Gdansk, Poland

Our decision to go to Poland was a little spontaneous...sort of, "Poland? why not!"  We stumbled upon Gdansk in our research of good Hiltons where we could spend some of Dan's points on summer city breaks and it looked beautiful!  We hadn't been to Poland yet so it was a great way to check another country off our list as well as a chance to venture back into Eastern Europe, which we were so impressed by when we visited Budapest.  Gdansk sits on the north coast of Poland, right on the Baltic Sea.  It is a popular tourist destination for Polish people and as we walked along the streets we were pleasantly surprised to hear almost nobody speaking English.  We'd finally made it to a town undiscovered by Americans!

After arriving by bus to the city center and finding our way to the Hilton, we ventured out into town.  The old town area of Gdansk is pretty small and can be covered by foot in about 20 minutes.  Our first stop was a pierogi place, Pierogarnia U Dzika, for lunch.  We had a great outdoor table and tried three different kinds of pierogis; traditional (pork), chicken with nuts and raisins, and mushroom.  They were delicious washed down with some Polish beer, Tyskie.

Mariacka Street:

After lunch we headed for the main drag, Ul Dluga.  Most of Gdansk was destroyed during WWII but has been beautifully restored.  The architecture and lay out of the city reminded me of Copenhagen, with a little small town Germany mixed in.  We walked down to the main square and checked out the Town Hall and the Neptune fountain.

  Town Hall:

Neptune Fountain:

From there, we made our way over to the waterfront.  The old town sits along the Motlawa river which runs inland from the Baltic Sea.  There is a beautiful row of buildings along the water and lots of cute restaurants.  The Zuraw, a 15th century crane, is located here.  It is the oldest surviving port crane in Europe and was built for unloading ships but also served as the gate to the city.

The Green Gate:

 The Zuraw:

After making a loop around the harbour, we headed for St. Mary's Church.  St. Mary's is the largest brick church in Europe, and one of the largest brick structures overall, including castles.  The inside was plain, whitewashed plaster walls, but the organ was very ornate and the vaulted ceilings were beautiful.  The views from the top of the bell tower were great.

After visiting the church we went back to our hotel to catch the last couple hours of sun on the roof terrace of the Hilton, which sits right on the water.

 view from the hotel:

That night, after attempting to go to the Trip Advisor recommended restaurant next door, Kubicki, which was full, we landed on a sushi place that was excellent, and so cheap!  Everything in Poland was inexpensive, which is always a plus when on a city break.  We probably spent less on a weekend away than we would have had we stayed in London.  We decided to make a reservation at Kubicki for the following night, and in doing so the host, surprised by our accents, asked where we were from and then instead of making the reservation under our name, he simply wrote down U.S.A.

The next morning we slept in and then got ready for a beach day.  We popped over to a stand for some waffles covered in strawberries and whipped cream before taking a taxi to Stogi beach.  Stogi is a huge, sandy beach.  There were tons of people but plenty of room and lots of places to buy snacks and ice cream.  The huge port nearby it a little unsightly but otherwise it was a great beach.  We spent the whole day sunbathing and swimming in the Baltic.

That night before dinner we took another stroll along the water and watched as people bungee jumped from a crane that was set up right next to the river.  We stopped for a beer at Brovarnia, supposedly the best beer in Poland, before making our way over to dinner at Kubicki.  It was delicious and well lived up to its rave reviews.

The next morning we had breakfast along the Ul Dluga before heading back to the airport for our flight home.  It was a great weekend; beautiful city, nice people, and good food.