As a benevolent country that has supported Albania in the most important processes such as NATO membership and down the path of European Union accession, the launch of direct flight route Tirana-Warsaw is deemed very important for increasing the number of tourists.

Thanks to the excellent relations and as part of a cooperation of the Polish Embassy in Albania with the Albanian authorities and the largest Polish airline, LOT Polish Airlines, everyone can fly directly from Tirana to Warsaw and vice versa three times a week.

Setting this milestone in the relations between the two countries will bring closer the two countries, peoples and businesses.

After the COVID-19 period that befell the world over, last year alone thousands of Polish tourists visited Albania awestruck by landscape, culture, history as well as the wonderful Albanian coast.
In addition to the sea and rugged landscape like the Albanian Alps, the Polish capital is abundant in hospitality, museums and green parks, historic buildings, architectural diversity and old churches.
All those eager to visit the Polish capital, which experienced a tragic history during World War II but managed to be built from scratch on the ruins of the Nazi attack thanks to the extraordinary work of architects, builders and restorers, will marvel at the numerous tourist attractions.

Such was my first visit to Warsaw together with a group of fellow journalists.

After a quiet and cozy flight that took two hours, as we leave behind the Chopin airport, we find ourselves in the midst of a stunning and relaxing landscape, a road lined by green trees and small parks.
Our tour guide, Piotr Karpiński, who has visited Albania, showed us around the one of the main tourist attractions of the Polish capital, after accommodation at the “Poland Palace”.

The Royal Palace, originally built by King Sigismund III in the late 16th century, a reddish building dominated by Baroque architectural style, in one of the most famous streets, as the Royal Street is known, is our first marvel in this city. Like thousands of other buildings, this one was destroyed with explosives by the Nazis in 1944 and then rebuilt as it was.

In the main square which dates back to the 13th century and considered the heart of the city, one is faced with two worlds, traces of its past and modern times, which in 1980 was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Built in 1408, when the new Warsaw City was founded, during World War II it experienced the tragic fate of destruction. But today the “Market Square” is the starting point for tourists who choose to visit Warsaw.

You cannot leave without taking a picture next to the Mermaid statue of Warsaw, its symbol, whose beautiful legend one can learn from the Poles themselves.
Time flies so fast as you walk in the heart of Warsaw, a journey into Polish history told with passion by our guide.

It is impossible to see what Warsaw has to offer in a few hours, but a visit to the Royal Lazienki Museum and Garden is inevitable. A relaxing walk among the greenery of the 74-hectare park, statues like that of the composer Frederic Chopen whose heart is encased in a stone pillar in Holy Cross Church in Warsaw, down further the Lazienki Museum enchants visitors with its decor and Belvedere Palace.

After a walk along the Vistula, the 1047-km river which runs through the Polish capital, the next stop is the unique University of Warsaw Library with rooftop gardens and its walls filled with carved mathematical formulas or quotes in different alphabets.

Poles also have also the Vodka Museum which they consider a traditional drink. And there are many tourists who visit it as part of the itinerary in Warsaw.

There are countless different museums that you can visit in Warsaw, included in tourist guides such as that of Mikollaj Copernicus, Chopin or Pope John Paul II, but the most special one is the “Polin” museum rated as one of the most beautiful in Europe. With a unique architecture, the museum of the history of Polish Jews, divided into 8 galleries is a journey through time between culture and history, from the first settlements to the present-day.

But, that is not all of Warsaw.

Other destinations are to be discovered in the Polish capital located just a two-hour long air journey from Tirana by LOT Polish Airlines, thanks to which Polish tourists will also have the opportunity to visit Albania sooner, the country that has a lot to offer.

/sm/