Poland: Gdansk

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Friday 23rd June

We head for the coast today, northwards to Gdansk on the Baltic sea. Our first sighting of beaches and sea since leaving home. The train trip was pretty uneventful and once in Gdansk we had a painless transfer to the tram which took us to our chosen campsite, 5km out of town at a place called Stogi, and 300m from the beach. As usual, we asked for a bungalow but got a caravan instead. Well kitted out with everything and at a great bargain price too! The first thing we did once we'd offloaded our backpacks, was to dip the feet into the Baltic sea! Warmer than I'd imagined and not very salty at all! The beaches here are wonderful soft sand much like the Cape beaches, except the sand here creates a weird squeaking sound as you step through it!! We walked along the Stogi pavillion with it's typical beachfront eateries and pubs and couldn't help but notice how cheap things were.

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Saturday 24th June

Gdans, a 1000 year old city on the Baltic coast. Not only is this city famed for the stunningly ornate Baroque and Renaissance facades of the old Burgher mansions, it's also the strategic port city where the Nazis bombed Westerplatte and started the 2nd World War. The war destroyed most of the city but it has been faithfully restored to it's former glory. A real gem of a place and for me personally wins hands down over any of the other 'old town' we've seen so far - and we've seen loads. History and modern life merge seamlessly here. We walked through the city admiring the rich and colourful restorations in the historic quarters of Long Street and Long Market, known collectively as The Royal Way. Past Polish kings used to parade through the area via a series of beautiful 15th and 15th century gates. There are just too many places to mention here but the area is choka blok with amazingly ornate house, mansions, churches, a town hall and Neptunes fountain - Gdansks' symbol of it's relationship with the sea. On the other side of the Royal Way is the Motlawa River on which you can find The Crane. This is the most characteristic and unmistakable symbol of Gdansk. In the middle ages it ;used to be the largest port crane in Europe and the large wooden wheel was originally propelled by men literally walking on it!! This human manpower used to lift loads of up to 2000kg. It now houses the National Maritime Museum. Back at the campsite we thought we'd have a good 'ol SA braai using spicy Polish sausage! Really good! As Gdansk is a perfect base for day trips, we've decided to Hel tomorrow...!!

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Sunday 25th June

A day trip to Hel and back.... Hel. A quaint old fishing village right at the tip of the Hel peninsula, 90km north of Gdansk. It's a very narrow spit that juts out into the water with the Baltic sea on one side and the gulf of Gdansk on the other. The Baltic sides' entire length has beautiful clean pristine, white sandy beaches and the Gdansk side is popular with windsurgers. We took a ferry across and discovered a tiny village as far away from "Hel" as you could imagine! Theres not much here except for a 15th century gothic church, which is now the Museum of Fishery - and an aquarium which is home to many endangered Baltic grey seals. The temperatures were soaring today so the little, calm bay was packed with locals slowly turning into red lobsters. Bit like the Brits at Brighton! It's also a real "fish and chips" village and just had to sample some for luncyh. Then for a lie on the beaches "of Hel", with David going for his first swim in the Baltic. Seeing as we'd arrived "in Hel" by boat, we thought a walk "across Hel" should be experienced too. It takes only 15 minutes from one side to the other and actually felt like "hel" as the heat was stifling. The beaches on the other side are stunning. Long, wide and endless sand as far as the eye can see. At 7pm we ended the day by taking the train "out of Hel" back to Gdansk. We rattled along right in the middle of the peninsula with sea on both sides, a wonderful sight. As the sun was setting the skies turned into a blood red panorama. Awesome. At about 11.30pm, we eventually returned to our campsite and the sky was still quite light. The hours of darkness here are very few as we slowly travel further and further north. Once we hit St Petersbug in August, I doubt we'll have true darkness at all!!

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Monday 26th June

Another one of those chillout and do nothing days. It's been terribly hot an humid in Gdansk and today was no exception. In the late afternoon the storm clouds rolled in and we had a terrific thunderstorm. For about an hour and a half all went totally dark, the lightening and thunder made talking impossible and the rain refreshed and cooled down the air. What a relief from the sticky humidity. It disn't last tho'. By 10pm everything started steaming from the hot ground, which in turn brought the mozzies out in force! A not too pleasant night followed, between trying to swot multitudes of the pests and trying to breathe deeply enough in the thick, damp humid air.