Wartime gritty to resort city

Poland Day 23. It was time to head back to Gdańsk and see what I could see in whatever was left of the day.

I checked out of Wolf’s Lair. The taxi driver I used two days before returned at 8am to pick me up and deposit me back at the station. It was too early for breakfast at the hotel but I had an orange and a wafer bar (they’re big news in Poland) to last me until lunchtime. And a tin of tuna… though I couldn’t quite bring myself to go there.

Not sorry to leave this. Worst bed of the 15 I slept in while I was away

Apart from the back-crippling bed, maddening wifi and an obnoxious guide this had been a fascinating place and I’m glad I made it a two-night stop.

Back in Gdańsk I found my new hotel, same general area as I was in previously, then hunted out a cafe in the thick of things to stuff my face while I worked out what I’d do.

On my first afternoon in Gdańsk I was surprised when I couldn’t find The Crane, one of the city’s icons. Clearly I only had a boy look as second time round, the tall structure with its black frontage is hardly subtle

Taken the following day from the water. The Crane is one of the few remaining symbols of the city’s big trading era a few hundred years ago

Having seen ferry boats come and go I thought I’d do a wee circuit out on the water – something more substantial than the one providing a shortcut from one side of the river to the other – but there wasn’t anything shorter than an hour and a half. Decided to leave that for tomorrow and I instead trotted off back to the train station.

Near Gdańsk is Sopot and Gydnia and they’re collectively known as the Tri-City. I wasn’t going to be here overly long but there were a couple of things that sounded interesting in the nearest, Sopot, so I decided to pop out there for a quick look. The guidebook said transportation was easy and I opted for train over tram.

Transportation was fairly simple in the end, not that you’d know at the outset of working out tickets and timetables. I saw other tourists struggling as well. I may have missed a train in the process and then twiddled thumbs for half an hour waiting for the next.

The afternoon was well matured by the time I arrived in Sopot so I had to hustle, weaving through the masses, making a quick coffee stop on my way to the waterfront.

Walked past this church with a post-nuptials gathering

Clearly I was on a major thoroughfare – not my favourite thing

Sopot is billed as quite the famous place in Poland thanks to its legacy of bathhouses and spas. Today the pulling power is from health spas, big resort hotels, the long stretch of golden sand beach, and numerous outdoor recreation offerings.

The old lighthouse is located at the bottom of the town and is open for punters such as myself to trudge up and up and up to partake of the views

The pier is one of Sopot’s main attractions

One of the humble looking resorts

I made a reasonable deviation to go and look at the stone age fort remains – mistake; turned out to be a recreated wooden fortress with re-enactments of life back then, which isn’t my thing. I hustled back, taking the opportunity for a walk along the beach before checking out the pier.

Shadow selfie (shelfie?)

It’s the longest wooden pier in Europe apparently and also houses the marina

You have to pay to access the pier, the equivalent of $3

It was a busy place but with the beach and clean air it felt like it would be a nice place to stay. Now though it was time to get back to the station.

Distance walked: 12.05km