Poland 5: Żyrardów

I know most of the towns and villages just to the east of Warsaw. They were on my train (and later -- car) route to Gniazdowo. But I know very little about the region to the west of the city. And so when Bee proposed an excursion for us to Żyrardów, I was super excited! Have I ever been there? -- she asks. I don't think so. Might we have gone there on a high school trip? Probably not. And certainly my parents weren't much into exploring the towns of Poland. They had their favorite vacation destination -- Zakopane, in the mountains. Once, we went to the seashore. Once -- to Krakow. That's it. And honestly, small Polish towns were, in the postwar years, uninviting. You had to be a travel nut with a curious mindset and an interest in local history and culture to poke around places that were often drab and struggling. My parents preferred to go the simple route: send us kids to the village with my grandparents for the summer.

Let me tell you just a few things about Żyrardów: it's a former industrial hub. I mean just that: the town was built around a textile factory in the year 1833. Literally built and organized to accommodate the factory. The first director of the factory was a French guy called Filip de Girard -- hence the name Żyrardów. If you say it in the Polish way, it sounds like Girard. Toward the end of the 19th century, the factory, under the leadership of two German industrialists, became the most modern, the most prominent place in Europe for flax production. So, think lovely linens.

Everything in Żyrardów took place in support of textile production. If you lived there, in one of the red brick buildings built for you and your family, you worked in some fashion with textiles. Good workers were valued and so extensive social services were provided to keep them there. Schools, hospitals, theaters. Churches, and not just the monolith that is so much the face of Poland now (Roman Catholic). There was a Lutheran church, a Baptist one and a synagogue. I read somewhere that the factories employed many Jewish people in their craft and trade departments and many English doctors, and quite a number of Russians to preserve law and order. It appears that they managed not to fight with each other. Amazing.

Eventually it all came to an end. The factories began a downward spiral after World War I, and they really lost money big time at the end of the last century. (Sure, you can blame China.) The last factory closed in 1999, though there is to this day a small line of fabric production because, you know, people are enthusiastic about the traditions of yore. Nearly all of the former factories now house galleries, restaurants, shops, or they stand abandoned.

Today, we visit Zyrardow.

 

But first, an early wake up (after a very late night, with a malfunctioning blogger platform -- it's always like that: when you most need to get that post up, there comes a system failure), I go down to breakfast.

I'm reconciled to it: yogurt, black bread with farmers cheese and honey. I do wheedle out  of the kitchen a small dish of blueberries. I mean, it's the season! Again I eat outside.

I walk over to the tram stop...

 

 

And as I wait for the next tram, I marvel at how clean, efficient and frequent these trams are. Public transportation at its best.

I take the tram to Bee's home...

 

 

And then her husband drives the three of us to Zyrardow. It's about 40 minutes by car if you leave at a time where there's no rush hour traffic. Congestion at peak hours in Warsaw can be brutal! 

(the landscape around Warsaw is... flat. And pretty!)

 

In Zyrardow, we begin our explorations with a look into the Museum of Linen Production. There's a lot to see and you can spend a lot of time just reading the large placards explaining the process of textile production that went on here for close to 150 years.

(there is a sign here that says that it's the perfect spot for a selfie, so we take one!)

(We meet a guy who worked in the factory from 1976 until it officially closed in 2012. Now he helps with the machines, with tours, and with the production of the few linen pieces that come out of here.)

 

 

 

 

 

In fact, it's because we spend so much time there that we then have to pick up the speed elsewhere. 

(A quick walk past the factory buildings...)

 

And here's another (welcome) distraction: in the villa belonging to the two German industrialists who really propelled Zyrardow factories to their leadership position in the worldwide textile industry, there is currently a display of photographs taken by a famed Polish artist, Zdzislaw Beksinski. His life (about which I knew nothing) is a whole 'nother chapter of mystery and intrigue and sadness and eccentricity. Too long to even briefly recount here. But the photographs, taken maybe 50 or 60 years ago? Magnificent!

And of course, we just had to walk through the adjacent beautiful park (designed by the same guy who designed Warsaw's Botanical Gardens)...

And now it's suddenly getting late. Time to eat! We go for lunch at a very well regarded restaurant, Szpularnia. (Szpularnia, by the way, translates to spool shop.) The place combines traditional Polish dishes with a more modern and at times international approach. For example, you'll find on the menu a main course that is right out of my childhood. We ate in Polish restaurants almost never when I was growing up, but I knew that if we would deem to step inside one, there would be on the menu a pork chop with potatoes and cabbage (unless they were all out of meat. That, much to a Pole's annoyance, was not uncommon).  At Szpularnia, you can get that pork chop, with potatoes and cabbage. I did not order that! Instead, I went for the perch dish (perch is hugely popular in Poland), followed by another Polish beloved -- the szarlotka, which is in fact an apple cake resembling an apple pie.

And now it's getting late and still, we have so much to see! 

 

We make it to the church, built with too many bricks to count! It has magnificent stained glass windows and predictably, I am absolutely awed by the ones depicting flowers.

There are old buildings and new shops that still could be explored, but we have put in a full day of sights already and so we head home. And of course, in the late afternoon, we get stuck in the traffic, reminding me more of Los Angeles at rush hour than of the Poland I know from way back when.

In Warsaw, I linger with Bee in her home for a bit -- her home is the home I've spent the most time in on my Warsaw visits and truly it is the home that I am happy to linger in any time, because right now I get to see it in full view and not just on a Zoom screen... Sigh...

 

Okay, tram back to the hotel, past the Palace of Culture where I get off... 

 

 

... and I walk over to some shops for some quick gift shopping for the Group parties still ahead of us, and too for a sweet treat for me. I thought about what else I would like to have while in Poland and of course, I remembered this:

 

That doughnut with rose jelly that really hits the spot at the end of a long day.

with love...