Gdansk, Poland. Trip Report. September 26-29.

Day One.

1) Museum of World War II. Truthfully, it was sort of the point of interest for me why I went to Gdansk. The public opinion is split. I personally did not enjoy my visit. The main exhibition is located underground. It has 18 rooms. Most of those rooms are not passable through. They seem to be just letting people in and it can get crowded really quickly, especially if people are using audio guide, which is not included in the price. You have to pay extra and wait in another line to pick up. The scope of the exhibition is, in my opinion, too broad: they try to capture the essence of nationalism (not patriotism, do not confuse) slash fascism globally. You get to be introduced to the after WWI, the rise of Italian and German fascism, Russian communism, Japanese imperialism, then the whole atrocities of WWII worldwide, then the local Soviet occupation and terror… I found some of the images to be given without proper source. I would not recommend visiting (it needs 2-3 hours, I was done in 1,5 h) if it is your first time in Gdansk and your time is limited. Ticket lines can grow long, so I booked online. They give you an hour’s window to get in, but bigger items must be left in lockers, so you need a 2 PLN coin for the key.

Waiting for the Forum to allow me to keep posting the story.

The Forum won't let me post Day 2.

How do you manage to post successive posts with your own trip reports? I'd appreciate any advice.

Reply to your own post (as you did) and continue the report in that reply.

Kootah, I do it as a Reply to this thread, just as you did with your question. I am very interested to read more!

I try to reply to my own story as you kindly suggest, but every time I do it, I get this:

"Oops! There are problems with your reply.

You've already posted this reply recently and you may only post it once. If you meant to make an edit, please use the "Edit" link alongside your reply."

No matter what I do, I cannot post a story, although I can reply to it, just like this particular comment.

So frustrated!

Not sure what the problem is, but you can try editing your replies saying you can't reply with more trip info, to continue describing your trip instead.

No, unfortunately, it is the same result no matter what I try. I try to post a new comment- denied. I try to edit a comment with a text-denied.

I am going to try to bypass whatever is going on by breaking Day 2 into smaller portions.

Day Two. Part One.

Day Two.

1) Main Town Hall and Tower. I would like to recommend to read about the history of the city and this area in particular to appreciate the visit better. I mean, the city is rebuilt after the WWII in 1950-1960’s. It gave me a bit of Disneyland vibes, respectfully. I skipped on the museum part because it was situated in a tower and climbing to the panorama spot on the top of the tower was enough for me (no elevator). It is just that this time I decided to prioritize experiences versus sights. Gdansk has several viewing platforms, I chose this one because it has best reviews for what can be seen from the top.

2) I walked the streets in the Old Town (the recreated one, of course), I saw the famous Neptune Fountain and located a less famous Farenheit Monument in the shape of a thermometer. Yes, the one that gave the world the confusion between Celsius and Farenheit, the man originated in Gdansk. I walked the famous Mariacka street but, honestly, the streets that were not “famous” were more atmospheric and I enjoyed them better. Every house has a cafe or a shop, so dehydration is not an issue.

To be continued.

All right, this approach seems to be working!

Day Two. Part Two.

3) St. Mary’s church and the astronomic clock. I discovered the clock purely by accident by wandering in a few minutes to midday Mass along with a crowd of tourists with their guides. The church attendant started pushing us out right at 12.00 AM as the church service was to start, so no tourists allowed. I lit a candle and prayed before the copy image of Madonna of the Gates of Dawn in Vilnius.

4) St. Bridget’s church. I highly recommend visiting this church that is just fabulous. It has a magnificent altar made entirely from amber. They charge 6 PLN (2 EUR/3 USD) entrance fee but it’s totally worth it. The only complaint is that it gets touristy and people congregate right in front of the main view blocking it. The church also houses the remains of the victims at Katyn and Stuthoff concentration camp.

5) “Olivia Star” skyscraper has a panorama spot, a sky bar on the top floor and a winter garden with a small bar on the ground floor. The panorama spot shows a very industrial port area of the city. Maybe it is not that bad, you get to see the real city? People often recommend getting there for the sunset. It costs about 30 PLN (7 EUR/ 8 USD) to get to the sky bar/panorama spot, but if you download an app called “Olivka” that is made as a loyalty app for the complex, you get a sign-up bonus of 200 points that you can redeem as a ticket. They also send promo e-mails with free entry code from time to time. The entrance to the winter garden is free. I enjoyed a cup of tea surrounded by the lush greenery on the ground floor. I found the sky bar a bit too much with the live music and vibes. But truthfully, both are very different. This complex is a bit out of Gdansk central, but the tram stops a few minutes walk away from it. The bathrooms are free and nice.

That's the end of Day Two.

To be continued.

OK, stumbling against restrictions while trying to post Day 3. I shall persevere! Thank you for your patience and thank you for reading my trip report.

Currently running into "You may not post to this forum" message.

I think you can edit your last post to add your next trip report portions into it.

Adding St Bridget's to my list. Thank you for writing.

“Olivia Star” skyscraper has a panorama spot, a sky bar on the top floor and a winter garden with a small bar on the ground floor. The panorama spot shows a very industrial port area of the city. Maybe it is not that bad, you get to see the real city?

The port area is where one of the most important events to happen in Poland (and elsewhere in Europe) took place, the birth of the Solidarity movement so it's a bit more than a gritty port to look at. I found it very interesting to explore the area around the port. Yes it's a bit rough around the edges and is a stark contrast to the old town but I think it adds to the atmosphere when viewing it in the context of the Solidarity movement.

It's a shame you didn't enjoy the Museum of WW2. I found it to be a fantastic museum and extremely well curated. I admit that you have to have a real interest in WW2 because it's easy to become a bit war fatigued if you don't.

I cannot add texts to edited comments. I get the "You may not post to this forum" in all attempts to edit. But I think I will get more leeway after other users comment?

I don't know why it's being finicky! But eager to hear about the rest of your trip. I'm going to Gdansk next summer.

Thank you, it is an interesting report. I didn’t get to that part of Poland on my previous visit but would like to in the future. I suspect the posting problem you have may be related to trying to paste in blocks of text that are too long — as there is a size limit on each message— but typing in the text you want in the reply, until you hit the character limit, then posting that, and doing it again for the next installment, should work fine.

Slate,

I am well aware of the size and character allowance. This is not it. I suppose it just sees me as spam. Copy-paste a text I wrote in a Word document is easier for me because typing a full text here is, respectfully, a thing I want to avoid- this forum is not user friendly infrastructure.

Dear All,

the Forum won't allow to post Day 3 in either a new post or an edited post, even if I break it into smaller fragments that are well within character limits. I'm afraid it is out of my hands now. I am not going to try to break this wall with my head. I am grateful for your engagement with the story, but I am done trying.

Thank you.

I'm sorry you are having so much difficulty posting. I usually write in a Word document and then cut and paste. I haven't had a problem posting that way, so I don't think that is it.

I have received the first message you mentioned a few times. Once it was because a 4-letter word for excrement was contained within the name of a hotel I used in Japan. Once, I was trying to respond to a post, and I kept getting that message. I was never able to respond to it.

I'm sorry we are missing out on the rest of our trip. I will report your post to the webmaster. Maybe he can figure out what is going on and contact you with strategies for posting.

You can start a new post and just add "Part 2" in the headline.

I'll be in Gdansk in about 10 days.

Frank II,

massive hugs, kisses and thanks! Your advice might just work out! I managed to post Day 3 as part of a new thread.

EDITED: nope, the second thread with the post is created, I can see it in my history, my the forum refuses to show it to the general public. sigh

The webmaster will be back on Monday & can clear up your issue, I've had a similar problem in the past. Thanks for persevering and delighted you enjoyed your Gdansk visit!

OP, I reinstated your post. Looks like our spam filter was blocking it. Here is part 2: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/gdansk-poland-trip-report-for-september-26-29-part-two

Thanks for your patience!

Dear Marta,

thank you so much for taking care of the issue. I was able to complete my trip report, albeit it is broken in two parts.

Many thanks to everybody who commented and offered insight how to solve the posting issue. I am now ready to take questions regarding Gdansk, as I see that quite a few of forum members are going to visit this city soon.

I took the train (included in my Jakdojade pass) and changed at Gdansk Wrzeszcz station to a local city bus. The airport commuting train terminates there, it does not, surprisingly, go to Gdansk Glowny, a.k.a. the Main Station.

This is a puzzling idiosyncracy of the rail system - it is possible to purchase a through ticket to Gdansk Glowny at the airport station - just follow the crowd to the next platform when you arrive at Gdansk Wrzeszcz and hop on the next train to complete your journey. Perhaps the Jakdojade pass doesn't cover trains from all rail lines.

Markcw,

You are right. The pass covers local regional trains. The fast intercity IC is not included. The IC train stops at both stations, actually.