We're 50 in IYP years!

But no midlife crisis here, we plan on living to 1000 and beyond. As we celebrate 16 years on the Poznań market, we want to take a look at how the city and our guide have changed over the years.

The first Poznań IYP guide, published in what was then a snazzy new design but would now be mistaken for a section ripped out of a phone book, came out in March 2002, two years before Poland even joined the European Union. Much has changed in the 16 years we’ve been exploring and writing about Poznań. The city back then was a significantly grayer, grittier, more unkempt place, still very much in the midst of post-communist transformation. Foreign tourists were a rare sight, and as such our the guide was aimed mostly at the reluctant business traveler attending the city’s international fairs (p.19), and wondering how the hell he or she will survive in wild, wild Eastern Europe.

Reading through our very first issue conjures up some serious nostalgia mixed with a dose of disbelief. This was a time when sending 500g of documents via express mail, finding the payphone, and scoping out the best internet cafe were serious concerns, and when we thought that writing about a very fresh ‘cash-for-corpses’ scandal involving the city’s ambulance service would be a fun bit of trivia for the visitors. On another front, our breakfast recommendations included such tantalizing options as Ali Baba kebab (“Middle Eastern breakfast specials”) and pre- McMuffin McD’s (“no breakfast menu but the usual burgers and fries”); sacrilege which would make the 2018 hipster shudder in horror over free-range-egg shakshouka and cold brew coffee. And a 20 pack of Marlboros for 6zł? Now you’d have to go to Transnistria for that type of bargain, and to avoid the huge pictures of aggressive throat cancer and sad guy with erectile dysfunction.

Fast forward to 2018, and the tracksuit-sporting skinheads have been replaced by hummus-eating, beanie-wearing, lumberjack-bearded hipsters, the lacklustre milk bars by dubstep-blasting pho joints, upscale ‘new Polish’ restaurants, and vegan food trucks, and the shady vodka dives by craft beer pubs sporting the latest instagramapproved light fixtures. Infrastructure has generally been brought up to 21st century European standards, including the main train station (or at least half of it), shopping opportunities (the malls are now too numerous, if anything), the INEA stadium (p.45), and many of the roads in town.

The Royal Castle then

...and the Royal Castle now.

Perhaps surprisingly, some core sights have undergone a transformation as well. Most dramatically, the Royal Castle (p.31), razed during WWII, has been rebuilt almost from scratch in the years 2010-2013, even though the questionable historical accuracy of the final result has earned it the nickname ‘Gargamel’s Castle’. Medieval city fortifications (p.30) were also partially restored, with works ending in 2008. Meanwhile, the list of essential Poznań attractions expanded to include the Stary Browar shopping & art complex (p.31), the renovated Freedom Square (p.32) with its geometric Freedom Fountain, the Porta Posnania ‘heritage interpretation centre’ (p.34) which serves as the high-tech gateway to Ostrów Tumski (p.34), and the high-end restaurants of City Park (ul. Ułańska, A-9). There’s also been an explosion of street art (p.25), with large-scale murals by international artists covering drab walls and local troublemakers like Noriaki and iamsomeart illegally adding pops of interest to the grungier bits of town.

2007 bird’s-eye view, an endeavor which back then required getting on an actual plane

Photo by Kotasik, CC BY-SA 4.0

So what hasn’t changed? Our 2002 section on religion is still accurate - though attitudes in large cities are changing, Poland by and large remains staunchly catholic, especially compared to its neighbours. Since the fall of communism, religious symbols and sites have become much more visible, sometimes to the point of absurdity: for example, in 2010 a massive 36-metre-tall Jesus statue was unveiled in the tiny town of Świebodzin (100 km west of Poznań), then fitted with wifi transmitters in 2018. Back in Poz, efforts continue to preserve the local religion and heritage. The billy goats atop the town hall (p.23) still butt heads at noon, the local croissants continue to emerge from the city’s ovens and disappear in Poznanian’s mouths (see p.43 for a delicious-looking picture), and Ostrów Tumski looms across the Warta River as solemnly as ever.

A common sight on the streets in 2002: the Polish FIAT, aka ‘Maluch’.

While we celebrate the old, like Poznań’s magnificent historical architecture and numerous landmarks, we’re also shedding a proud tear over how much positive change there has been in recent years. Yes, it’s a different world, but we’ve never been more excited to be sharing it with you. Enjoy!

BLASTS FROM THE PAST

In some respects, the IYP universe used to be a stranger place than it is now. Here is some bizarre, outdated, and even controversial content from issues past.

IDEA-IYP VOICE SERVICE

Some time in late 2002 IYP teamed up with the mobile phone service provider IDEA to create a voice service, where for ‘a very reasonable rate’ readers could call for recorded bar and restaurant reviews and address/telephone information (after switching their service provider to IDEA, of course). It is unclear how many people actually used this wondrous invention.

VICE ADVICE

Early IYP issues were aimed primarily at the bored male business traveler. As such, it was apparently considered prudent to squeeze information about the best places to seek out sex workers (with pricing) between the restaurant listings and flowery descriptions of the wonders of the Old Town. Well, what can we say - the times have changed, the team has changed (as has the target audience), and those interested in such information must now do their own research.

THE BEST OF LOCAL NEWS

Early IYP used to enjoy following the local news, notifying readers of the most important developments, like the aforementioned cash-forcorpses scandal, followed by a cash-for-stray-cats scheme and ‘Putin’s pub crawl’. Over to our Pulitzerworthy reporting:

“In the first visit by a Russian president to Poland in almost nine years, Vladimir Putin visited Warsaw and Poznań in January 2002. ... While the visit was welcomed as a watershed in Polish-Russian relations, many Poles remain unsatisfied. ... While in Poznań he stayed at the Mercure, and In Your Pocket spotted him slinking with his entourage into Dom Wikingów.”

(Issue 4, 2003)

“[L]ocal paper Gazeta Poznańska reported that the local government was cashing in on Poznań’s stray cat population by selling the creatures across the border. A programme of sterilization during the 90s saw Germany’s cat population plummet, with the number of rats and rodents increasing accordingly. Now officials in Poznań are making a fortune from selling strays to the Germans for as much as 40 euro a head.”

(Issue 12, 2005/2006)