Midweek trip to Gdańsk – days 1 & 2 | alison richards

Life as a freelancer is interesting to say the least. I had been working at my job for a while and was supposed to be there for another couple of weeks, but it turned out that there wasn't enough work to keep us all busy and that we were getting through it too quickly! The result of this was that they ended my contract early and I didn't have any work for the next week.

It also turned out that there was possibly some work going at one of my other repeat jobs, but it was not yet confirmed. So, on my last day at my old job and with no news from the other job I decided that, instead of sitting around for a week or worrying about finding new work, I would find somewhere to go for a few days instead. Poland had been such a big success when I went to Wroclaw and Krakow, both of which I loved! Flights to Poland were usually cheap, and I knew that accommodation was also cheap, so it seemed like a good idea. I booked flights to Gdańsk!

I'll preface this by saying that I knew absolutely nothing about Gdańsk. I'd only ever heard about the place in a Good News Week joke, where Paul McDermott was talking about the renaming Mount Kosciuszko to the traditional Polish spelling and the joke was that Poland was going to reciprocate and rename Gdańsk to Gday. That's the extent of my knowledge (and that bloody joke went around my head the entire time I was there). Anyway so I'd booked an early morning flight from Stansted and, once again, I was waiting for the bus to the airport at 6am. I'd decided to pack light, so I only had my backpack with me, that's it. I caught my flight out at 9am and landed in Poland a little after 1pm.

I caught a bus from the airport to my accommodation, emptied out the clothes from my backpack and head back out again. I joined a Walkative Main City walking tour with a very funny guide to learn more about the city and its history, as well as finding spots to return to in the quiet early morning.

That night, I went to a restaurant serving supposedly Polish comfort food. I had a soup for a started to warm up, but the soup was lukewarm. I had a schnitzel for dinner, as that seemed to be a popular choice. It was only ok.

This lovely little restaurant on the main street of Gdańsk

Sunset views from my accommodation window

The next day I was up early to have a proper look around. I left the flat at 8:15am to go to the spots I had noticed yesterday - I knew my way around the city now!

Mariacka street, with its pretty buildings and amber jewellery-selling shops

The smaller royal chapel Kaplica Królewska in front of the HUGE brick Basilica of St. Mary

Details from the front of the Baroque royal chapel

This painting inside the church caught my eye…. it’s rather odd!

I walked around for 1 hour and 20 minutes before deciding it was time to go to a cafe and have a cuppa and something to eat. I stopped into a lovely little cafe called Kawiarnia Retro, which had comfy couches and seats, interesting bric-a-brac around the shop and an equally interesting menu. I was dying for some tea, and ordered some granola to go along with it. It was delicious.

After my morning tea, I meandered over to the European Solidarity Centre, a museum in Gdańsk dedicated to the history of Solidarity, the Polish trade union and civil resistance movement. I wasn't too interested in visiting the museum - there's only so much information about a place I can absorb and I didn't really have any knowledge of this at all to build from - but you could go to the top for free and have a view over Gdańsk. I've got to say... Gdańsk looked nice from street level but not particularly nice from above!

Spotted on the walk to the European Solidarity Centre

The Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers of 1970 which was built outside the European Solidarity Centre. These workers stood up to the communist oppression faced by Poland and at least 42 were killed for their efforts.

I walked back past the train station and back to the main city. I had some lunch and then waited for a Walkative tour guide - I was taking the Nazi Terror walking tour. I never knew that Gdańsk had SO much horrible history - the entire city was taken over by Nazis, then it was almost completely destroyed at the end of the war. And then after the Nazis, Poland was run by Communists. The Solidarity movement which stood up to the Communists and eventually brought an end to Communist rule in Poland was started in Gdańsk.

After a couple of hours of history, I thought I'd have a more light-hearted afternoon and visited my favourite Polish ceramics store, Boleslawiec. Again trying not to buy up the entire store of their lovely ceramics, I chose a couple of ceramic spoons and an apple bowl, that you bake apples in! How cute!

That night, I tried to go to a restaurant on Mariacka street, where they told me there was no tables available - even though I could see that they were not busy as it was too early for most Europeans to eat dinner. Rude. So instead I went over to that cute restaurant that is the first photo of this post, Cafe & Bar Rekawiczka, where I had a delicious dinner and a lovely half-bottle of wine.