I’m sure most of you will of seen the Polish coat of arms, the white eagle on flags, signs, coins and the Polish football team’s shirts.

The White Eagle emblem originated from when Poland’s legendary founder Lech saw a white eagle’s nest. When he looked at the bird, a ray of sunshine from the red setting sun fell on its wings, so they appeared tipped with gold, the rest of the eagle was pure white. He was delighted and decided to settle there and placed the eagle on his emblem.

The image of the white eagle appeared for the first time on the coins made during the reing of Boleslaw I, initially as the Piast Family’s personal coat of arms. The stylized bird’s appearance caused dispute between scholars who could not identify its species. The most probable is the white-tailed eagle but cock, pigeon, and peacock were also taken into consideration. Since XII c. the eagle has appeared on the shields, ensigns, coins, and stamps of Piast dukes. It appeared on the Polish coat of arms during Przemysl II reign as a reminder of the Piast tradition before the fragmentation of Poland.

The eagle’s graphic form has changed throughout centuries. Its recent shape, accepted in 1927, was designed by professor Zygmunt Kaminski and was based on the eagle’s form from the times of Stefan Batory’s reign. It is worth mentioning that it was adapted to stamps or round shields rather than to a rectangular shape.

During my international travels I often find myself in London craving some good Polish food, there is quite a lot of choice in the capital but those craving some decent home cooked style food in a relaxed atmosphere may struggle.

There are of course the bigger well known places like Baltic in Southwark and its sister restaurant Wodka in Kensington, these come at a price and although serve good food can often be a bit hit and miss.

Two places come to mind when searching for Polish restaurants in London, the first is Daquise in South Kensington. Now it does have quite a lot of bad reviews but every time I’ve been I’ve enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, hearty food and prompt service (some might see this as brusque).

Stara Polska is a lovely little place tucked away on Marylebone Lane, it’s a great place to go for a drink and I normally end up a little tipsy after a few too many delicious cherry vodkas. They serve rustic Polish food at reasonable (for London) prices.

These little places are so much better than the mainstream Polish restaurants, sitting at Stara Polska in the cosy atmosphere with some kielbasa and a couple of Tyskies listening to some traditional Polish music is an atmosphere you just don’t find at places like Baltic.

Sample from Menu:

Bigos: £7.50

Pierogi Babuni: £6.95

Galapki: £6.95

Built in 1927 the Grand Hotel is the best hotel in the Tricity (Sopot, Gdansk and Gdynia) if not Poland. A huge refurbishment has recently been completed and the hotel was reopened as a Spa resort in January 2008.

Location wise you couldn’t ask for much more, set in a lovely park and on a sandy beach the cream of Polish society (and me) enjoy the casino, a number of fine bars and restaurants and some of the best service in the country.

Drinking/Dining can get quite pricey and with rooms starting at around 500zl a night going up to 1750zl for a prestige suite you need to be prepared to loosen the purse strings for a stay.

Some nice touches include this delivered under your door every morning:

Rather than go with the traditional ‘stick an advert on the telly’ or ‘put a poster on a wall’ some companies have decided to try the “Make our product 500 times bigger than it normally is and plonk it in the street” strategy.

This isn’t a bad idea as when I see a 3 metre tall toilet roll I’m going to remember it…

Net Worth: $2.6b

Divorced father of two Leszek Czarnecki started Poland’s largest leasing business, Europejski Fundusz Leasingowy in 1991. He cashed in his stake for $280m and started building up a banking/insurance and real estate empire including the publically listed Getin Holdings.

In 2002 he made public his intentions to secure a seat on a flight to the International Space Station which would of cost him around $20m, he didn’t go in the end.  A bit of an adventuresome type he also deep sea dives.

Been taking a break in Sopot the last week or so, lots of stories coming this week. Stay tuned!

This crazy looking building is situated in Sopot, at Bohaterów Monte Cassino Street. The architecture of the  building is based on drawings by Jan Marcin Szancer and Per Dahlberg. There is also unusual roof covered with sheet metal with enamel roof tiles coloured with green shades, see blue and Parishian blue, which gives the illusion of dragon scales.

It’s a popular tourist destination and inside are a number of pubs and restaurants.

Daglberg Picture