Sitting at Canis bar, 3 min walk from our apartment, capturing our thoughts of Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot before we farewell the Baltic region for Mazury:
In today’s episode of ‘Eating Your Way Through Poland’:
(For all those confused at home, this is a dried sunflower head that you pick the seeds from and shell/eat one at a time. Zazu would have had a field day! Jake is also having a field day, because it keeps me VERY quiet for a VERY long time.)
No shortage of dietary nostalgia so far 😀
On matters not related to food, we feel like we’ve made some great choices so far. Staying in Gdansk and specifically in the quaint apartment overlooking the main drag enabled us to make the most of our time here.
We took a day trip (on the dreaded Polish train!) to Sopot and Gdynia yesterday. Unsurprisingly, the ticket machine was broken (no problem = Gosia “speaks” Polish so she got this.) In an even more stereotypical fashion the grumpy train driver who was responsible for manual ticket sales, but ABSOLUTELY ONLY after he made Gosia go inside the carriage, he turned his chair around and opened a little metal window into the cabin and proceeded to make the $2 sale.
Sopot immediately had quintessential beach resort feel (we would have thought this even if there were not flags everywhere celebrating the town’s 200th anniversary as a spa holidays destination).
The vibe was like a hybrid of Santa Monica and the French Riviera.
Standout feature is the Molo (wooden Pier) which (at over 500m in length) is the longest wooden pier in Europe. Gosia was dirty about paying $2 to walk on in, but undeniably good value…..
(The long pier had a restaurant tourist attraction mid way out, just like low-rent Santa Monica.)
(The Grand Hotel and the boats had Cannes/Nice feels - again, on a lower but still significant budget!)
The ‘famous’ crooked house on the Main Street leading down to the pier could 100% be avoided - only downvote for this charming place.
Next stop was Gdynia only a short train ride further away from Gdansk. It was pretty disappointing as it had a really industrial feel, the “attraction”of the central sculpture and fountain (Kosciusko Square) failed to take our breathe away. We did, however, find a nice beach area and had a late lunch and some beers before jumping the train back to Gdansk.
Today, based on unanimous recommendations, we spend the majority of our day at the WW2 museum in Gdansk (some of it was looking for Jacob who was missing in action for 1.5 hours).
(ADDIT: Jacob actually paid attention and learnt something from this visit, unlike other people who just wanted to hunt down more desserts).
Solemn and severe as expected, but a beautifully curated museum and a worthwhile experience.
We’ll spare you the history lesson, but check out Gosia at the front and some fun Xmas ornaments:
See ya in Mazury!
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