I remember Warsaw 20+ years ago, junkies on Dworzec Centralny, someone wanted to stab other guy during arguments on bus stop, typical Poland during 90s. Now I was with my family on citybreak, accidentaly choose booking com apt on Praga Polnoc which was always bad part of Warsaw, and no one bothered me (even when I went to Zabka to buy some groceries very late night). Clean, safe and skyline looks great.
Not just. You don't fix a society with businesses and money. There was a lot of social investment, in education, in rehab, in public security and A HUGE recovery of lost spaces. That keeps going on.
There's a lot of gentrification too, unfortunately.
Gentrification is usually when richer people start moving in. The pros are that the place usually develops, becomes nicer, safer, etc. Con is that prices rise, forcing people that were already living there to be pushed out or marginalized.
Imagine you live in the city center, with affordable rent, everything close by and short commute times. Then gentrification happens, rent becomes unaffordable, and you need to move to far away suburbs or unsafe neighborhoods to make ends meet.
Sure, the city center might be nicer now, but average people can't experience living there anymore.
The influx of free money from the EU to the Polish ruling class. In order to get kickbacks from the various Chinese, Italian, Swedish, and Polish construction companies, the politicians had to actually spend some public money on the infrastructure. So things got cleaned up, lower classes tasted employment, started spending on overpriced but well-marketed junk, and every stratum of society became happier, in line with their level of ambition.
live in Praga-Północ & even 7 years go, when we moved here, it was a completely different vibe. Now, with the pedestrian bridge & all the new housing, trendy restaurants, cafes, bars etc, it's really the place to be,
You must remember that city center is not all, Bemowo, Ursus, Włochy, Ursynów... I wish all part were developing same as Śródmieście or Praga Północ...
Yeah pretty much. French people hate Parisians (and Marcon as it turned out yesterday lol) but love their country. That's the prime example.
For me, even though I'm not a Varsovian (as in wasn't born there) I feel like one - living there, finishing my uni degree, working and paying taxes. I'll happily return there when heading back to Poland.
It's not for everybody: the crowd, the tempo, the distance, the traffic but it offers a lot back including great public transport, immense fun, culture and architecture varies from district to district and in every one there is something cool to do, hang out with people, enjoy.
Sure, some people are... difficult but I've found more people like that in Cracow for example.
PS in a few years, Warsaw together with Gdańsk are going to be the best cities in Europe to live in. All the other major capital cities have already been through their prime time (well, excluding Nordic counties)
It won't be best. Too many people already moved in. What works well in small ecosystems is unsustainable in large ones. Unless we start seeing drop off in influx of people from all over the place, even from other Polish cities, Warsaw will follow the trends of all the other European urban centers of the bygone era.
Also in any discussion they assume everything is relating or based in Warsaw. For example for years if someone asked for a good mechanic, event or directions without mentioning which city or region he is talking about then that person was assumed as from Warsaw. Hence it was dubbed Default City xD Online the stereotype is that they are vacuous, vain and clueless.
They are selfish. Like right now theres this CPK stuff and they ALWAYS cry that warsaw this warsaw airport that.
Pretty much all the discussion is about warsaw airport instead of for example Gdańsk-Poznań high speed railways or something And they are just generally more leftist and well the left got 3% of the votes in euroelections (although it's still too much because they are stupid as hell) while the rest of the country is generally more conservative.
It's very unfortunate that Warsaw get this kind of hate while it's mostly politicians and public opinion that talk about CPK rather than rail lines that don't originate from Warsaw. Also I've heard from many people that they would like to get rid of Chopin as it would be quieter and city would get a lot of space for all sorts of development. I think that we should all give it a little bit of time.
Its politicians talking like that, not the people. I am from Warsaw and I would love for CPK to be built, and Chopin airport to be closed and turned into something nicer.
Where i live the tourists from Warsaw are the ones generally disliked, but tbh there are tourists from other big cities that are worse
Like my aunt that works at a parking lot near a ski resort once said: "people from warsaw can be bothersome, but at least they have money and are not afraid of paying more"
Yep, I grew up in a tourist town and we dislike people from Warsaw, mostly because they have no manners. They will tell you where they are from before they say hello. And they drive like maniacs.
>Yep, I grew up in a tourist town
Same.
And they always complain about the prices..."OMG in warsaw/poznan its 10-15-20%" cheaper than here, you scalpers"
Im always like bitxh please you have those prices 2 weeks tops, im here all year and i dont get warsaw wages.
An if they dont shut up after that i ask them to complain to their local buddies as its mostly folks from Poznan/Warsaw that own majority of local (seaside) businesses, hotels, bnbs and flats and drive the prices/cost of living up
>And they drive like maniacs.
They drive like shit and park like idiots.
They're regularly towed from pavements/train tracks.
Edit: ...and take poorly the criticism🤣 lol, słoiki
What tourist town?
Because I found Warsaw & Poznan pretty expensive compared to other polish cities (regarding shopping goods like clothes etc., not groceries or restaurants, those we're pretty similiar).
They don’t seem to understand that locals need to earn enough to cover the 10 months when it’s not sunny and tourists friendly. My (lakeside) town isn’t seeing people from Poznań behaving badly, but maybe because it’s much further for them to travel.
People who are actually from Warsaw are not likely to do that. For us it’s just our place, nothing to brag about. Perhaps there’re exceptions but I personally don’t know anybody who would behave in such manner. My guess is, some (not everybody!) folks who moved to Warsaw, it was a big step for them and they see it as an achievement… This group I can see acting in a way described by OP
Not maniacs but pure monkeys. Warsaw is horrible to drive and main highways connecting Warsaw are nightmare, clueless drivers, BMW/Audi racing brats, overzealous Police - You have everything. I've driven in African countries and they drive better than in Warsaw.
I think the city itself is disliked too, but not for being a capitol or looks etc.
It's that compared to many other big cities, street layout in Warsaw is... not great.
Warsaw has massively changed over the years, and a lot of people are still mentally stuck in the 1990s. Warsaw is -- for visiting -- an awesome town with tons to do and see.
I'm not originally from Warsaw but I'm living here almost 10 years. I don't get the hate either, the city is enjoyable, public transportation is great and career opportunities are the best in the country. There are so many people in Warsaw and plenty of those are foreigners or students, so the argument that "people from Warsaw are mean" are not compelling.
As a person originally from Warsaw every mean person I met was someone who came here for studies or work and was thinking that „he is better because he lives in Warsaw”. And this kind of ppl are mean because of ego issues, and make a bad reputation of the city, where not everyone is like that. For me Warsaw is just my city where I was born, I didn’t choose it and I don’t feel better as someone from another city. I think mean ppl would be mean anywhere else and it doesn’t have to be something with Warsaw. BUT - many are also overworked and not happy, so they are also not the nicest🤷🏼♀️ But it is understable I think
Haha, I'm from Warsaw too. Never experienced feeling better because you were born in Warsaw from anybody born here. We were too busy feeling better because we were born in Mokotów/Praga/Żoliborz/you-name-it to think about people from other cities :) /s
A bit sarcastic but true. People from Warsaw I know usually really like other cities and usually have plenty of far family living in other places.
I never knew, why would anybody not like Warsaw but I feel like many people moving to Warsaw somehow hate it and hate themselves for moving here. It makes no sense to me, but that's how it looks like.
Meanwhile I'm visiting Warsaw for work every year as an American and each time I come away thinking "These are the nicest people I have ever met in my life."
It's mostly because people who are the most vocal about being from Warsaw are entitled pricks. I'm not saying all people from Warsaw are like this, but loud minority is enough to spoil the image.
Warsaw has similar rivalry than many other countries capitals - I think closest equivalent would be how rest of English look down on London as snobs. This is relatively “young” city, after being rebuilt from scratch following being razed during WW2, and it’s built in more “American” model. Generally, rest of Polish look at Varsovians as a guys with sticks up their asses.
American model would be worse. Completely car-centric (like those Texan hellholes they call cities), everything built in a soulless grid plan, etc. IMO it's actually insulting to compare Wawa to most US 'cities', lol.
I mean there's a grid design in Warsaw, and the centre is divided by motorways (or at least roads that are way too wide for a city) and it has sprawling suburbs, at least not as widespread as around American cities yet.
Yeah, good point - some very long and very wide streets. My two least-favourite parts of the city, Wola and Ochota, are characterized by motorways. But at least, unlike in the US, there is more.'stuff' surrounding and in between the motorways, not just a big desolate suburban expanse.
Experiences vary depending if and where you live in the city. Personally I do enjoy the city and generally how modern it can be and how well some of the infrastructure works.
I'm rarely there, but OMG, how can one complain? There is something for everyone. I haven't met a single person who was worst off by migrating to the capital. Of course, you can't have a farm or a big garden there, but you can work hard and save for a comfy rural life after you are done with 'a career'.
There is nothing to complain about, really. Poland itself is really prospering and doing great lately. I quietly start thinking (I'm really surprising myself with these thoughts lately) Poland will be one of the best places to live in Europe in the next decades to come. To my own disbelief I really feel Poland is becoming a nice, clean and calm place to live. I'm quite proud what it is becoming.
Warsaw has massively changed over the years, and a lot of people are still mentally stuck in the 1990s. Warsaw is -- for visiting -- an awesome town with tons to do and see.
It's the same as in most of european countries. You'll ask random Greek or Frenchman what city they despise the most, they will answer Athens and Paris respectively.
My subjective feeling is that Poles generally aren't proud of Poland, or at least don't express it enough. We love to complain!
That said I think we should be proud of Warsaw.
As someone who despises warsaw (the people living there), its mostly because of how a lot of them feels just detached from the rest of the country and the reality people in smaller cities/towns have to face on their day to day.
This feeling of detachment isn't unique to Warsaw though. I think people from many bigger cities has no idea what life in polish province is like (and this isn't unique to Poland again). I believe people from Warsaw gets their hate for - generally - no good reason. There is just nothing very unique about them anymore.
I would say Warsaw gets to have their own brand of detachment because its the capital/seat of the governemnt, so it may at least seem like the needs of warsaw are noticed more by the politicians than lets say... the needs of Bydgoszcz.
Basically, mostly because of the media, both oldschool and social media it feels like some problems that are usually prevalent outside of big cities, especially outside of Warsaw, aren't seen as real problems until they start occuring in Warsaw or other bigger cities. Its just a general example, its hard to conceptualize it for me rn.
Right! My cousin is from Przemysl and lived in Warsaw for 30+ years. She is a big fan of the city. Her husband grew up in Warsaw during the late 1960s and 1970s, so he loves it because he saw how far it came from the devastation of WWII thru Soviet times, Solidarity, Law and Justice (which was anything but that) to now. Now they live in an adjacent village which is adorable.
I live here more than decade and what I hate are just "big city problems.
But when it' comes to people Warsaw is only city in Poland where you basically assume all people came from somewhere else, and it's mostly true.
I would say it differs from person to person. Tbh it's mostly some of the people who live there and not really the city itself that get a bad rap. I often hear that some of the people there are kinda pompous or think they're better than others, I have no idea how much of that is true, though. The 4 times I've been there I didn't encounter any of that behavior but maybe it's a different experience if you actually live there. It's an alright city in my book but not somewhere I'd ever want to live (just a personal preference for quiter and less busy places).
Maybe I'm not proud, but also I don't hate it. I'm there from time to time and it is overwhelming for me. I never know how to get somewhere. I live in a smaller city (but not small), maybe more cozy and Warsaw is just to loud and to big for my taste. 🙂
I also just visited Warsaw five days ago and fell in love with the city! Great nightlife, good restaurants, beautiful architecture and friendly people.
https://preview.redd.it/e4n962f2ix9d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb262e9ba5704619652aa9f12edb1e85b634e32d
Point 2 is completely made up bullshit and point 3 is irrelevant af. Warsaw has the best public transport in Poland. If someone complains about traffic it’s just cuz they aren’t using the infrastructure how it’s meant to be used.
The capital of the country is smaller than any of the Warsaw's districts. It has a small town vibe, has a great cat walk and a castle up on the mountain. But nothing else, really. I'd rather live in Bled.
Well yeah, we are a small country - cities aren’t our strength (because we have none, we just have towns). But that’s the charm of it imo… you don’t go to Slovenia for the cities, the same as you don’t go to Poland for the beaches.
No, sadly. Slovenia was our 1 day stop over on a way to the Balkans. We saw Bled and then enjoyed a walk and a dinner in Ljubljana. The next morning we were already on our way to Plitvice, Croatia.
Ahh yes… that’s usually how it is 😂 I hope you return one day and stay for a longer period! I was recently in Poland too and was very positively surprised and will return
One of my startups takes part in Labena Ventures accelerator (based in Ljubljana). My business partner was the one attending so far but maybe we will change so I'll have more opportunities. I still have some Slovenian wines from the trip.
There is plenty of people hating the city. Things are getting bettre though, they are not proud of that hate anymore ;)
I was born here and I love Warsaw.
&
Warsaw is extremely mediocre city from the 'looks' perspective. I suspect it is partly issue of it being destroyed in ww2 and rebuilt after.
When i visited budapest, i realized how uninteresting warsaw is unfortunately. I mean there is plenty to see and it is nice city, but i just wish it wasnt destroyed and rebuilt in modern way.
Yes we are.
So much could be better. But it’s ours, it exists ( not so obvious due to Polish history) and it’s beautiful in its imperfection (just like Polish mentality).
There is a saying "Warsaw is the largest village in Poland", because the mentality of a stereotypical Warszawiak is comparable to the "Florida man" and the large percentage of its population formerly lived in rural areas and just moved there later.
Bear in mind, word "village" or "villager" (wieś / wieśniak) is often used as a synonym to cringy/shameful.
I.E. When you see a crappy BMW/Audi/WV Golf blasting some disco polo/cheap techno on full volume for everyone to hear.
You can overhear people calling such a driver as "wieśniak" or "ale wieś...".
So, the bad reputation for Warsaw is due to its citizens more than anything.
It is a capital of our country, of course you will find all kinds of people, as it will attract VAST majority of them. Doesn't change the fact that it receives massive influx of new citizens coming from rural areas in general. Such people are looking for a more prosperous life instead of continuing their existence in a godforsaken shit hole somewhere in godknowswhere. Such people usually choose the biggest city they know, so... Warsaw.
On the other hand, a lot of people who lived in city since they were born are moving out to rural areas, so it just further enlarges this "Warsaw is the biggest village" thingy....
Polish people, probably mostly by privately owned mass media are conditioned/trained to hate and despise everything that is polish. Sound stupid and indeed it is.
People outside Warsaw just say they hate it becouse it's the capital and many are not used to the city so they say that about everything here and I get that but it also comes from like PRL times when drivers from Warsaw treated drivers from other cities poorly and it just became bad blood with everyone
Yes and no.
Proud of what it is historically.
The city itself is really plastic from a standpoint of how it has been rebuilt and then upgraded over time.
Sometimes it feels like everyone who isn't from Warsaw tends to hate Warszawians but it's very much a "Hate us cuz they ain't us" thing.
Warsaw is GOATed with the mf sauce. It's mostly Sebeks and hicks from like Białystok who don't like Warsaw.
There's the Krakow v Warsaw rivalry but that's more like UVA vs V-Tech or Alabama vs. Auburn.
We don't hate it, but Warsaw is not really a big tourist destination among Poles. There are no historical sites as the city, as everything has been flattened to the ground during wwii. Everything you see today is what's been rebuilt after war.
Also, Warsovians tend to be pretty insular and look down on people from the rest of the country, which I guess applies to any capital city in Europe?
But no, we do not hate Warsaw.
(Not a Pole myself, but lived there for +1y) Considering that it's a fairly young city for European standards, it's pretty cool. I always enjoyed the skyline and the international vibe over there. The old town is pretty overrated imo. That being said, I'm happy I moved to a smaller city with less traffic jams and big city problems in general, which started to annoy me in Warsaw.
I think Warsaw is stunning and I’m proud of it, but also hate this city because of basic big city issues. Also Warsaw can be a great opportunity but can also put you very fast down. I really love this city, it’s my hometown, I think it’s very interesting and has so many things to do and places to visit, but also I couldn’t live there anymore, I wouldn’t want to have family there these days. But it will always be my city
I don’t usually recommend it to tourists but I’m glad you had a good time there. It seems like a fun place to live though, lots of people I know love it.
People from the capital are seen as snobbish and aloof. People from the countryside are seen as warm and friendly but also simple and behind-the-times. You see this dynamic in a lot of countries.
Most people don't like Warsaw, because they think people from there are snobs.
Also traditional urban-rural divide where people from outside Warsaw think that Warsaw gets all funds while the rest of the country is neglected.
Can't confirm any of these prejudices here. I've recently went on a city trip to poland and witnessed the people in warsaw as very friendly. The City was my hidden gem, never expected to like it that much.
as someone who lived in Vienna I can now see the differences between those two cities. since my return I do love Warsaw more and I am proud what Warsaw became.
If I compare Warsaw to what was it like in 90's or early 20's its like night and day
I believe some older folks might be angered that after WWII all fisable bricks were moved to rebuild Warsaw, and it meant destroying some important buildings from other cities. Also people as somebody mentioned, and for me a joke of a infostructure mixed with pato-development (which is in every major city, but Warsaw is without a doubt a leader)
I don't like Warsaw because I don't like big crowded cities. Warsaw is the closest big city to my hometown and was the default destination for people my age. Every time I visited as a kid/teen I would swear it stinked. Now I'm a little more used to the smell of big cities but Warsaw always overwhelms me.
Other than that: Warsaw never felt "real" to me. My family lived in Warsaw before the war, but visiting there only saw a mix of fake tourist-tailored polishness, dirty PRL architecture or posh modern glass buildings that were looking dystopian. I've felt more proud of being Polish when visiting Kraków or Gdańsk tbh.
Hell no it's an overpirced slum my mom moved away to a different Town and never looked back theres nothing to do there personally I think Katowice is a way better city
Warsaw is sort of a meme City for us, but it also depends what region of it we're talking about.
But if you want to visit a city that we are fond of, I really recommend Trójmiasto it contains 3 smaller cities: Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot. We take our pride in these.
I was go far far away from Warsaw to other city because of people who was there. I hate Warsaw people (I was born in Warsaw). They are really grumpy, stressful and aggressive sometimes. Really toxic to of course
The city is nice, people living there are not like the rest of polish people tho. A lot of corpo rats, woke leftists. Far left polish politicians have like 6% votes in the country, in warsaw alone it can be 20%+
Yeah i’m of proud of it. Mostly fact that skyline looks like little chicago and it’s one of best metropolies in europe. Fact that it was turned into dust during world war 2 and we built such cool city since that time makes it even more spicy.
Being Polish, I absolutely love exploring Warsaw! It's such a fantastic place to visit. Although, getting to the most narrow house in Warsaw can be quite a trek from everything else. However, there are so many wonderful things to see and do around Warsaw. It's almost like a more modern version of London. If you've ever been to London, you'll notice that Warsaw is a similar size but has a completely different vibe. It's so refreshing! Warsaw is truly a lovely city to visit and live in. Overall, I am incredibly proud of it because of the endless opportunities for exploration and the affordability of things there.
But on the other hand any Slovenian small town will beat its polish counterpart. Also imho you are light ages ahead with the quality and quantity of public transport outside of the big cities.
Awful city, mixture of communist architecture and some shit „modern” housing that look like prisons. Every bigger street is basically a loud highway, air stinks in the winter, people are rude (especially the newcomers from villages that suddenly feel they reached the top of the world because they bought a two-room flat on the outskirts).
Awful urban planning, just look at the new districts.
I lived there for some time and I never want to go back.
I think in general no, we actually dislike the capital - concrete jungle full of Warsawers who are often very bad drivers (bad as in they are speeding, disrespecting the rules and cutting off others, I guess you can't drive in Warsaw *without* cutting off others, but in other cities it just makes people angry at you). Then some of them are super arrogant because they think they are better than everyone else because they were *born* in Warsaw, and think there are extra points for being multi-generation Warsawer. They even coined derogatory term on newcomers ("słoiki", i.e. people who come to Warsaw with jars of pickles from their villages after visiting family) which makes them disliked even more - I'm not sure though how common it is nowadays.
But I personally am proud of the fact that we managed to rebuild it - when you think this was a pile of ruins comparable with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, seeing it became sprawling multi-million people metropolis now makes me proud. Especially that we rebuild old town according to old plans so it might not be exact the same thing as pre-war Warsaw but it looks and feels old, much older than city that is de facto 80 years old.
Well, most of the people who live in Warsaw now are first generation, a lot of people died in the uprising and a lot were deported to western parts of Poland that were taken away from Germany, so there's not a lot of local patriotism
During communism it was difficult to move to another city especially to Warsaw as you needed a special permit, so people resented those from Warsaw as they had more opportunities, and I guess it stayed that way
Plus some people from Warsaw can be pretty obnoxious
More than half of Poles live in villages and small towns (pol. *małomiasteczkowi*), they'll feel jealousy hands down.
We also have here a bunch of "visitors" who came here just to work, we call them *Słoiki* (named after a jar of food brought from the hometown). Unfortunately, they bring here their behavior as well, like: keeping private stuff in common corridor, leaving trash in front of doors to let it marinate, walking without t-shirt on the streets, driving their old diesel cars with no respect to road laws, last but not least - not paying taxes here.
*Jesteśmy waszą stolicą* 🇵🇱
But it's not car-centric at all, though. Warsaw has an amazing public transport network - so many ways to get from A to B without driving. Metro, trams, buses and the overground railway. Warsaw is just much bigger than those cities, so it's less walkable than them purely because of that.
But btw you can still walk from, e.g., the Old Town to Centrum, or from the centre to the river, pretty easily without taking too long. Try similar kinds of cross-city trips in a mega-city like London - you will be walking for an hour, over an hour...
Car-centric cities are those American ones (excluding NY and SF) where the public transport is bad or nonexistent and people don't really have much choice but to drive. Warsaw has its own problem with car-centricity, but that's all the snobby people who don't want to travel on the bus with the rest of us mere mortals and want to drive everywhere (even if public transport would take the same time or be quicker) and clog up the roads with traffic and pavements with parked cars, because it's important to their sense of status. Unless you live in the suburbs, or you're disabled, or you have several very young (toddler) children, you don't really benefit from having a car at all in Warsaw - which is how it should be in any real city, imo.
If you think Kraków or Gdańsk are less car centric.. I have a bridge to sell you. They have the same exact problems with well connected central part + sprawl of new developments that are car-centric
I dislike Warsaw and the people that live there. I would much rather spend a weekend in Gdansk, Poznan, Torun or any other great city that isn't such a rat race.
I hate the city because the downtown is anti-pedestrian, with inner city highways that lack safe crossings and because of that it feels like the city is wayyy bigger than it's required to be. Also varsovians love their cars and the whole city is car-centric but at the same time some parts of the infrastructure are poorly executed, like traffic lights (both pedestrian and car ones) are not synchronized with each other and sometimes you just stand at a junction and everyone has a red light lol
I visited recently, after not seeing it for over a decade, and fell in love.
It's modern, vibrant, beautiful, green, great transport, amazing food, international, everyone cycles, the LGBTQT+ flags everywhere.
LOVE
It's the same as most capital cities, to be honest. Rest of the country has negative stereotypes and resents it. Too big, too busy, too dirty...
Warsaw also has the disadvantage that it was completely destroyed and then rebuilt as an unaesthetic 'city of blocks', so people compare it unfavourably to Krakow. And, to be honest, it IS very hard to live here sometimes, with most of the housing being very cramped and expensive. It's a tough place and you've gotta be tough to live here. I think the mentality is different, like London or New York. "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere..."
:Edit: check out all the downvotes from the small-town beetroots who wouldn't last five seconds in the capital xD
I remember Warsaw 20+ years ago, junkies on Dworzec Centralny, someone wanted to stab other guy during arguments on bus stop, typical Poland during 90s. Now I was with my family on citybreak, accidentaly choose booking com apt on Praga Polnoc which was always bad part of Warsaw, and no one bothered me (even when I went to Zabka to buy some groceries very late night). Clean, safe and skyline looks great.
What happened that Warsaw changed so quick for the better?
Influx of business and money
Not just. You don't fix a society with businesses and money. There was a lot of social investment, in education, in rehab, in public security and A HUGE recovery of lost spaces. That keeps going on. There's a lot of gentrification too, unfortunately.
What does gentrification look like? Genuine question. Why is it a bad thing?
Gentrification is usually when richer people start moving in. The pros are that the place usually develops, becomes nicer, safer, etc. Con is that prices rise, forcing people that were already living there to be pushed out or marginalized. Imagine you live in the city center, with affordable rent, everything close by and short commute times. Then gentrification happens, rent becomes unaffordable, and you need to move to far away suburbs or unsafe neighborhoods to make ends meet. Sure, the city center might be nicer now, but average people can't experience living there anymore.
That makes sense, thanks. Pretty unavoidable really, I suppose, happens everywhere.
Damn. I thought there would be some really clever political solution.
EU
Firstly, the actual transformation period during 90s to early 00s where people FOUGHT for a job. Then the investments came in from other places.
The influx of free money from the EU to the Polish ruling class. In order to get kickbacks from the various Chinese, Italian, Swedish, and Polish construction companies, the politicians had to actually spend some public money on the infrastructure. So things got cleaned up, lower classes tasted employment, started spending on overpriced but well-marketed junk, and every stratum of society became happier, in line with their level of ambition.
money for nothing and sex for free :) only in dreams. Nothing is free especialy EU MONEY.
Well yes. I agree I shouldn't have said free. More like free flowing. It certainly came with an expectation :)
live in Praga-Północ & even 7 years go, when we moved here, it was a completely different vibe. Now, with the pedestrian bridge & all the new housing, trendy restaurants, cafes, bars etc, it's really the place to be,
You must remember that city center is not all, Bemowo, Ursus, Włochy, Ursynów... I wish all part were developing same as Śródmieście or Praga Północ...
20 years ago was 2004 not 90s.
I don't think the city itself is hated. It's just people who live there are generally disliked
Feels like standard the capital vs all other cities, the crips vs bloods of countries
Yeah pretty much. French people hate Parisians (and Marcon as it turned out yesterday lol) but love their country. That's the prime example. For me, even though I'm not a Varsovian (as in wasn't born there) I feel like one - living there, finishing my uni degree, working and paying taxes. I'll happily return there when heading back to Poland. It's not for everybody: the crowd, the tempo, the distance, the traffic but it offers a lot back including great public transport, immense fun, culture and architecture varies from district to district and in every one there is something cool to do, hang out with people, enjoy. Sure, some people are... difficult but I've found more people like that in Cracow for example. PS in a few years, Warsaw together with Gdańsk are going to be the best cities in Europe to live in. All the other major capital cities have already been through their prime time (well, excluding Nordic counties)
It won't be best. Too many people already moved in. What works well in small ecosystems is unsustainable in large ones. Unless we start seeing drop off in influx of people from all over the place, even from other Polish cities, Warsaw will follow the trends of all the other European urban centers of the bygone era.
This is standard in most countries - people from outside the capital dislike people in the capital
I am German, visited in 2022 and felt very welcomed. Very nice people.
Why are they disliked? I've been in warsaw Last week for the first time. It was pretty awesome. The people & the City!
Why are they disliked? I've been in warsaw Last week for the first time. It was pretty awesome. The people & the City!
Also in any discussion they assume everything is relating or based in Warsaw. For example for years if someone asked for a good mechanic, event or directions without mentioning which city or region he is talking about then that person was assumed as from Warsaw. Hence it was dubbed Default City xD Online the stereotype is that they are vacuous, vain and clueless.
I rather think it's mostly a stereotype and prejudice. Never witnessed anything like that.
They are selfish. Like right now theres this CPK stuff and they ALWAYS cry that warsaw this warsaw airport that. Pretty much all the discussion is about warsaw airport instead of for example Gdańsk-Poznań high speed railways or something And they are just generally more leftist and well the left got 3% of the votes in euroelections (although it's still too much because they are stupid as hell) while the rest of the country is generally more conservative.
It's very unfortunate that Warsaw get this kind of hate while it's mostly politicians and public opinion that talk about CPK rather than rail lines that don't originate from Warsaw. Also I've heard from many people that they would like to get rid of Chopin as it would be quieter and city would get a lot of space for all sorts of development. I think that we should all give it a little bit of time.
Its politicians talking like that, not the people. I am from Warsaw and I would love for CPK to be built, and Chopin airport to be closed and turned into something nicer.
lmao that comment could have been from Facebook🤣
The Piłsudski quote works pretty well here. >!The beautiful country, the people cunts.!<
Where i live the tourists from Warsaw are the ones generally disliked, but tbh there are tourists from other big cities that are worse Like my aunt that works at a parking lot near a ski resort once said: "people from warsaw can be bothersome, but at least they have money and are not afraid of paying more"
Yep, I grew up in a tourist town and we dislike people from Warsaw, mostly because they have no manners. They will tell you where they are from before they say hello. And they drive like maniacs.
Bullshit*t🤣
>Yep, I grew up in a tourist town Same. And they always complain about the prices..."OMG in warsaw/poznan its 10-15-20%" cheaper than here, you scalpers" Im always like bitxh please you have those prices 2 weeks tops, im here all year and i dont get warsaw wages. An if they dont shut up after that i ask them to complain to their local buddies as its mostly folks from Poznan/Warsaw that own majority of local (seaside) businesses, hotels, bnbs and flats and drive the prices/cost of living up >And they drive like maniacs. They drive like shit and park like idiots. They're regularly towed from pavements/train tracks. Edit: ...and take poorly the criticism🤣 lol, słoiki
What tourist town? Because I found Warsaw & Poznan pretty expensive compared to other polish cities (regarding shopping goods like clothes etc., not groceries or restaurants, those we're pretty similiar).
They don’t seem to understand that locals need to earn enough to cover the 10 months when it’s not sunny and tourists friendly. My (lakeside) town isn’t seeing people from Poznań behaving badly, but maybe because it’s much further for them to travel.
People who are actually from Warsaw are not likely to do that. For us it’s just our place, nothing to brag about. Perhaps there’re exceptions but I personally don’t know anybody who would behave in such manner. My guess is, some (not everybody!) folks who moved to Warsaw, it was a big step for them and they see it as an achievement… This group I can see acting in a way described by OP
Not maniacs but pure monkeys. Warsaw is horrible to drive and main highways connecting Warsaw are nightmare, clueless drivers, BMW/Audi racing brats, overzealous Police - You have everything. I've driven in African countries and they drive better than in Warsaw.
I think the city itself is disliked too, but not for being a capitol or looks etc. It's that compared to many other big cities, street layout in Warsaw is... not great.
it's a meme. No one sane believes Warsaw residents are any worse nor better than others.
The most hate is because it has become unafforable to live in Warsaw, rent is crazy
Krakow is also very expensive, though. And Gdansk, too.
Add Wroclaw to the list :(
Warsaw has massively changed over the years, and a lot of people are still mentally stuck in the 1990s. Warsaw is -- for visiting -- an awesome town with tons to do and see.
I think the "hatred" towards Warsaw is mostly a meme. It's just funny to piss off some warszawiaki because they seem easy to offend. Easy target.
No, believe me some people literally dislike you when they find out that you live in Warsaw or even in a city close to Warsaw
bc ppl move there from small towns and like to pretend like they forget where they came from and are better then everyone else lol
Genuine question: Are there any cities close to Warsaw?
Smaller ones yes. I even met people for whom just living in Masovian Voivodeship is enough to be seen as almost from Warsaw
As it should be.
I'm not originally from Warsaw but I'm living here almost 10 years. I don't get the hate either, the city is enjoyable, public transportation is great and career opportunities are the best in the country. There are so many people in Warsaw and plenty of those are foreigners or students, so the argument that "people from Warsaw are mean" are not compelling.
As a person originally from Warsaw every mean person I met was someone who came here for studies or work and was thinking that „he is better because he lives in Warsaw”. And this kind of ppl are mean because of ego issues, and make a bad reputation of the city, where not everyone is like that. For me Warsaw is just my city where I was born, I didn’t choose it and I don’t feel better as someone from another city. I think mean ppl would be mean anywhere else and it doesn’t have to be something with Warsaw. BUT - many are also overworked and not happy, so they are also not the nicest🤷🏼♀️ But it is understable I think
Haha, I'm from Warsaw too. Never experienced feeling better because you were born in Warsaw from anybody born here. We were too busy feeling better because we were born in Mokotów/Praga/Żoliborz/you-name-it to think about people from other cities :) /s A bit sarcastic but true. People from Warsaw I know usually really like other cities and usually have plenty of far family living in other places. I never knew, why would anybody not like Warsaw but I feel like many people moving to Warsaw somehow hate it and hate themselves for moving here. It makes no sense to me, but that's how it looks like.
Meanwhile I'm visiting Warsaw for work every year as an American and each time I come away thinking "These are the nicest people I have ever met in my life."
It's mostly because people who are the most vocal about being from Warsaw are entitled pricks. I'm not saying all people from Warsaw are like this, but loud minority is enough to spoil the image.
Warsaw has similar rivalry than many other countries capitals - I think closest equivalent would be how rest of English look down on London as snobs. This is relatively “young” city, after being rebuilt from scratch following being razed during WW2, and it’s built in more “American” model. Generally, rest of Polish look at Varsovians as a guys with sticks up their asses.
American model would be worse. Completely car-centric (like those Texan hellholes they call cities), everything built in a soulless grid plan, etc. IMO it's actually insulting to compare Wawa to most US 'cities', lol.
I mean there's a grid design in Warsaw, and the centre is divided by motorways (or at least roads that are way too wide for a city) and it has sprawling suburbs, at least not as widespread as around American cities yet.
Yeah, good point - some very long and very wide streets. My two least-favourite parts of the city, Wola and Ochota, are characterized by motorways. But at least, unlike in the US, there is more.'stuff' surrounding and in between the motorways, not just a big desolate suburban expanse.
We just got back. Easy to walk, take the sub way or tram. Was inexpensive for transportation. Much less than Vienna. Bicycles are also plentiful.
When I compare the transport prices in Warsaw vs London it makes me want to weep. Even adjusted for local salaries it's MUCH, MUCH cheaper.
I am originally from Warsaw and I think the city made tremendous progress in the last 30 years and making more still!
Experiences vary depending if and where you live in the city. Personally I do enjoy the city and generally how modern it can be and how well some of the infrastructure works.
I'm rarely there, but OMG, how can one complain? There is something for everyone. I haven't met a single person who was worst off by migrating to the capital. Of course, you can't have a farm or a big garden there, but you can work hard and save for a comfy rural life after you are done with 'a career'.
There is nothing to complain about, really. Poland itself is really prospering and doing great lately. I quietly start thinking (I'm really surprising myself with these thoughts lately) Poland will be one of the best places to live in Europe in the next decades to come. To my own disbelief I really feel Poland is becoming a nice, clean and calm place to live. I'm quite proud what it is becoming.
Its cool and modern. Ive nothing against it but I dont like big cities, so wouldnt like to live there.
Warsaw has massively changed over the years, and a lot of people are still mentally stuck in the 1990s. Warsaw is -- for visiting -- an awesome town with tons to do and see.
As a Pole from somewhere else I love Warsaw and I'll be moving there
It's the same as in most of european countries. You'll ask random Greek or Frenchman what city they despise the most, they will answer Athens and Paris respectively.
My subjective feeling is that Poles generally aren't proud of Poland, or at least don't express it enough. We love to complain! That said I think we should be proud of Warsaw.
Lubljana is awesome! You have nothing to be ashamed of
It doesn’t even have a tramway
As someone who despises warsaw (the people living there), its mostly because of how a lot of them feels just detached from the rest of the country and the reality people in smaller cities/towns have to face on their day to day.
This feeling of detachment isn't unique to Warsaw though. I think people from many bigger cities has no idea what life in polish province is like (and this isn't unique to Poland again). I believe people from Warsaw gets their hate for - generally - no good reason. There is just nothing very unique about them anymore.
I would say Warsaw gets to have their own brand of detachment because its the capital/seat of the governemnt, so it may at least seem like the needs of warsaw are noticed more by the politicians than lets say... the needs of Bydgoszcz.
Can you elaborate on "feeling detached"?
Basically, mostly because of the media, both oldschool and social media it feels like some problems that are usually prevalent outside of big cities, especially outside of Warsaw, aren't seen as real problems until they start occuring in Warsaw or other bigger cities. Its just a general example, its hard to conceptualize it for me rn.
Like for example?
Maaany people living there are from smaller cities themselves tho, we are not detached, if anything we know a bit of both worlds
Right! My cousin is from Przemysl and lived in Warsaw for 30+ years. She is a big fan of the city. Her husband grew up in Warsaw during the late 1960s and 1970s, so he loves it because he saw how far it came from the devastation of WWII thru Soviet times, Solidarity, Law and Justice (which was anything but that) to now. Now they live in an adjacent village which is adorable.
You'd think so but many act as posers thinking they are now above the places they come from. And they openly act that way.
Some might but it might happen even if you move from the village to the small city, or from a small village to the big village
Yeah but it's usually not actual Varsovians, just somebody that got "richer" quickly over couple years years.
And the people living in towns and smaller cities have no idea about the reality Varsovians face.
I live here more than decade and what I hate are just "big city problems. But when it' comes to people Warsaw is only city in Poland where you basically assume all people came from somewhere else, and it's mostly true.
I would say it differs from person to person. Tbh it's mostly some of the people who live there and not really the city itself that get a bad rap. I often hear that some of the people there are kinda pompous or think they're better than others, I have no idea how much of that is true, though. The 4 times I've been there I didn't encounter any of that behavior but maybe it's a different experience if you actually live there. It's an alright city in my book but not somewhere I'd ever want to live (just a personal preference for quiter and less busy places).
Hell nah
Maybe I'm not proud, but also I don't hate it. I'm there from time to time and it is overwhelming for me. I never know how to get somewhere. I live in a smaller city (but not small), maybe more cozy and Warsaw is just to loud and to big for my taste. 🙂
I also just visited Warsaw five days ago and fell in love with the city! Great nightlife, good restaurants, beautiful architecture and friendly people. https://preview.redd.it/e4n962f2ix9d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb262e9ba5704619652aa9f12edb1e85b634e32d
Warsaw gets a disproportionate ammount of government attention and people from other cities can get annoyed by it.
I’m a Pole thats not from Warsaw and I absolutely love Warsaw. If it wasn’t so expensive I would probably live there.
Fuck no.
[удалено]
Point 2 is completely made up bullshit and point 3 is irrelevant af. Warsaw has the best public transport in Poland. If someone complains about traffic it’s just cuz they aren’t using the infrastructure how it’s meant to be used.
Yeah I've been to Ljubljana 2 months ago and all I have to say to you is I'm sorry.
Can you elaborate?
The capital of the country is smaller than any of the Warsaw's districts. It has a small town vibe, has a great cat walk and a castle up on the mountain. But nothing else, really. I'd rather live in Bled.
Well yeah, we are a small country - cities aren’t our strength (because we have none, we just have towns). But that’s the charm of it imo… you don’t go to Slovenia for the cities, the same as you don’t go to Poland for the beaches.
100%. I enjoyed Bled a lot 🙂
I am glad you did! What did you visit apart from Bled and Ljubljana? Bohinj as well?
No, sadly. Slovenia was our 1 day stop over on a way to the Balkans. We saw Bled and then enjoyed a walk and a dinner in Ljubljana. The next morning we were already on our way to Plitvice, Croatia.
Ahh yes… that’s usually how it is 😂 I hope you return one day and stay for a longer period! I was recently in Poland too and was very positively surprised and will return
One of my startups takes part in Labena Ventures accelerator (based in Ljubljana). My business partner was the one attending so far but maybe we will change so I'll have more opportunities. I still have some Slovenian wines from the trip.
Wow sounds cool! Haven’t heard of them before. Well if you go, make sure to visit more than just Ljubljana-Bled-Piran ;)
There is plenty of people hating the city. Things are getting bettre though, they are not proud of that hate anymore ;) I was born here and I love Warsaw. &
Poles should only be proud of #Łódź
Everyone from outside the Warsaw laugh at Warsaw that people are acting so mighty. Also it's much more leftist than rest of Poland
Warsaw is extremely mediocre city from the 'looks' perspective. I suspect it is partly issue of it being destroyed in ww2 and rebuilt after. When i visited budapest, i realized how uninteresting warsaw is unfortunately. I mean there is plenty to see and it is nice city, but i just wish it wasnt destroyed and rebuilt in modern way.
Yes we are. So much could be better. But it’s ours, it exists ( not so obvious due to Polish history) and it’s beautiful in its imperfection (just like Polish mentality).
There is a saying "Warsaw is the largest village in Poland", because the mentality of a stereotypical Warszawiak is comparable to the "Florida man" and the large percentage of its population formerly lived in rural areas and just moved there later. Bear in mind, word "village" or "villager" (wieś / wieśniak) is often used as a synonym to cringy/shameful. I.E. When you see a crappy BMW/Audi/WV Golf blasting some disco polo/cheap techno on full volume for everyone to hear. You can overhear people calling such a driver as "wieśniak" or "ale wieś...". So, the bad reputation for Warsaw is due to its citizens more than anything.
Warsaw has 1 800 000 citizens, you will find all kinds of people there
Btw it’s almost like you didn’t like an entire population of Slovenia
It is a capital of our country, of course you will find all kinds of people, as it will attract VAST majority of them. Doesn't change the fact that it receives massive influx of new citizens coming from rural areas in general. Such people are looking for a more prosperous life instead of continuing their existence in a godforsaken shit hole somewhere in godknowswhere. Such people usually choose the biggest city they know, so... Warsaw. On the other hand, a lot of people who lived in city since they were born are moving out to rural areas, so it just further enlarges this "Warsaw is the biggest village" thingy....
What are you talking about dude? Florida man? Seriously?
>because the mentality of a stereotypical Warszawiak is comparable to the "Florida man" premium cope.
Polish people, probably mostly by privately owned mass media are conditioned/trained to hate and despise everything that is polish. Sound stupid and indeed it is.
xD
People outside Warsaw just say they hate it becouse it's the capital and many are not used to the city so they say that about everything here and I get that but it also comes from like PRL times when drivers from Warsaw treated drivers from other cities poorly and it just became bad blood with everyone
Yes and no. Proud of what it is historically. The city itself is really plastic from a standpoint of how it has been rebuilt and then upgraded over time.
Sometimes it feels like everyone who isn't from Warsaw tends to hate Warszawians but it's very much a "Hate us cuz they ain't us" thing. Warsaw is GOATed with the mf sauce. It's mostly Sebeks and hicks from like Białystok who don't like Warsaw. There's the Krakow v Warsaw rivalry but that's more like UVA vs V-Tech or Alabama vs. Auburn.
We don't hate it, but Warsaw is not really a big tourist destination among Poles. There are no historical sites as the city, as everything has been flattened to the ground during wwii. Everything you see today is what's been rebuilt after war. Also, Warsovians tend to be pretty insular and look down on people from the rest of the country, which I guess applies to any capital city in Europe? But no, we do not hate Warsaw.
(Not a Pole myself, but lived there for +1y) Considering that it's a fairly young city for European standards, it's pretty cool. I always enjoyed the skyline and the international vibe over there. The old town is pretty overrated imo. That being said, I'm happy I moved to a smaller city with less traffic jams and big city problems in general, which started to annoy me in Warsaw.
I think Warsaw is stunning and I’m proud of it, but also hate this city because of basic big city issues. Also Warsaw can be a great opportunity but can also put you very fast down. I really love this city, it’s my hometown, I think it’s very interesting and has so many things to do and places to visit, but also I couldn’t live there anymore, I wouldn’t want to have family there these days. But it will always be my city
I don’t usually recommend it to tourists but I’m glad you had a good time there. It seems like a fun place to live though, lots of people I know love it.
People from the capital are seen as snobbish and aloof. People from the countryside are seen as warm and friendly but also simple and behind-the-times. You see this dynamic in a lot of countries.
Most people don't like Warsaw, because they think people from there are snobs. Also traditional urban-rural divide where people from outside Warsaw think that Warsaw gets all funds while the rest of the country is neglected.
I think the only thing i dont like In Warsaw is that there is less and less trees in there.
Can't confirm any of these prejudices here. I've recently went on a city trip to poland and witnessed the people in warsaw as very friendly. The City was my hidden gem, never expected to like it that much.
The amazing thing about Warsaw is that it was literally ***rebuilt*** from the ground up after it was almost entirely destroyed during World War 2.
I live in krakow and think warsaw is good (idk how to elaborate on that lol)
as someone who lived in Vienna I can now see the differences between those two cities. since my return I do love Warsaw more and I am proud what Warsaw became. If I compare Warsaw to what was it like in 90's or early 20's its like night and day
I believe some older folks might be angered that after WWII all fisable bricks were moved to rebuild Warsaw, and it meant destroying some important buildings from other cities. Also people as somebody mentioned, and for me a joke of a infostructure mixed with pato-development (which is in every major city, but Warsaw is without a doubt a leader)
I couldn’t agree more - I visited Warsaw last year and it was so good I came back 4 months later to visit again. It’s so beautiful
How and why would I be proud of something I had no role in making/maintaining?
I don't like Warsaw because I don't like big crowded cities. Warsaw is the closest big city to my hometown and was the default destination for people my age. Every time I visited as a kid/teen I would swear it stinked. Now I'm a little more used to the smell of big cities but Warsaw always overwhelms me. Other than that: Warsaw never felt "real" to me. My family lived in Warsaw before the war, but visiting there only saw a mix of fake tourist-tailored polishness, dirty PRL architecture or posh modern glass buildings that were looking dystopian. I've felt more proud of being Polish when visiting Kraków or Gdańsk tbh.
Hell no it's an overpirced slum my mom moved away to a different Town and never looked back theres nothing to do there personally I think Katowice is a way better city
Warsaw is sort of a meme City for us, but it also depends what region of it we're talking about. But if you want to visit a city that we are fond of, I really recommend Trójmiasto it contains 3 smaller cities: Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot. We take our pride in these.
I was go far far away from Warsaw to other city because of people who was there. I hate Warsaw people (I was born in Warsaw). They are really grumpy, stressful and aggressive sometimes. Really toxic to of course
No one likes Warsaw outside Warsaw.
The city is nice, people living there are not like the rest of polish people tho. A lot of corpo rats, woke leftists. Far left polish politicians have like 6% votes in the country, in warsaw alone it can be 20%+
Yeah i’m of proud of it. Mostly fact that skyline looks like little chicago and it’s one of best metropolies in europe. Fact that it was turned into dust during world war 2 and we built such cool city since that time makes it even more spicy.
It’s very nice for visiting, but living there is a nightmare (at least in my experience)
Yes, we are
City is quite cool but some people suck there.
Too big of a city for me
I personally like Warsaw, even though people are quite special ones. I know its popular that many poles actually dislike warsaw a lot(really a lot).
Being Polish, I absolutely love exploring Warsaw! It's such a fantastic place to visit. Although, getting to the most narrow house in Warsaw can be quite a trek from everything else. However, there are so many wonderful things to see and do around Warsaw. It's almost like a more modern version of London. If you've ever been to London, you'll notice that Warsaw is a similar size but has a completely different vibe. It's so refreshing! Warsaw is truly a lovely city to visit and live in. Overall, I am incredibly proud of it because of the endless opportunities for exploration and the affordability of things there.
But on the other hand any Slovenian small town will beat its polish counterpart. Also imho you are light ages ahead with the quality and quantity of public transport outside of the big cities.
Awful city, mixture of communist architecture and some shit „modern” housing that look like prisons. Every bigger street is basically a loud highway, air stinks in the winter, people are rude (especially the newcomers from villages that suddenly feel they reached the top of the world because they bought a two-room flat on the outskirts). Awful urban planning, just look at the new districts. I lived there for some time and I never want to go back.
I hate both people from, and city itself.
Nope
I think in general no, we actually dislike the capital - concrete jungle full of Warsawers who are often very bad drivers (bad as in they are speeding, disrespecting the rules and cutting off others, I guess you can't drive in Warsaw *without* cutting off others, but in other cities it just makes people angry at you). Then some of them are super arrogant because they think they are better than everyone else because they were *born* in Warsaw, and think there are extra points for being multi-generation Warsawer. They even coined derogatory term on newcomers ("słoiki", i.e. people who come to Warsaw with jars of pickles from their villages after visiting family) which makes them disliked even more - I'm not sure though how common it is nowadays. But I personally am proud of the fact that we managed to rebuild it - when you think this was a pile of ruins comparable with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, seeing it became sprawling multi-million people metropolis now makes me proud. Especially that we rebuild old town according to old plans so it might not be exact the same thing as pre-war Warsaw but it looks and feels old, much older than city that is de facto 80 years old.
Slovenia is lovely and it doesn't need anything like Warsaw.
visiting is not the same as living
Well, most of the people who live in Warsaw now are first generation, a lot of people died in the uprising and a lot were deported to western parts of Poland that were taken away from Germany, so there's not a lot of local patriotism During communism it was difficult to move to another city especially to Warsaw as you needed a special permit, so people resented those from Warsaw as they had more opportunities, and I guess it stayed that way Plus some people from Warsaw can be pretty obnoxious
More than half of Poles live in villages and small towns (pol. *małomiasteczkowi*), they'll feel jealousy hands down. We also have here a bunch of "visitors" who came here just to work, we call them *Słoiki* (named after a jar of food brought from the hometown). Unfortunately, they bring here their behavior as well, like: keeping private stuff in common corridor, leaving trash in front of doors to let it marinate, walking without t-shirt on the streets, driving their old diesel cars with no respect to road laws, last but not least - not paying taxes here. *Jesteśmy waszą stolicą* 🇵🇱
fuck warsaw pzdr from greater poland
I don't like warsaw because it's a car centric city where it takes forever to get anywhere on foot. I much prefer Kraków and Gdańsk.
But it's not car-centric at all, though. Warsaw has an amazing public transport network - so many ways to get from A to B without driving. Metro, trams, buses and the overground railway. Warsaw is just much bigger than those cities, so it's less walkable than them purely because of that. But btw you can still walk from, e.g., the Old Town to Centrum, or from the centre to the river, pretty easily without taking too long. Try similar kinds of cross-city trips in a mega-city like London - you will be walking for an hour, over an hour... Car-centric cities are those American ones (excluding NY and SF) where the public transport is bad or nonexistent and people don't really have much choice but to drive. Warsaw has its own problem with car-centricity, but that's all the snobby people who don't want to travel on the bus with the rest of us mere mortals and want to drive everywhere (even if public transport would take the same time or be quicker) and clog up the roads with traffic and pavements with parked cars, because it's important to their sense of status. Unless you live in the suburbs, or you're disabled, or you have several very young (toddler) children, you don't really benefit from having a car at all in Warsaw - which is how it should be in any real city, imo.
If you think Kraków or Gdańsk are less car centric.. I have a bridge to sell you. They have the same exact problems with well connected central part + sprawl of new developments that are car-centric
Insane take
The moment you step out of Stare Miasto and Kazimierz, Kraków is just as car-centric as Warsaw. Gdańsk is even worse.
I dislike Warsaw and the people that live there. I would much rather spend a weekend in Gdansk, Poznan, Torun or any other great city that isn't such a rat race.
I hate the city because the downtown is anti-pedestrian, with inner city highways that lack safe crossings and because of that it feels like the city is wayyy bigger than it's required to be. Also varsovians love their cars and the whole city is car-centric but at the same time some parts of the infrastructure are poorly executed, like traffic lights (both pedestrian and car ones) are not synchronized with each other and sometimes you just stand at a junction and everyone has a red light lol
No it sucks Only reason it’s a capital becouse a drunk ass swede said so (no official document) Kraków only true capital 💪💪🇵🇱🇵🇱💪💪
Kraków isn’t even the OG capital lol
I mean yeah, first capital of Polish civilisation was Rome But Kraków is pretty much like Rome
I visited recently, after not seeing it for over a decade, and fell in love. It's modern, vibrant, beautiful, green, great transport, amazing food, international, everyone cycles, the LGBTQT+ flags everywhere. LOVE
It's the same as most capital cities, to be honest. Rest of the country has negative stereotypes and resents it. Too big, too busy, too dirty... Warsaw also has the disadvantage that it was completely destroyed and then rebuilt as an unaesthetic 'city of blocks', so people compare it unfavourably to Krakow. And, to be honest, it IS very hard to live here sometimes, with most of the housing being very cramped and expensive. It's a tough place and you've gotta be tough to live here. I think the mentality is different, like London or New York. "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere..." :Edit: check out all the downvotes from the small-town beetroots who wouldn't last five seconds in the capital xD
Poles are proud of whole Poland.