victory monument). Another memorial can be seen close by on Willy ...

Warsaw is often referred to as the ‘Phoenix City’ for the way it rose out of the ashes of destruction of WW2. In response to the Polish Uprisings during the course of the War, the Nazis had destroyed over 80 percent of the city by the end of it. Communist rule in Poland may have been responsible for countless ugly, high-rise blocks throughout the city, but during the decades of post-war Russian control Warsaw’s lovely, historic Old Town was completely rebuilt. Using old photographs and other images as references, the areas was restored brick by brick to its former century glory. In 1980 it was placed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List as ‘an outstanding example of a near-total reconstruction.’ For the visitor, Warsaw’s, partially-walled Old Town is not only the city’s most evocative district, but contains most of the major sites. For a taster of the charm it has to offer, head to Old Town Square, where a medley of townhouses in varying styles, from Gothic to Renaissance, are lined up in picture-perfect rows. (Only numbers 34 and 36 were still standing after the Nazis had left). In the middle of the square is the famous statue Mermaid with numerous ...