Long weekend in Gdansk, Poland

We’d both arrived early in Saturday morning so after dumping our bags at the hotel, we set out to walk into the Old Town. And it is lovely. It’s very, very much like Lübeck, one of my favourite small European cities. And they share the close heritage of being key members of the Hanseatic League (I won’t go into details here, but if you look it up you’ll understand why a lot of the Baltic, Scandinavian and Dutch port cities feel so much like each other.)

Gdansk was badly damaged in WW2, but some walls of buildings survived and the decision was taken to rebuild. It’s been done brilliantly well and doesn’t feel pastiched in any way, just very organic. There’s a bustling waterfront lined with mediaeval brick gateways and the old city forms a grid behind that.

We wandered for a bit, found a street called Mariacka that is full of amber jewellery dealers (you may know about how amber is found on the beaches of the Baltic after storms) and had some lunch.

At 1pm we met up with our guide Marten for a history walking tour that my friend organised. Seven of us on the tour, and it took just over two hours. Marten was excellent - lots of history and culture, happy to take questions. We went into the huge St Mary’s Basilica (free and absolutely outstanding), learnt the history of the various city gates, found out more about amber and got to hold a piece of it in its natural state. He told us much more about the rebuilding of the city, told us about the Polish presidential elections which were happening the following day, and was altogether informative and charming.

I’ll try to get his details from my friend. It was a pay what you want at the end. I popped to an ATM en route as this was literally the only thing we absolutely needed cash for. We gave him 100zl between us - about a tenner each in UK money.

Footsore, we went back to the hotel and checked in properly, and were so tired after early flights that we ate at the hotel - it was just that distance from the old town that we didn’t always want to go back in to eat.

More follows.

Sunday was Solidarnosc. This was our main reason for going, tbh. My friend booked us into the European Solidarity Centre for 12 noon. I would probably have booked earlier, but I’m an early riser on holiday and she isn’t. We haven’t been away together before (I normally holiday alone) so it was an interesting and mostly successful experiment.

We left our hotel about 10.45 and I’d noticed we could get a tram straight there. All public transport was free on Sunday due to the election.

The ESC is a fantastic building, looking like a huge rusty ship but with lots of light and in my opinion a wonderful example of modern architecture. We wandered around for a bit enjoying the unforecasted sunshine. The permanent exhibition fills about five or six rooms but they wouldn’t let us in until precisely midday - not even at 11.55. There’s an audio guide if you want one but the captions are almost all in English as well as Polish. And honestly, I thought it was brilliant: the story (and the background to it) was well told, it gave credit to all the others involved not just Lech Walesa - including a fantastic group of women. And really did a good job of showing the history of what Solidarnosc achieved, the clampdown afterwards but also its lasting legacy. One small note is how well the exhibition explains the importance of the logo. The gift shop is great, too.

Now, as all museums are closed on Mondays we had planned to go to the big WW2 museum, which is about 20 minutes walk away, after we’d done ESC. But I had an incipient sick headache - combination of reading lots of backlit information and being in someone else’s company.

We got to the WW2 museum and there was something weird about the entrance - I think maybe the main doors were broken so we had to go in via a weird un signposted side door. And I just felt overwhelmed - it’s one of these places that’s half-underground and on lots of different levels, and the lifts were not all working, and so we had a very nice lunch in the fancy restaurant on the top floor before looking at each other and thinking: we just cannot today. Let’s come back to Gdansk another time.

We split up and did our own thing that afternoon. It was an absolutely beautiful if chilly day so I walked off my headache along the waterfront where there were lots of boats and ships to look at. I sat in the sun for a bit then explored all the beautiful streets and took photos of all the rooftops. I ate some delicious gelato. I bought an amber necklace on the street of dealers.

Later we regrouped at the hotel, and my friend had found a cool bar called Josef K which we loved. Mismatched furniture and friendly hipster vibe. We then had a meal outside at one of the restaurants on Długa, one of the main arteries of the old town. I think all our meals for two ended up costing about 120zl, roughly £25 for a couple of main courses and a couple of drinks, by the way. Not too bad.

By then we were very cold despite heaters and blankets (Gdansk was having unseasonably cold weather) so we headed back to the hotel.

My friend was heading back Monday but my flight wasn’t till today (Tuesday) so she stayed in Gdansk and I did a little trip to Sopot. This is a turn-of-the-century spa/resort town that’s so redolent of that era of people taking the waters - but also it has quite a brash modern side too.

I took a tram to the main Gdansk station and then felt a bit lost. Now, I’m very at home with public transport in all sorts of European cities but I’ve been spoiled recently as I’ve mostly been visiting the Netherlands, which is so easy. Eventually I bought a ticket to Sopot at the ticket office for virtually no money (6.50zl, about £1.50) and she told me a train goes every 10 minutes. I waited for the next one to Sopot and a big InterCity train came in - and my British train instincts told me my ticket was too cheap for this train. I checked with the guard and I was right: what I’d been sold was a ticket for the suburban train, a cheap stopping service that runs regularly between Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia. Glad I checked!

Anyway, it was all very easy in the end and I enjoyed my morning in Sopot although it was very very cold and slightly damp. Not exactly the day to walk along Europe’s longest wooden pier or along beautiful sandy beaches. In the UK we often refer to particularly cold weather as being “Baltic” and I really know why now!

Sopot has a great range of bars and restaurants and on a warm day would be absolutely glorious. I’m glad I went - there’s some fabulous early 20th century seaside architecture.

I explored a bit more of Gdansk when I got back late afternoon. And then, very footsore, I went back to my balcony room and then for an excellent curry at a restaurant called Mama Indii around the corner - although I felt like that was cheating as it’s what I would often eat at home.

Observations:

Cards are accepted everywhere, even in public toilets. I used a little bit of the cash I had left for small tips (not expected, as far as I can tell) and the offertory box at St Mary Basilica, which was free to enter.

There are a lot of very clean public toilets, usually labelled WC. There will be a woman at the entrance who will charge you around 4 or 5zl (somewhere between and dollar and a pound) and you can pay with card/Apple Pay.

English is very widely spoken especially by the younger Poles.

We mostly seemed to eat pasta or salad or soup as it wasn’t particularly a food holiday and we mostly just ate what was close at hand and looked good.

British stag parties have sadly found Gdansk and there was a lot of loud drunkenness on Saturday afternoon/evening. One lad grabbed me at one point and made me say hello to the mate he was WhatsApping. We saw the same bloke later, around 3.40pm, and he was completely incapable. I hope he was okay.

It’s a great place. Go.

Thank you, Golden Girl! It sounds really great! I've been wanting to get to Poland (including Gdansk) for awhile now, and this moved it higher on my list. I had to laugh at your description of the British stag parties, though! I ran into one of those at Schiphol a couple of years ago. Gadansk really does sound like a lovely place; especially one where you can just meander and not rush around trying to see all the sites.

I do have one question: what kind of food was served at breakfast at your hotel? I'm always curious about food (especially breakfasts) in countries I haven't been to.

Thanks for a wonderful report!

I do have one question: what kind of food was served at breakfast at your hotel? I'm always curious about food (especially breakfasts) in countries I haven't been to.

Such a range! All the usual Northern European stuff: lots of different cold meats and cheeses, plus salad - peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, pickles. Egg mayonnaise. Tuna salad. An array of breads. Then all the usual cereals. Plus doughnuts and fresh fruit. Then the hot food: fried eggs, scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, Polish sausages, plus also pasta with mushrooms & sauerkraut and also something that was a kind of Polish ratatouille. So while most (but not all) was typical of Northern European breakfast buffets, the range was particularly broad.

(Btw I mean Northern European not including UK - I wish we did have more cold meats and cheeses at hotel breakfasts).

Oh yes: and one of the stag party on the plane on the way over was so steaming drunk that he asked me where I was flying to. While we were actually on the plane, in the air. “Gdansk,” I said. “Oh, same as us!” he said, like it was a weird coincidence.

Great report! Thanks! I would love to go back to Gdansk! We visited for a few days in June before the pandemic. The weather was gorgeous and city just buzzed with activity, esp along the water. You brought back memories!

Great trip report Golden Girl. I too love the museum design, I think it's a fantastic piece of modern architecture and it really does capture the essence of the shipyard however I've read quite a number of reviews from people who can't stand the design so it's clearly a polarising one.

JC, I also loved that fact that the whole atrium is such a beautiful light welcoming space, with all those plants and lots of places to sit.

what kind of food was served at breakfast at your hotel? I'm always curious about food (especially breakfasts) in countries I haven't been to.

One item not mentioned that I encountered at every breakfast buffet in Poland: Herring, prepared multiple ways. In Gdańsk, the buffet at Hotel Admiral was extensive and excellent.

Oh, the breakfast sounds wonderful! I love meat, cheeses and vegetables and such for breakfast. It's one reason I loved Turkey so much. And the one you described sounds even better!

Oh yes: and one of the stag party on the plane on the way over was so steaming drunk that he asked me where I was flying to. While we were actually on the plane, in the air. “Gdansk,” I said. “Oh, same as us!” he said, like it was a weird coincidence.

Ha ha ha!!!! That is hysterical!!!