Poznan is easy to love. Not that I am biased by the fact of being raised in this city. Poznan is simply a very attractive place to visit and to have fun. Let’s say you’re coming to Poznan to visit me. Where should I go with you? What should we see together? Here are few places in my home city I would like you to visit. All are really special to me. For a good start To fully appreciate any place you need to relax first. There is no use to running around like a mad cat. So first I’m going to take you to a cafe. Poznan is known for a variety of cafes located in the heart of the city. There are many places to enjoy your coffee or snack but there are three places I particularly like. Our first stop is Kamea Cafe on Wroniecka Street. There are couple of reasons why I picked up this place. First, I remember it from my high school times. This cafe was located elsewhere but successfully survived more than a decade serving fabulous desserts. Second, I like the interior design of this place. It’s not excessively fancy nor rustic, its brown color creates a nice atmosphere of leisure and feast at the same time. Third, the fruit and ice cream desserts are delicious! I’m not going to tell you which is my favorite. You need to figure it out for yourself. And lastly, I have good memories of meeting my friends here. When I lived abroad and stayed in Poznan for few days a year there was always an issue on how to meet all friends in a very short time. And, more importantly, not having an apartment in Poznan: where to meet them all? Kamea was just perfect for long winter evenings and bright summer nights. Having my dessert in Kamea now brings all these wonderful moments alive. So this is a special place to me. Where next? Another place, another story. Dominikanska Street no 7 hosts Tea Shop Chimera. It combines exquisite tea selling with cozy cafe and good restaurant. Surprised? Well, although this mix sounds weird I think this place is very successful in hosting guests of all kinds. Since I remember this tea shop was here and in my high school time this was one of very few places where we could drink a high quality green or white tea. For years this was a place of meetings with my school mates, which is especially joyful many years after graduation. People from my high school spread around the world so whenever there is a holiday season we try to gather in Poznan. This is a tough task but we managed to meet few times after we parted at the end of high school. Just recently, visiting Chimera with my Italian friends I discovered how good the local kitchen is! My dear friend ate here an exquisite duck with dumplings and red cabbage (pretty traditional Polish food) and she told me that this was the best duck she has ever eaten! Here is something extra for you: Erin and her family recently visited Poznan and they picked up best Polish food. Find out what foreigner appreciate in Polish kitchen! Good company The last place I wish to share with you was discovered recently. Hosting Laurence and Vera from Finding the Universe travel blog few weeks ago I tried to find a very particular place to have our coffee at. And found one! Through a radio station International Poznan I’ve heard a story of Erik – an American guy from Seattle – who runs a small coffee shop at Ratajczaka Street, 18, called The Bigfoot Cofee Shop. This place might be tricky to find as it is located along a street restricted to traffic. But when you find it you will love it! Erik is one of the most friendly people I have ever met. I’m not going to share his story here. To know him you will need to visit this place for yourself. Let me just tell you that his coffee machine and sandwiches are delicious! Plus: his photographs of Poznan he exhibits on walls are fantastic! You can see that he loves our city. This story continues. Follow me to know Poznan and let’s go to Food Market together! Disclosure: this post was kindly supported by City of Poznan, however, all opinions are my own and not influenced in any way.  

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Writing about home city is challenging. It’s very difficult to find the right perspective. On the one hand, there are too many stories to tell, too many memories to share and just too many places to write about. On the other hand, local stories and excessive detailed description will not interest travelers nor tourists. So here is the thing: I will show you my city just as I do with my foreign friends who visit me here. Places I normally go, things I usually do, events I always participate. This is a very personal itinerary of Poznan. And as local as it gets. Food Starting with basics: I’ll show you my favorite places for having a coffee, a delicious dessert or sites where I simply like to chill out with my friends. So next post will take you on tour around the Poznan cafes. Some of them are charming and very busy with locals while others are quiet and peaceful. This is true for Poznan: everyone finds something for himself or herself. A huge variety of cafes awaits you. Not only cafes are busy places here: people all over the world spend time shopping fresh vegetables, fruits and flowers. You must be familiar with pictures of exotic food markets and I’m going to show you how people do their daily shopping on city markets. It’ll be very colorful and crowded, just like elsewhere! Art&History Poznan is an excellent example of a place where history and art are fascinating! No worries: no boring museum with old paintings. Far from it! I’ll take you for a long walk around one of Poznan districts that is called Jeżyce. I’m going to show you a fabulous art deco style of the houses that survived last war. Spectacular details, glass windows, door, balconies and stucco. Few sites here reminds me my trip to Barcelona and I hope you’ll share my delight with these beauties. Further, I’m taking you to one of the most modern places in the city where ancient history becomes alive. Sounds weird: modern technologies and the ancient history? Fair enough. You’ll se for yourself. Events Poznan is a city of festivals. No doubts about it! Throughout the year there is no weekend without a music or cultural event. Seriously! You can chose from street theaters’ festival, ethnic music festival, jazz festival, films and music festivals and so many others! I will focus on two events I participate: Dancing Poznan and 15th Poznan Marathon. I think these two events are very particular and you will find out why if you read these posts. If you wish know Poznan better, see whether this city is an interesting holiday destination or just check what to do here follow posts published under “Home City”. Trust locals – they know best!    

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A food focused post! Finally! I know that some people would not considered Ireland a world capital of good food but I think there is much to talk about. Full Irish Just this morning I found out that ‘full’ means in Swedish ‘drunk’ which would be really bizarre if used with Irish breakfast afterwards. Well, there is nothing of that kind with full Irish breakfast. Here is what we are talking about: eggs, sausage, beacon, beans, tomatoes, white and black pudding and mushrooms. My favorite part of it would be eggs and sausages, and, in fact, if you eat a similar breakfast in the UK or in Canada the sausages are always very tasty. The basic difference between the English version of breakfast is white and black pudding. Now, I’m not an expert and I won’t tell you what is inside but I can assure you it is quite good and it gives an Irish flavor to it. I like it. My Italian readers probably turn their heads with disgust by now but I would like to assure you that such breakfast eaten in Ireland would be really good. If you think about gloomy weather outside, rain, fog and cold it might slightly change your opinion on that. For me eating full Irish (as they call it here) when I’m in Ireland is a perfect solution to go through the day. Just like Penny from the Aran Islands was always saying. And it works. When you eat this breakfast you don’t need to worry about lunch. It will allow you to last until the dinner time. Second breakfast If you had full Irish skip it. But if you had a light continental one you could think about eating a sort of snack before the lunch brake. As we were crossing Ireland we spent a pleasant morning in a small town Roscommon. We stayed at the Glesson’s Cafe having a delicious second breakfast. Freshly baked  fruit scones is something between a cookie and a muffin, it’s sweet, it has raisins in it and I ate it with homemade confiture. The place is known for its excellence in the area. Their products are prepared by themselves and I must say they are really tasty. The scones are also baked without fruits and can be eaten with cream or butter. When looking at the picture and the size of the scones you might think this is not much but I can assure you that one scone is enough to fill your stomach! Lunch That’s right, it’s only noon and we already have three meals eaten! I don’t expect that all Irish eat this much everyday, however, the beauty behind is that whenever you feel hungry there is always something suitable you can eat. And it’s awesome! Especially, when you travel and it is hard to plan the precise time of having meals. Irish lunch comes in a huge variety: both in terms where you eat it and what you eat. To give you two examples: a family owned pub in Newport called Grainne Uaile welcomed us with a traditional soup and stew, while Mulranny Park Hotel prepared fresh oysters. Huge variety of food served gives you an opportunity to try something else each day. The speciality of the region would be sea food, a variety of fishes but also venison. It was the first time I have eaten an oyster. Ever. Although it was served in a very exquisite way with pomegranate and other bloggers said it was delicious I would admit that this is not my favorite food. I am very happy I tried it, though. Now I know for sure that I prefer meat. Beer& Cider You can’t leave Ireland before you drink a pint of Guinness and cider. And there is always good time to do it. Any time after noon, I mean. Now, I’m not a huge fan of beer, to be honest, so you might not believe in what I say about it, but I was very lucky to visit the Guinness Storehouse and to join the party for the Tbex bloggers there. The part itself was fabulous but let me tell you a word about the beer. As the Guinness Storehouse is a core of production process of this excellent beer, the history of this family run business was introduced. We had an opportunity to meet people whose responsibility is tasting the beer on a daily basis to make sure its quality is perfect. The storehouse prepares a sort of short show in beautiful interiors with instruction from the experts how to drink it. I followed the instructions and tried one small glass of Guinness starting with sniffing its aroma, and having white mustache after sipping it. So, if me- a beer abstinent- says it was good it really means something! For me cider would be a favorite drink in Ireland and in the UK. I also drunk it in Canada and it was also delicious. Unfortunately, I had no chance to try the small local companies products and was always drinking the most popular ones, but even though it is very tasty. I need to get back to Ireland to taste some local ciders some day. Dinner and everything else By the time it’s evening you might be very hungry or completely full, depending on how many of the meals you had through the day. Evening would be a good time to sit in a pub and have a traditional fish& chips with a pint of beer, but it is also excellent opportunity to visit some fancy restaurant. We had a chance to try both: traditional Irish cuisine and some new compositions of tastes (seaweeds seams to be very trendy at the moment). Two remarkable places with excellent food: Twelve Hotel and Portfinn Lodge& Fjord Restaurat. The Twelve Hotel served all seafood imaginable, including exquisite dumplings with seafood filling. They were placed on seaweed and served on a St. James shell just like the picture below shows....

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Few months ago my Italian friends visited me on their way home from Copenhagen and they told me this: "Look, this summer was the warmest one in last 80 years. Can you believe that the warmest was +20?".

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