Gdańsk , Sopot and Malbork

This past weekend I found myself on a train trip to Gdańsk , Sopot and Malbork in the Pomeranian region of Poland on the north Baltic Coast . I was able to take this trip by myself which is the first trip I have taken without my family since a conference I attended in 2004. I missed them, but I really needed to take a break. Josh stayed home with the children and did a fantastic job caring for them and maintaining the house while I was gone. He admitted that while he handled everything ok, he realizes that it is much harder to stay home with them than he originally thought. So, in a way, it was good for him too.

Our Group

Our group consisted of 15 expats and the two Polish language instructors. Half of the group was quite fluent while the rest of us were beginners. I knew faces, but since I don’t work there, I didn’t really know anyone. It was nice to get to know all these people with such well traveled backgrounds. It made me feel normal to know that I was not the only one with a travel addiction traveling every two to three weeks. In this lifestyle, this is normal. Most people take trips monthly at a minimum.

There are many discounted airlines that fly anywhere in Europe fairly cheap. With the frequent flyer miles collected by many of these employees, you can get lots of tickets and only pay the taxes on them. The people I met, combined, had pretty much traveled the world. Many of their previous posts took them to Cairo, Kenya, Moscow, Budapest, Bucharest, Frankfurt, Madrid, Rome, Tokyo, Bangkok, Shanghai, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico to name a few. They had great stories to tell and lots of travel tips.

It turned out to be a great group of people. We got along well and got to know a lot about each other especially on the train. The trip was perfectly timed. We had enough time so that we never felt like we were rushed (except for the shopping part). We left from Warszawa Centralna (central station) around 6pm Friday evening. We took the intercity train to Sopot which an hour away from Gdansk and where we would be staying overnight.

Traveling by train was fantastic. Unlike the air travel where you have to arrive hours in advance, we arrived at the station about 10 minutes before our train and hopped on as soon as it got there. Each car has several compartments with about 6-8 seats each. There is also a dining car. I was surprised because I did not expect much more than drinks and snacks. However, they served hot dishes in addition to kanapkas (sandwiches), zupy (soup) (don’t try that on a train) and piwo (beer). We spent most of our time in the dining car getting to know each other. Other than a couple of kids pulling the emergency brake and delaying us by a few minutes, it was a fairly easy train ride. We traveled second class on this trip. If I had my children with me, I would have probably traveled 1st class just to give them a bit more room.

Sopot

We arrived around 10:30pm in Sopot which is a resort town on the Baltic coast. We walked from the station through ulica (pronounce ulitsa and meaning street) Monte Cassino This street is closed to traffic and has a busy nightlife with clubs, bars, restaurants and cafés lining the streets as well as some art galleries and shops. Ul. Monte Cassino leads to the Sopot pier and boardwalk. We were staying at 3 separate hotels and ours was the only one on the water, so we were the last stop. By the time, we dropped off everyone, checked in and got to our rooms it was around midnight.
The hotel which I really can’t pronounce was abbreviated WDW. We joked that it a Walt Disney World resort, but since the W’s here are pronounced like “V’s”, that wouldn’t work. It was a 3 star resort right on the boardwalk. I had a single room consisting of a twin bed, small sitting area with a couch and TV and a bath room. It reminded me of a dormitory, but it was clean and had free breakfast. It was fine for 2 night solo trip. I would need more room if my family was along for the tour.

Saturday we met up on the boardwalk and walked along the pier and on the beach with shoes because it was still a bit cold in the morning. This was not easy and, combined with all the other walking and climbing to come, proved to be quite a workout for all of us. The pictures of the ocean are all on the Baltic Coast and there were lots of swans on the shore which I had never seen before. The pier leads out onto the Baltic. I saw nothing but clear blue water and the horizon. It was beautiful. We could not have had better weather with clear blue skies and highs in the upper 50’s/low 60’s. The weather remained the same throughout the weekend.

There are no attractions here. It is more of an entertainment-dining area reminiscent of Georgetown in DC, Fells Point in Baltimore , Las Olas Boulevard in Ft. Lauderdale and Ocean Drive on South Beach or Cocowalk in Coconut Grove.

Gdańsk and Oliwa

We caught a train to Gdańsk around 10am. Gdańsk history dates back to 980 AD. In 1945, the city was demolished by World War II and rebuilt based on historical documents and pictures taken prior to the war. The city also symbolizes the Solidarnosć movement that began in the 1970’s and 1980’s that paved the way for the fall of Communism in 1989.
The poor and deteriorating economy along with the Polish exasperation with Communism prompted the working class to revolt in 1956, 1968, 1970 and 1976. The revolts failed and many people were killed or sent to labor camps. In 1980, workers in the Gdańsk shipyard began an uprising fueled by poor economic conditions, nationalism and a new elected Polish Pope. Pope Jana Pawel II returned to his homeland encouraging his fellow Poles to revolt against Communism. Workers went on strike and formed the trade union Solidarnosć.

Solidarnosć drafted 21 demands including the right to strike, freedom of speech (Lech Wałensa was fired from his job for discussing working conditions at the shipyard), and improved working conditions (including shortening the work week from 48 hours to 40 hours. Polish government instituted martial law. No one could leave town and a 6pm curfew was in place. Solidarnosć went underground and continued to press for reform. This continued for about 8 years when the Communists finally gave in to talks with Solidarnosć amid worsening economic conditions and much public discontent. By April 1989, the Communist party agreed to legalize the Solidarnosć party and to free elections in Parliament. By August 1989 (a few months before the wall fell) the Poles elected a non-communist prime minister and this was followed by the election of Lech Wałensa as president of Poland.

In the afternoon, we walked to Old Town Gdańsk. Unlike many European cities, Gdańsk has no market square. Rather, they have a long street or drugi. Gdańsk reminded me a lot of Germany and I later learned that it in its early history it was populated by Germans. This old town road was beautiful and it did lead into a small square. The road was lined with lots of cafes, ice cream shops, chocolate bars (these are wonderful places that serve chocolate beverages/liquors, pastries, truffles, etc.), restaurants, shops and museums.

We went in the town museum. One of the rooms, the red room, was the most ornate I had ever seen. The ceiling was a series of paintings on canvas. You couldn’t tell it was the actual ceiling in the pictures. In the same building there is a tower with a panoramic view. We made our way up the 600 steps. I kept telling myself that after climbing Diamond Head I could climb this. But at least Diamond Head had some trails that were level. This was a straight climb up. It was worth the view (see below). As a bonus, shortly after we arrived at the top, the church bells began playing melodies and this went on for about 15minutes. Some of the videos of the city from the tower include the melodies from the church bells.

Gdańsk is the amber capital of the world. Amber is a mineral of many colors. Depending on the age, amber can range from nearly white, through all shades of yellow and orange, to dark, almost cherry-like red. In addition to jewelry, I have seen bouquets of amber roses, ships made of amber, chests, jewelry boxes, etc. It is quite beautiful and very impressive artwork. We came upon a street where all the shops were amber shops. All of the women on the tour went a bit nuts and our instructor kept trying to get us out of the shops to continue our itinerary. Eventually, she broke down and let us have an hour to shop. Needless to say, I added to my jewelry collection.

We ate lunch at Restauracja Kubicki (established in 1918) at the end of Gdansk boardwalk on the banks of the Motława River . We had reservations and they led us to a room with a long candle lit table lined with laced tablecloths. The waiters wore bow ties. I felt more like I was at a state dinner party than an ordinary lunch. The food was quite good and inexpensive. In fact, everywhere we ate, the food was good and inexpensive. All my meals cost about $12-15 USD including appetizers or soup and drinks. The only time I paid a bit more was when I had a cocktail with my meal and even then the total was only about $20 USD.

Following lunch and shopping we headed back to the station and caught the train to a town called Oliwa (or Oliva/Olive). This was just supposed to be a short stop to walk through Oliwa Park and see Oliwa Cathedral.
When we arrived at cathedral, we were in for a treat: we inadvertently ended up crashing a Polish wedding. We arrived just as they were pronouncing them man and wife and the church’s pipe organ, a Rococo style organ built in the 1760’s and at the time the largest in Europe, began playing Mendelssohn’s Wedding March as the couple and their wedding party made their way out of the church. The timing was perfect. I got most of it on video although the beginning of the video is a little fuzzy. From there, we went back to Sopot via the train for dinner.

Dinner in European restaurants seems to go on for hours. Our dinner that evening began around 8pm and did not end until 11pm. We were so exhausted by the end of that day that many of us were falling asleep while waiting for the check. Taverna Rybacki (literally Fish Tavern in English) turned out to be a great seafood restaurant. This one was a bit more rustic and cozy with their warm décor and candles along the stairs and on the tables. I would definitely go back.

Malbork (Mariensburg)

After a really late night, I awoke Sunday very tired and trying to rush to catch the train to Malbork. It was an hour train ride heading south. The great thing about taking the train is that you can make stops along the way and leave your luggage (provided it is not oversized) in a secured storage locker or bag check at the station. You can then go sightseeing and pick up you bags upon departure. We took a 20 minute walk from the station to Zamek w Malborku (Malbork Castle ) on the river Nogat. This was an amazing site. It is probably one of the largest castles other than Schloss Neuschwanstein that I have ever seen. Unlike any that I have seen, this one is built solely of brick. According to our guide, it is one of the largest medieval gothic castles in Europe and it was built in stages beginning in the mid 1300’s. It was completed in the 15th century. There is a large moat around the castle which is now dry. You can envision what it must have been like when the knights lived here. The castle is divided into High castle which was a fortified monastery for the order consisting of St. Mary’s Church, Middle Castle which was the seat of Teutonic Power and location of the Palace of the Grand Master of the order, and the Outer Bailey which was the auxiliary service and military area for the fortress. A tour takes about 3 hours. After finishing the tour, we crossed over a bridge to the other side of the Nogat River which provided a more panoramic view of the castle.

The Teutonic Knights, an order limited to German aristocracy, were initially a chivalrous monastic order established in 1190 during the third Crusade offering help to those in need. However, Pope Urban II sent the order to Marienburg to convert the local pagan population (i.e. the Prussians) thereby becoming a more militaristic order. The knights took vows of chastity, obedience, poverty and the additional vow of battling enemies of Christ. The justification for the Crusades was that pagans were the embodiment of evil. They were not believed to human, making the teaching about doing onto others as one would have done unto oneself inapplicable (sounds a bit like the Islamic Jihad taking place against Christians and Jews today).

The Teutonic order developed a working relationship with the Polish monarchs. They allowed the order to remain in Poland as long as they kept the Prussians, always a threat to Poland , in check. The order conquered Prussia , but they didn’t stop there. They continued on to Pomerania , conquering that area as well (including Gdansk ). The alliance with Poland was broke. Poland allied itself with Lithuania against the order and eventually defeated them, thereby taking back Pomerania . Malbork became the residence of Polish Kings until the first partition of Poland in 1772 when it fell into the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Prussia .

During WWII, the Nazis used the castle as a kind of headquarters during the war. When the Soviet Army began its liberation of Poland they attacked the castle with American M4 Sherman tanks provided by the US . However, they proved futile in infiltrating the castle. The Soviet army began shelling the castle. Most of the castle has been rebuilt, but much still remains in ruins including the interior of St. Mary’s church adjacent to the castle. There are lots of artifacts that have survived and many that are damaged, but managed to survive.

On the castle grounds is the Hotel Zamek (Castle Hotel) complete with a restaurant where we had lunch. There are several souvenir shops selling medieval types of souvenirs. I brought home a bow and arrow set for Nicholas. There was a group of Russian children running around with swords, sling shots, and bow and arrow sets and they were having such a good time. They also sold medieval dresses and veils with rounded headpieces. I wanted to get one of the rounded veils for my princess, but her head is too small for the sizes offered. One green dress I saw reminded me of the one worn by Princess Fiona in Shrek.

We wrapped up our tour around 3:30pm and walked back to the station to collect our bags and catch the train to Warszawa. The train ride both ways was about 5 hours, but the time goes by so much more quickly than traveling by car. Again, perfectly timed, we rolled in Warszawa Centralny as the sun set over Warsaw .

The Pomerianian region of Poland is a port of call for a few Baltic cruise ships. If you ever find yourself in Poland in the spring, summer or early fall, I would definitely recommend a trip to the region.

Websites:

http://www.gdansk.pl/en/
http://www.sopot.pl/intgmservlets/WWW.Main?LANG_VERSION=ENGLISH
http://www.malbork.pl/mwc/en/