One weekend in Łódź, Poland - part 1
13.2.14
Many people`s association with this city is "dirty", "ugly", "stinky" - so it was quite a pleasure for me and my boyfriend to prove them wrong!
Lodz, the former textile industry empire, today is a city of modern technologies, creative enterprises and grand events. It is a metropolis where a landscape of industrial architecture mixes with silhouettes of office buildings, production halls, culture and sports buildings.Today Lodz is still attracting business due to its central location, proximity to the capital, investors-friendly policy of the municipality, scientific and human resources. Lodz authorities undertake many actions in order to improve the city attractiveness - develop the airport, invest in new roads and quality of railway infrastructure.
On saturday (after we slept until 10:00), we decided to eat our breakfast at "Columbus Coffee- Grand" which actually got an award for best interior design in Łódź! This coffe place is situated within the Grand Hotel buidling. The décor is inspired by the history of this place, therefore designer tried to use the arrangement of the various elements of the past. They breathed new life into lounges, chairs, restored hockery, as well as a room where the projection of movies can take place.
adress: ul. Piotrkowska 72, Łódź
Lodz, the former textile industry empire, today is a city of modern technologies, creative enterprises and grand events. It is a metropolis where a landscape of industrial architecture mixes with silhouettes of office buildings, production halls, culture and sports buildings.Today Lodz is still attracting business due to its central location, proximity to the capital, investors-friendly policy of the municipality, scientific and human resources. Lodz authorities undertake many actions in order to improve the city attractiveness - develop the airport, invest in new roads and quality of railway infrastructure.
On saturday (after we slept until 10:00), we decided to eat our breakfast at "Columbus Coffee- Grand" which actually got an award for best interior design in Łódź! This coffe place is situated within the Grand Hotel buidling. The décor is inspired by the history of this place, therefore designer tried to use the arrangement of the various elements of the past. They breathed new life into lounges, chairs, restored hockery, as well as a room where the projection of movies can take place.
adress: ul. Piotrkowska 72, Łódź
We chose sandwiches with ham, rucola, pesto and sun-dried tomatoes and healthy musli with natural yoghurt and peach pieces. For drinking: Coffe with milk for me, caffe latte with carmel sauce for him.
In true Polish tradition, when the local authorities decide to undertake major renovations and changes they insist on doing everything at once, therefore throwing the city into maximum chaos. Most of ul. Piotrkowska is now under construction , means mud, dirty and bumby roads - your shoes look like you were on a big walk through the forest and rain surprised you. But see it this way- soon it will be all renewed.
Since nearly 190 years is Piotrkowska street a symbol of splendor and wealth of Lodz and his inhabitans.
One of the longest shopping streets in Europe has a length of approximately 4.2 km and runs longitudinally in a straight line, between Plac Wolności and Plac Niepodległości. From the beginning, this street was a central axis, around which the city expanded, and its development spontaneously gave the city center its current shape. Initially, the street was mainly a communication route, but with time, it became the “city’s visiting card”, a center of entertainment and commerce, a focus point of the entire life of the growing industrial agglomeration. Currently, approximately 100 pubs and restaurants are situated along the longest pedestrian street in Poland, in addition to shops. In the summer season, colorful restaurant gardens encourage to relax. Everyone can ride a rickshaw or take the “trambus” by the street and see the monuments of, for example, Trzej Fabrykanci (Three Manufacturers), Ławeczka Tuwima (Tuwim’s Bench) or Pomnik Łodzian Przełomu Tysiącleci (Monument of Citizens of Lodz at the Turn of the Millennium) – 12,859 blocks with engraved names.
Piotrkowska street 100a- a former store of Schmechel and Rosner.
It was the most elegant store in the city and offered exclusive clothes for ladies and gentleman and concerning architecture it forms an outstanding example for art nouveau. Within the fassade dominates a gigantic window with a three-centered arch, which was orginally glassed with belgian mirrorglas embraced by floral motives.
Over the last few years the streets of Łódź have come to life with the addition of numerous enormous and brightly-coloured murals by artists across the world. The project to turn Łódź into an open-air permanent art gallery was initiated by the Urban Forms Foundation back in 2009 and their aim is to improve the current image of Łódź through supporting and promoting independent artistic projects in the city’s public spaces. Around 30 large murals have been created by some of Poland’s classiest street artists, like local heroes the Etam Crew and the Gdynia-born painter M-City.
You want to know where to find the murals? Go here: Galeria Urban Forms
adress: al. Kościuszki 27
artist: KENOR (Spain)
adress: al. Kościuszki 32 
adress: ul. Roosevelta 5
adress: ul. Uniwersytecka 12
adress: ul. Jaracza 59
adress: ul. Uniwersytecka 3
adress: ul. Pomorska 67
adress: ul. Pomorska 28
Here you can see directly before renovation and after
adress: ul. Nowomiejska 5
artist: SEPE/CHAZME (Poland)
adress: ul. Próchnika 9 
adress: ul. Próchnika 11 (róg ul. Zachodniej)
adress: ul. Legionów 19
adress: ul. Legionów 21
adress: ul. Legionów 57
After miles of walking, we were quite exhausted, craving for italian food,especially for ourfavourite dishes bringing up great memories: pasta with truffle sauce. Soon as we saw that "Marcello" offered exactly our meal we`ve been dreaming about the past few hours.
Here you see our starter: four bruschettas with different special toppings like mushrooms, creamy cheese, tomatoes and meat paste.
Our favourite dish: Linguine alla Norcina (linguine with spicy Italian sausage, mushroom and truffle).
a must-have dessert: excellent panna cotta with brandy cranberry sauce
is the largest manufacturer’s residence in Poland. There are various styles to be found in its architecture. An Art Nouveau staircase leads to a neo-baroque dinning room and a ballroom. The Palace is home to Muzeum Miasta Łodzi (Museum of the City of Lodz), in which one can become familiar with the history and culture of the 19th century industrial metropolis. The permanent exhibition “Panteon Wielkich Łodzian” (“The Pantheon of the Famous Citizens of the City of Lodz”) presents the profiles of prominent artists associated with the city: Wł. Reymont, J. Tuwim, J. Kosiński, K. Dedecius and A. Tansman. The memorabilia left after A. Rubinstein were assembled in the world’s only gallery dedicated to the famous pianist.
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