Back in September of 2021 I finally managed to get to Gdansk. It had been several attempts before I was able to get here.
You can read about there here.
On that first trip, I tried to do as much as possible and I didn’t really spend a lot of time in Gdansk itself as I went to towns/cities surrounding Gdansk.
I decided that I wanted to go back and visit and just spend time in Gdansk and see the bits I didn’t get to see.
I made a list of what I wanted to see: the other side of the river, the Gdansk sign, the Solidarity Museum to name but a few. I knew there was much more to Gdansk but I didn’t spend my time figuring that out on the last trip.
It felt really weird coming back here. Whilst it had been 6 months, nothing really had changed (why would it in such a short space of time).
I stayed at the same hostel and it was really heartwarming to see that they were taking in refugees from Ukraine and also Belarus.
It was quite late when I got in and all I wanted to do was sleep – and that is pretty much what I did.
It was a bit of a faff getting from the airport to the hostel. The departure boards said that a train was leaving for the city in 10 minutes so I thought I would catch that and that it would be faster than the bus. I was wrong. There was no train for another hour and the bus I wanted to catch had just left. I had a quick look at Google and the bus timetables at the stop and decided to get another bus close to the city and then a bus from there to the hostel. It wasn’t too bad and I still managed to get to the hostel so that’s all that matters.
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I decided that today I would see the city a bit more and walk down by the riverside and across the river. I wanted to go across the lifting pedestrian bridge just to say I had done it.
The noticeable difference in the city was the construction they were doing down the middle of the street. They weren’t doing that the last time I was here.
One thing I did notice right from getting to the bus stop was the solidarity the city had with Ukraine (I’m sure it’s like this all over Poland). I think they have an affinity with Ukraine as it is similar to what happened at the start of the second world war. Gdansk was pretty much the starting point of the war.
The buses and trams were adorned with Polish and Ukraine flags. The display blinds also would show Solidarni z Ukrainą, and the monitors inside the vehicles would also show the same.
I have been to Ukraine 3 times and I felt a little proud that they were doing this.
I got to the city and crossed the bridge and went to get some pictures of the Gdansk letters and I sat there for a while just chilling and being grateful I was able to come back to Gdansk.
I went to cross the bridge, but it was in the process of being lifted to let a ferry through. I enjoyed just watching it being raised and lowered. As I was sitting there, I looked across the other side and saw a weirdly shaped building and wondered what it was. I didn’t look at the map and decided to just head in that direction. My internal compass knew which way I needed to go.
I went there and it was a museum of WWII. I didn’t really have time to go into it (see, just me giving myself another reason to come back to Gdansk!!!).
I then decided to head to Post Office One (where the first shots of WWII rang out) and have a walk around there. The last time I was here I was on a walking tour so didn’t really have time to stop and sit.
After I was done here, I went to the Solidarity Museum (turns out on a Tuesday it’s closed. Just my luck). I had a quick look around and signed the book for Ukraine and then headed out to find some food. I knew where my favourite eatery (ha, McDonald’s) was and headed there and then headed back out on the tram to the end of the line – because why not! It was at a stop that wasn’t fully complete and some of the tram lines came to an abrupt end at the top of a hill. I’m not quite sure what they were trying to do. See if it could fly? Perhaps.
Once I was done here, I decided to head back to the hostel and ask the owners about Malbork Castle and if they had any suggestions of what to do on the last day I was there. I got some ideas from them and then booked my train tickets to go to Malbork.
Total steps: 15,426
Total miles: 7.4
Below are some pics from today
As always, the trip started pretty early. I was on the bus about 4:30 to get to the airport in time for the flight back home. This was a fairly uneventful trip back home. As always, I was happy to be in my own shower and then in my own bed. I was coming back on the day I started my night shift. This was going to be a fast turnaround (and a tiring one) as I was doing 4 nights and then heading to Gatwick for my flight to Calgary.
I thoroughly enjoyed this trip and Gdansk is going to be one of those cities that I think I will go back to every now and then.
Poland just has this massive pull for me. If I could live there and work there, I absolutely would.
Total steps: 42,432
Total miles: 20.1
You can view all of my pictures from Gdansk [blink k=”gdn0322″ c=”#ffffff”]here[/blink]
You can view all of my pictures from Malbork [blink k=”malbork” c=”#ffffff”]here[/blink]