To quote my friend Jordan in his San Franciscan language, "Gdansk is super cut." I had never heard the phrase and I cant say even now that I understand it but his explanation is that Gdansk is a place not many people would even think to visit. Booking a trip to Gdansk, Poland was one part frugality, one part spontaneity, and many parts chance. With classes ended, most of our friends traveling to different parts of Europe, and a friend who bailed on visiting, we (Jenny, Jordan and I) decided to look into a short trip. We checked skyscanner and compared the top cheapest flights. Jordan had already been to France and Jenny and I were going to be there in a little over ten days anyway, so we eliminated that. The city in Germany the flight was to was not that exciting according to google. Jenny had plans to go to Ireland the weekend before so that would not make a lot of sense. What did that leave? Gdansk, Poland a place on nobody's list, but with beautiful google images and prices too cheap to ignore.
As the rest of our friends packed for Spain and Italy, the three of us prepared for the chill of the Baltic Sea. We probably looked nuts. The trip did not start off well as we got settled on the bus to the airport (an hour away) only to have Jordan hop off to quickly use the bathroom and then have the bus drive away without him. The situation was even worse when Jenny and I realized that Jordan's bag, which he had left on the bus, had his phone in it. Despite some travel nightmare stress, Jordan managed to catch the next bus and meet us at the airport in time for our flight. In landing the absurdity continued, as we stepped off and realized it was SNOWING in Poland.
 |
| After Jordan missed the bus |
 |
| Realizing it was snowing in Poland |
A little overwhelmed, we managed to find our hostel and from there any stress or regrets dissipated. This hostel was literally incredible. Clean (they even made us take our shoes off) and modern, the place had a great common space (they even said they would download any movie for us) and provided us with free breakfast all for less than $15 USD a night. The staff was super friendly and very interested in the fact that we were American, which turned out to be a common thing among the Polish people we interacted with. After getting a quick dinner we spent the night walking along the water's edge in Gdansk, which was so beautiful it was worth braving the chilliness.
 |
| Our beautiful hostel |
The next day we got an early start in order to cover as many of the recommended Gdansk sites as possible. We started with a visit to St. Mary's Basilica, which is the largest brick church in Europe. From there you can pay to climb the 400 stairs of the tower to what was promised to be the best view in Gdansk. Can I just say 400 stairs is a lot. Regardless, we made it to the top and got some awesome views of Poland. The architecture of Gdansk was fascinating because the city was devastated in WWII, and in their rebuilding chose french and italian influences. It makes for a very charming city and works to disguise some of Poland's history. The other influence to the appearance of Gdansk comes from its location by the sea. In some ways the city reminded me of Westport, with its fancy shops by the water side. Besides tourism one of their greatest industries is amber, a precious mineral found in the water, and because of that there is an amber shop every 100 feet or so. We walked the entire city and took some great pics of the streets and big attractions and ended the night with dinner at a very nice restaurant. A hearty polish meal and beer cost me ten bucks so I was psyched. Unfortunately the crew was beat/sick so we did not explore the nightlife even with the insistence of the hostel staff (they marked like 8 bars/clubs on the map for us).
 |
| Main street in Gdansk |
 |
| Neptune statue |
 |
| Picture from 1945 of Gdansk |
 |
| View from St. Mary's to compare |
 |
| Seaside in Gdansk |
 |
| Panoramic view of main square in Gdansk |
 |
| Jordan climbing the stairs of St. Mary's Basilica |
 |
| View from St. Mary's Basilica |
 |
| Jenny and I at the top of St. Mary's Basilica |
 |
| View of seaside Gdansk and the Crane |
 |
| A street in Gdansk |
Our last day we were surprised with blue sky and sunshine. We had a few hours to kill before we had to make our way to the airport so we went to the 2 for 1 amber/torture museum in the old prisoner tower. Probably the weirdest combination ever, we spent an hour learning about amber from its origins as tree sap to modern art only to then learn about the gruesome nature of Polish torture in the middle ages. The amber art was quite beautiful but the collective favorite part of the museum was the microscope that projected the inclusions in amber on a big screen tv. With every gross mosquito or beetle magnified Jenny and I would exclaim EWW only to pick another - we are clearly children. The torture part definitely revealed the dark undercurrent of Polish history. The museum exhibited several prisoner cells the creepiest part being the exhibition of carvings done in the cell by condemned men, with graphic pictures of various torture methods next to it.
In some ways the dichotomy between a light modern Poland and the dark history of Poland became a theme for the week, because despite certain efforts to portray Gdansk as a fancy summer destination, flashes of the past shown through. WWII and the effects of communism are still prevalent, though the friendliness of the Polish people makes me think they are proud of Gdansk now and want the world to know it. We were approached on the street by two young women who recognized we spoke English and who told us they ran meetings for international youth on the weekends. They asked us our opinions on Poland and our outlook for the future in the modern world -- definitely heavier conversation than I was expecting on this little vacation. Their political consciousness and effort to reach out to tourists spoke to their pride for Poland.
 |
| example of dichotomy |
If I had to summarize this surreal trip I would have to say in many ways it was more eye-opening than any experience I have had or possibly could have in the traditional tourist hot spots. Unlike London, Amsterdam or even Prague I actually felt completely foreign in Gdansk and the trip became less about the fairytale of travel and more about the history and culture of a foreign country. The fact that Gdansk, unlike these other cities, was completely destroyed by WWII and only escaped communism in 1989 has a lot to do with this as well as the fact that not many Americans have it on their top places to visit in Europe. Gdansk was different and I really like that.
Mos def super cut.
ReplyDelete