Warszawa & Berlin – Day 1

Published on 12th October 2023

Welcome to Warszawa!

My European Sleeper arrived in Berlin Hbf bang on time—even though the stewardess warned me it often arrives early—so I could stick to my schedule and go full Hobbit: have a second breakfast!

I actually saved most of my packaged train breakfast for later, so there was plenty of room to indulge in the breakfast buffet at the InterCityHotel Berlin Hauptbahnhof. More importantly, it provided me with a very comfortable ‘waiting room’, since my next train would be three hours later! I’ve spent enough time aimlessly wandering through the Berlin train station or just having fast food on previous trips, so having some comfortable seats, power, and clean toilets was nice for a change.

My next train was the Berlin-Warszawa Express, run by the Polish rail operator PKP Intercity. In a little over five hours it would take me to Poland’s capital Warsaw. At about 1160 km from Brussels, this also marks the furthest destination I’ve reached by train… so far!

The train was a bit of a special one: lots of 6-seater compartments, and for first class it was the only option. Not my favourite seating arrangement, when not travelling with people I know… However, since the booking system didn’t allow me to pick a specific seat, I booked first class anyway, so I would at least have slightly wider seats. And complementary snacks and drinks, apparently!

After finally arriving in Warszawa, I took a bus to the ibis budget Warszawa Centrum check-in. I booked the hotel when I was still hoping the Warsaw Beer Festival would be this week, hence the location slightly out of the centre of the city…

Bags dropped off, it was just a short and easy walk to Kawiarnia Fabryczna for some coffee.

My first beer in Poland was at Gorączka Złota. Not your typical craft beer bar, but a great start. And I managed the whole visit without a word of English being spoken! A very important phrase I looked up and memorised was “Mały, proszę” (small, please), otherwise I would have been drinking pints all night…

I had been told to check out the phenomenon of ‘milk bars’, so for dinner I went to Bar Mleczny Bambino. There I had my first taste of traditional Polish cuisine: gołąbki—stuffed cabbage leaves—and kluski leniwe—potato dumplings.

With something in my stomach, it was then time to hit the first craft beer bars: Jabeerwocky, Kufle i Kapsle, and Hopito Craft Beer.

Warszawa & Berlin – Day 0

Published on 11th October 2023

On the European Sleeper!

Just a day after European Sleeper announced it will soon continue to their originally announced destination Prague, I find myself on one of their trains to Berlin.

European Sleeper: route Brussels - Berlin

After a slightly confusing boarding experience—carriage 1 was not at the front where it should be—I settled in my room for the night.

Stewardess—yes, that is how they call themselves on the European Sleeper!—Caroline then explained to me how everything worked, prepared my bed already—since I don’t really need three seats for just myself anyway—and brought me my welcome drink, a European Sleeper Weizen.

Of course I brought some more beers and snacks for the rest of the journey myself! For entertainment, I had downloaded some films and series on my iPad, since the current sleeper service doesn’t offer any WiFi.

Arrival in Berlin tomorrow will be quite early—shortly after six —so Caroline will bring me my breakfast and tea around that time, as soon as I open my room door. I’ll add photos of that in the morning!

Breakfast!

Razernij 2023

Published on 19th August 2023

Beerdrinkers & Hellraisers

After a cloudy morning, the sun warmed up the festival terrain in Rumst, just in time for this year’s edition of Razernij to start!

There was a nice selection of breweries again, just enough to try new beers all afternoon, to then return to favourites when the concerts really kick off.

My Belgian Summer Holiday – Leuven

Published on 11th August 2023

The last trip with my Off-Peak Unlimited train ticket was kind of a mini-trip, since I already had plans in the evening. So my destination was nearby, with a rather limited—but high quality—selection of craft beer places: Leuven!

After arrival in the quite modern but beautiful Leuven train station, my first stop was at Madmum Coffee Roasters, for an iced latte—it was a warm day—and some apple cinnamon cake.

The cultural part of the day was spent in M Leuven. They used to have a nice bar, with a great selection of beer, but this apparently is a thing of the past, so the art had to suffice…

From there, I went to Hops ‘n More. It primarily a bottle shop—so they’re open early—but they have a nice terrace and some beers on draught, and by sheer coincidence, there was a “Rare Bottle Fest” going on as well!

The next and already last beer destination was MALZ, and here too there was a special event today: a Jester King Tap Takeover.

On my way back to the station, I first stopped at Kebab Leuven for—you’d never guess—a döner kebab.

And that concludes my Belgian summer holiday, or at least the part with my special train ticket.

My Belgian Summer Holiday – Ghent

Published on 9th August 2023

One of the last destinations with my Off-Peak Unlimited train ticket, was Ghent. I originally planned to go there on a Thursday, but I was unexpectedly called in to work, but this Wednesday was the only full free day I had, and all the bars I intended to go to, seemed to be open.

However, I didn’t check the museums, and as it turns out, Wednesday is a closing day for most museums in Ghent… So after walking to STAM, the city museum of Ghent, in vain, my first stop was then Koffeine, for some coffee and cheesecake.

A bit earlier than planned, I then continued my sunny and scenic walk to Dok Brewing Company for my first beers of the day. This taproom was actually the only one of my beer stops open this early, so I took my time to enjoy my beers, while waiting to move on to the a new bar.

Well, Café De Welkom might be new, but it used to be Brouwbar before. Now it is kind of the city centre taproom of Dok Brewing Company, and they completely overhauled the place. There are considerably fewer taps with beer here than in the actual brewery taproom, so if you’re keen on trying new beers, it’s best to go to the centre bar before you head over to the docks…

For dinner I went to Faja Lobi, originally a Surinamese restaurant, but over the years several cultures and styles have influenced the menu. But put anything with peanut sauce on the menu, and I’ll have that! So I had the chicken satays with spicy peanut sauce, with rice and salad. The drink I had with it was dawet, a quite tasty coconut milk based drink.

I then passed by Huzaar, which would have been another new bar for me, but it was unfortunately closed for some reason, so that discovery will have to wait until another time. Inevitably the next and last bar then was Bar Beenhouwer, with a banging beer list as usual!

From there I walked back to the station, to go home. Just one more mini-trip to go!

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