Lodz day trip, part of our road trip

Road trip and the beginning of a new adventure

Lodz day trip is part of a greater plan of visiting Poland and Lithuania. When everybody headed towards all inclusive packages for the summer we decided to do it differently. 🙂

We figured that with the weather being so hot we would rather see and visit as much as possible instead of being forced to spend a few hours on the beach and trying to survive indoors for the rest of the day. And with a toddler it made more sense to be a bit more active. Although I am not denying that laying on a beach with a book doing nothing made a lot of sense.

Why Lodz?

Well to be honest firstly because of practicality. We counted on spending no more than 6 hours on the road per day. And with a kid you need to count on more stops.

Secondly because this town is quite unique. If only taking in consideration its industrial past and its role in history during the Second World War. Before the trip I didn’t know that prior the Second World War the Jewish population counted for on third of the population. Some statistics say that after the war out of 223 000 thousands Jews only 10 000 survived.

What we managed to see in our Lodz day trip

After a few good hours in the car we felt like taking a walk. And I mean a loooong walk! That also because we preferred a hotel that offered parking and breakfast and fitted into our budget and that meant it was not very central.

Piotrkowska Street

The aim was Piotrkowska street, which is a must see while in Lodz. With a size of a bit under 5 km you and have plenty to see. You can admire a lot of old historical buildings in an excellent condition but also many that need love and care.

We understood that Lodz is developing fast and part of the administration plan is the restoration of the old buildings.

Hall of fame on Piotrkowska Street

National Film School in Łódź is quite famous. And while walking on Piotrkowska Street you should not miss the hall of fame.

Lodz day trip : Manufaktura

An old factory, years of planning and reconstruction turned into Manufaktura. As part of our road trip we couldn’t miss to see the final result.

And it looks great! Aside from shops there are a lot of restaurants and caffees!

The place features a multiplex cinema, a bowling alley, a climbing wall, a fitness club.

My son liked the fountain very much! Good thing that I had spare clothes! 🙂

Manufaktura is also a cultural center with a lot of museums but we didn’t have time to explore any.

Lodz, the city of red bricks

In our Lodz day trip we walked a few good kilometers in the center and on the outskirts of the city. And the most common feature is the red brick. And I do not mean Manufaktura! The buildings made of red bricks are everywhere! Some are already reconstructed and given a new life! Like residential flats!

But there are still quite a few that are in a state of decay. Some plants already have a home in them. 🙂

Lodz and parks

While walking we passed a few parks. We had not read much on this subject before so we were a bit surprised by their size and number.

There are plenty of places to rest your poor feet!

Logistics on our Lodz day trip

I mentioned previously that we walked a lot. But at some point we got tired and we bought public transport tickets that we never used because we kept on saying “lets walk one more street”. 🙂 We bought the tickets at a newspaper stand.

We were not able to use much of the English but we managed somehow to communicate mostly with the help of our Czech.

We also used the car and made use of paid parking. Parking is free in the center during the weekend or so we understood.

Lodz day trip and last thoughts

We feel that we could have spent more time and see more things. The city is developing and from the state of many buildings there is plenty of work ahead . But it is equally clear that there is a great potential in Lodz. The industrial buildings are given a second life and the end result looks amazing.

If we had more time I wish we visited the Jewish cemetery. Maybe next time!

Enjoy your own trip!