pam, we went to Malbork today. The castle is big, and there’s potentially a lot to see, but it’s confusing to visit, and has dangerous parts to beware. It was at least as disappointing as it was satisfying. Maybe that’s just me, but wanted to let you know.
We’re using Rick’s current Kraków, Warsaw & Gdańsk snapshot guidebook. In it, he correctly says that an audioguide comes with the admission ticket. But he says the audioguide takes 3 hours to follow its confusing route, so just ignore the audoguide and use the Self-Guided tour described in his book, which he claims takes half as long. Well, its map is woefully incomplete, his description of which “closed but unlocked” doors to not be afraid to just open up and go through sends you through multiple places where guards turn you away, and others just aren’t where he says they are.
Another guest that I met at breakfast at our hotel 2 weeks ago in Warsaw, who’d already been to Marbork, said it definitely wasn’t a place for anyone with mobility issues to visit. It’s full of hazards - my husband, who’s somewhat tall but shorter than lots of other tourists we’ve seen, conked his head on the hard ceiling trying to go down one of the first staircases. It was also dark, like most of them. Doorway thresholds and hidden, sudden changes in flooring height make tripping a constant threat. I realize it’s a (mostly reconstructed) medieval castle, but as a UNESCO site attracting lots of tourists from around the world, some better safety considerations should be in place, for all concerned. Later, in the armory exhibition, low passageways have LED lights marking where to watch your head. More are needed in other low spots. Then, later in what I think was the Chapter Room, there’s modern glass panels in the floor, letting you see through them to original flooring below. But it’s dark, and it’s not clear where the new glass ends and other flooring starts, with sudden steps close to the transition, and no hand railings of any kind. It’s disorienting, and I saw more than one person in the room nearly take a nasty tumble.
We missed lots of what Rick said was at the castle. There were several school groups, and also several Norwegian Cruise Line guided tours. Following the Norwegian groups maybe been a strategy, but didn’t seem appropriate. As they took a break to use the WC, I asked one participant if they’d been to the Refectory, which we couldn’t find. He said yes, and he’d seen its remarkable heating system, but then couldn’t remember where it was, or which doorway they’d gone thru. I think now that it was perhaps behind a door that a guard, after looking at our valid tickets that had gotten us inside the castle, said we couldn’t enter.
So to get the most out of Marbork, have a guide. But Rick’s book is, surprisingly and unfortunately, not the one to have.
