Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: Old City

There is actually tram access to the Royal Castle, as there's a road tunnel under the Royal Square with tram tracks in it, and a tram stop on the castle side.

Here's a shot looking back towards the new town, where I was headed next.

Above the plaque commenorating the rebuilding of the old town is this very ornate clock. I don't know if it's a repro of an older one, but anyone familiar with Eastern and Central Europe knows that such clocks were very common there over the years.

Here's the old town square from another angle, again in black and white.

Here I switched over to Tri-X for the remainder of my stay in Warsaw. I think the old town looks great in black and white, though. :-)

This is the famous Old Town Square of Warsaw. Like the rest of the old town, it was rebuilt in 1951-1953 following its destruction in World War II, but it feels fully authentic to visit, with the right amount of weathering and wear and tear, as that WAS still 54 years ago.

This was just a random artistic (I hope) shot that I took while wandering around the old town in Warsaw. I'm not sure of the building that this tower is on, but such buildings can be found all over Warsaw.

This IS Swietojanska, one of the many shopping streets in the old town.

If I'm not mistaken this street is Swietojanska, although I could be mistaken so I'm just going to call it a "street scene."

I was originally going to call this "Pub Behind the Castle," but then I realised that this isn't the pub I was thinking of. Oh well. This is indeed the neighborhood behind the castle, however, with Marjensztat and Bednarska, among other streets, to explore.

Here's the prettier side of Bednarska, with a pretty touristy streetlamp. It makes me want to throw up. Just kidding. :-)

Indeed, nearly the entire Old City of Warsaw, or Starego Miasta, was destroyed during World War II, and following the war a decision had to be made whether to make Warsaw into the ugly pseudo-modern ghetto that Berlin became, or to rebuild it as it was. Thankfully, the new Communist government of Poland opted for the latter, and managed to reconstruct the entire city, medieval streets and all, in only two years between 1951 and 1953. Upon completion, this plaque was erected to commemorate the achievement.