A Sudden Trip to Gdansk

Travelling is more than a passion for me. It’s my way of expressing my feelings.  It’s my way of learning about my life. Whether I am happy, sad or excited, all I want is to travel. It can be the same place I have been to hundreds of time or a completely new place.

Just a few days ago, I woke up with a bad dream. I don’t always take my dreams seriously but that particular one really made me up set. I remember it was a Thursday. I was sitting in my kitchen, doing my breakfast and then I opened this application “Bookings.com” and started checking the hostels in different cities of randomly. There was one last bed available in a highly rated hostel in Gdansk for the weekend. They were offering a discount of 55% and it would cost me 30 PLN which roughly is some 7 Euros. I talked with my flatmate who had been to Gdansk before and she encouraged me to go to Gdansk. So I just booked my place, got the confirmation email.

So that’s how I came up with this idea of visiting Gdansk. Later in the evening I booked a return ticket from Polski Bus. This was the first time I was going to travel alone in Poland and I was quite excited about it.

Finally my alarm rang at around 5:30 am on the Saturday morning. Most of my things were already prepared; I just drank a cup of coffee and took my tram to the reach Lodz Fabryczna Station. The bus was on time, I took my seat. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a window seat as I booked my ticket quite late. Or in fact I should thank God that I was lucky enough to find a place at least.

It was a 5 hours journey and I spent most of it sleeping. So I got off at the bus stop in this beautiful and cold city of Gdansk. It was cold however there was no chance of snow or rain as per the forecast, so everything went well.

The hostel was in a very central place just 20 minutes walking from the bus station. However here starts the biggest problem of Gdansk. It is very difficult to find a zebra crossing there. Many of the sites there were under construction, so you take a route and you end up in being nowhere because there would be some barriers ahead. It happened so many times with me there. Those 20 minutes of walk, well forget that. After about half an hour or even more, I found myself standing in front of this giant apparently royal or historical grey and golden gate. There was also a group of school students there. I discovered that it was Brama Wyzynna, a gate built in 1588 which served as the main entrance to city. (the photo might appear in a weird direction like upside down, I have tried to upload and post it numerous times but the it's not working, anyway I hope you won't mind it this way ;) )

Soon I was in the Royal way. There was something spectacular and peculiar about those streets. May be it was because of those continuously ringing bells and music. For a while I felt being in a fairytale.

My hostel was around 7-8 minutes’ walk from there, and this time it actually was. I found it easily and was welcomed nicely by the guy inside. He showed me my room, gave me the keys and told me about the free tea/coffee in the kitchen etc. I just dropped my shoulder bag, made a list of things to see and tried to locate them on the map. I realized that the location of my hostel was just perfect as almost everything was on a walking distance. Therefore, i would highly recommend it. The name was “Hostel 4 u”.

So my first destination was the Artus Court and the Neptune’s Fountain. Both are almost side to side located in Long Market and were looking extra amazing because of the Christmas decorations and the entire atmosphere there. There were a lot of stands there selling some special jewellery made by stones and wood, different traditional foods and souvenirs. There were activities and swings for kids there as well.

 I walked around there for a while and then went closer to the river. It was colder there but worth watching. I got a glimpse of the Maritime Museum- the famous crane. However I decided to visit the St. Mary’s Church first.

This church is one of the biggest brick churches in the world and it was quite evident from its exterior.

I went inside, lighted a candle and asked God for so many things. 

I then found out that I can climb up the tower which I really looked forward to. So after I don’t know how many hundreds of steps I finally reached the top. I even rested a few times on my way up. But the view from above was worth all those steps. You can literally see the entire Gdansk from there. I spent some time there and then climbed down. Coming down is always easy. Not only when are you going up or down in a building but also in real life. Getting on the top requires tons of efforts, but a small mistake can easily bring you down. By the way I researched about the number of steps and its around 400-410 according to different sources.

I then went to see the Crane over the Motlawa River which is a part of the National Maritime Museum.There are also other branches of the museum.

So I was hungry by then as since morning I had just eaten some snacks and not a single proper meal. I went to this Italian restaurant where I tried this mozzarella with tomatoes, olive oil and some garlic bread. It was nice. 

Before coming my flatmate specially advised me to visit the Museum of Second World War. It was some 15 minutes walk from me and I decided to go there. Its architecture was unique and superb. It had a class of its own. The ticket for a student would cost 16 PLN there for the permanent exhibition. While I was waiting in a queue there, I met this gentleman, who explained everything about the museum, and the things which I should definitely see and all. He had been in that museum 3 times for more than seven hours. I think this explains the worth the museum holds. I, however had around 3 hours till closing of the museum.

Still I managed to see most of the things, specially the videos. It has halls from 1 to 18.  Starting from brief information about World War I, to the end of World War II. This was the best museum I have ever been to. If someone wants to know about the proceedings and history of World War II, this is the place you need to go.

From the uniforms and helmets of the soldiers to the weapons used, from the missiles to the aircrafts and tanks, from the pro nazi decorations to the anti nazi sentiments, from the household stories to inventions being made in that era, the museum has everything. 

I had so many different feelings while I was walking through those rooms. I was wondering why the world has not learnt a lesson yet. Why they still talk about war? No one has ever benefitted from it; all it has always brought is misery and suffering. I also felt my deepest respect and regard for the Polish Nation for how they have risen. Especially in the last room, I saw this video called The Unconquered, I managed to find it on you tube and here is a link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q88AkN1hNYM

 The last line in this video was heart touching-“Because we do not beg for freedom, we fight for it”.

After the museum I came back to my hostel. On my way back, I kept enjoying the dark amazing view of Gdansk. It reminded me of Oslo and Stockholm.

I got another chance to see the Long Market, but this time the night version with a greater crowd. 

For some additional pictures, check the photo gallery. :) 

Photo gallery