I am posting this as continuation of my trip report to Gdansk. I appologise if I am spamming but I ran into posting issues with continuing my story in the first part. One forum member kindly suggested I just start a new thread.
Day 3.
This was actually tough. I originally intended to take an intercity bus to see Stuthoff concentration camp (the camp is free, the bus is like 40 PLN return (10 EUR/12 USD)) but the bus goes every two hours. I was not sure about the weather and logistics, so I swapped it for another historic place: Westerplatte.
1) Westerplatte is the actual place where on 1 September, 1939 the first shots of the WWII were fired. The Germans attacked Poland firing from a ship that had been moored there on a “courtesy visit”. Courtesy, my word!
I took a city bus (included in my Jakdojade pass) but I didn’t know about the traffic jams in the mornings. They are terrible. The buses do not have designated priority lanes. Westerplatte is located on a sort of land tip quite outside of Gdansk. I am OK with public transport adventures, but you may want to consider Uber, I saw designated Uber cars swarming around the area, busy bees they were. Westerplatte now has a museum designated for the events of 1939 and there are some construction works in the area. I also found out that one can take a boat cruise from Gdansk to Westerplatte with some time on the shore, so that might be a good idea if the weather is nice.
I had a large gap between buses to Westerplatte and from it, so I had researched in advance that there is a former lighthouse fortress within the area that is now a museum. Being Monday and free museum day, I planned to visit it. I had to walk 45 min one way, but the road was signposted, no pavements but the traffic was slow. I spent about 1,5 h at the fortress. It is very nicely reconstructed, it has information in English. I do recommend visiting it if you are in the area: 2) Wisloujuscie Fortress. Then I walked about 20 min back to an intermediary public transport stop and caught a return bus to Gdansk. I was shocked: one stop from Westerplatte only and it was full! Tourists like to visit Westerplatte on their own and commuting does not put them off.
3) Amber Museum. I was undecided about it because it gets mixed reviews, but being a free Monday I saw no problem with popping in to check it out. Now I can say that I recommend it, even if you have to pay to enter. I come from Lithuania and amber is our national pride, but I enjoyed the museum and saw the displays that are very informative and impressive. I particularly enjoyed the collection of life stuck in amber, saw serious amber chunks and modern jewelry with amber was lovely. I did not buy anything at the museum shop, though: I own enough amber jewelry already. All in all, a well spent few hours. Word of warning, though: free museums draw large crowds.
4) Arthus Court boasts the tallest tile stove in Europe (11 metres/ 36 feet). There is a large info sheet about the tiles, who is shown on them, and a brief history. Free on Mondays. I would not pay to enter, though. The whole place contains two somewhat small rooms only, the tile stove being the main star.
5) Uphagen House, free on Mondays. It is a recreated home of an XVIII c. burger, but it is done sadly and poorly. I would not pay to enter and I would skip on a free day. I was in and out in 15 minutes. They say “recreated interiors” and you think it might include period furnished rooms, alas, but there are very few things to see.
6) Totally spontaneous: a Chopin music concert. It was one of those candle light performances. Yes, it was touristy at 20 EUR/ 50 min but I had some money to spare at the end of the trip and I was after a cocktail, so I thought “why not”. Would I recommend it? I’m not sure. I think I’d rather have gone to a local philharmonic, but they did not have a concert during my dates.
One more installment coming.