Warsaw's beautiful Stare Miasto is a world heritage listed composition of squares and narrow streets lined with old houses and businesses close to the Royal Palace. That's what it seems at first sight, but the reality is perhaps closer to Disneyland because nearly everything you see in the attached photographs was destroyed in the Second World War. It is a 'modern' reconstruction of old Warsaw from photographs, paintings and other resources undertaken by the communist government.
Let's say it was a job well done because the effect is dazzling and I suspect many visitors are taken in by the streetscapes they observe. My guess is that the interiors of the buildings are considerably modernised and that only the exteriors pictured here are a good facsimile of history.
One night, I and two Israeli colleagues had a delightful, if expensive, meal at Fukier in the market square (Rynek Starego Miasto), which served Polish food artistically modernised for contemporary tastes. It's highly recommended if you pass that way.
AS
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