It was a glorious day leaving Torun and it made so much difference to the ride, we were actually looking forward to getting on the bike. We had a fantastic journey basking in the sunshine. Half way through our journey we pulled down a small bumpy lane at our lunch spot. On the edge of a forest there was a small wild beach with some benches overlooking the water, where we enjoyed our pack up, watching all the birds swim by. The sun was beaming and it was so relaxing we had to force ourselves to get back on the bike, I could have sat there all day. After another hour on the road we had a quick fuel stop to stretch out and then had another hour actually travelling into Gdansk- where it had a totally different feel to the other Polish cities we had visited.
Phot
os: journey to Gdansk, wild beach for lunch
In Gdansk we were staying at the Trip & Hostel, where they kindly let us park the bike at the back in private parking. We had a private room/bathroom which had nice big doors that had a lovely view onto the park. As it was a hostel it also had a nice shared kitchen space and the guy at reception actually gave us a map and showed us where to look around- first time we have had that on this trip. The hostel was located on the outskirts of the old town which made walking around nice and easy.
Photos: Trip and hostel- room, view from room, kitchen etc??
Once we had settled into our room we headed out to enjoy what was left of the sunshine and to see the Old Town. It was beautiful with Dlugi Targ main street having stunning tall buildings all different colours. We went over the bridge to appreciate the architecture from the other side of the canal- where it had a very Copenhagen look. Lots of people were sat out in cafes and restaurants enjoying the sunshine. We wandered around the edges of the canals-finding the old crane, boats and the Gdansk sign.
We also strolled down Mariaka street- which has the original architecture of the city rather than the dutch style, there were lots of gargolye ‘pukers’ heading up each old stone house fronts- now which are all shops selling amber- a stone locally famous in Gdansk. After a while we had seen most of the Old Town- it is not very big, we headed to the newer part of town and some of the local malls to find groceries for dinner and to replenish our snacks. In the evening we made ourselves coffee and dinner and made use of the joint kitchen space to work on videos/blogs.
Photos: mariaka street- gargoles and amber, mall
We had broken sleep due to various street noises during the night and scratchy bed sheets so we had a very slow morning. We got ready in time though for our free breakfast- where we were served up a nice breakfast of eggs, bread, ham, vegetables, juice and coffee. It really was a bargin this place for location, full room. breakfast and private parking for 30 pounds a night. We made use of all our time and didn’t check out until 11am as we were getting the overnight ferry to Sweden. The hostel were nice enough to let us store our luggage with them for a few hours whilst we went out to look around some more.
Having covered the old town the day before I had a quick look on maps.me for various different viewpoints. We ended up walking up to an old fort behind the train station which gave a good free view out over the city. Following this we then headed the opposite side of the city to the shipyards/docks just to see a different side of Gdansk. We discovered when we got over there that this area is also currenlty being redeveloped- with bars/restaraunts planned, pop up street foods and use of the old shipyard buildings for exhibitions. We followed the path around the harbour where there were various different art installations. Unexpected surprises! We got a quick cheap kilbasa sausage roll lunch from a Zabka before heading back to the hostel to chill for a bit. Around 2pm we headed over to the area of the ferry. We weren’t able to check in until 4.30pm but we wanted to be over there to avoid some of the traffic and to also wander around the Westerplatter area as it has beaches and a war memorial.
After a quick exploration and getting very hot in all our bike gear we got back on the bike and then waited in the queue for check-in for the ferry to Sweden.
Thanks
Alex
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