Poland is an incredibly beautiful country. So many meadows, fields and forests are not known from our birth region. And that everything is kept clean, either. This country is definitely worth a visit. Ours first part of Poland can be found here in case you missed it.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Danzig
After spending two nights on Gardno lake have stood, we drove towards Gdansk today. We actually wanted to make a stopover, but it looked better on the sightseeing side than it really was. So we took a snack break in a parking lot and then drove on to Gdansk. In Gdansk we found a parking space in the port area with a harbor master. Everything is there and the showers looked good too, so we finally went to shower again. The parking lot itself is full, 9 caravans and everything is only German.
When we had settled down and filled up with water, we made our way to the city center / old town, as it was still early afternoon. It is only 500 m away on foot. We landed over a lift pedestrian bridge directly on the harbor promenade and walked along it. There is one restaurant after another and souvenir shops. Opposite is the Baltic Philharmonic and a huge ship museum.
The house front is characterized by new and old buildings. An old Crane gate you can also see what was once a memory. From the harbor side there is a small pedestrian gate every few meters that leads into the old town. With the largest we are then on the Long street gone with market. Here one house is lined up next to the other, in many colors and you come to that Fountain of Neptunewhich forms the center of the market.
It went on to Marienkirchethat is so big and stands between the houses that you can't get it all in one photo. It is one of the largest brick churches north of the Alps and it took 159 years to complete. She was Protestant until 1945 and has been Catholic ever since.
After a short lap, we walked over the long bridge back to our parking space. Then we passed a small marina and were just amazed at the number of yachts here. There was a huge catamaran at the lift bridge and apparently won't go at first because everything was packed.
After a good night's sleep in the port of Gdansk, we got up early this morning. I actually had to go to the toilet, but as always, the toilet pulled suction and didn't open. So I woke my husband up at 7:00 a.m. Well, the toilet cassette is broken. In the morning, my husband Googled where we could get a new toilet cassette and found what he was looking for. We actually managed to do with the toilet, we got a new toilet. We drove back to the port parking lot and after we set up the toilet, we walked into town.
We went to see some sights like that High gate from the 16th century, that Torment Chamber with a tower from the 14th century, remains of the old city wall or the market hall. There was also a small side street where there is one jewelry shop next to the other, mostly with amber jewelry. We were on foot for a total of about 6 hours with a short lunch break. The city is just lovely and with 2 days you haven't seen everything.
After a few hours of "relaxation" and dinner, we went back to the harbor in the blue hour. What a great sight the way the harbor is lit up. 15 minutes later, after we were at the harbor, the moon rose and Sebastian was able to take beautiful photos again in the evening mood. Finja went through the day really well and went really well.
Something about the history of Gdansk
In the last few centuries, Danzig has always been a conflict between Germany and Poland. This city was under German hands from time to time, but was then brought back to Poland through conflicts and disputes. The inhabitants of Gdansk were predominantly of German origin until after World War II and were expelled from Gdansk by the Red Army. What remained was about 5% of the original population.
Even today you can still see traces of German in Gdansk. In the port area there are still German labels on the house fronts indicating which shop can be found in the house, such as tobacco products.
December 1970 was also bad when there was an uprising among workers who went on strike and demonstrated because there were drastic increases in prices for everyday items. Before it turned into civil war, the government deployed the military. More than 50 people were killed and several hundred injured. There are various monuments to this massacre in several cities in Poland.
The August strike in 1980 changed Poland. They wanted to withdraw from communist rule. With the fall of the iron curtain and the August agreements, a breach was struck, and a new one political map of Europe resulted in.
More about You can find Gdansk on the official website.
The next morning we went to the market hall again and bought fresh vegetables and fruit. After that we have a day of driving until close to the Masuria inserted. After a long time we drove on the Autobahn and it is amazingly free in contrast to what is otherwise known. Our overnight place was on a forest campsite directly on a lake in Grajewo. We just wanted to stay the night, do some work the next morning and then go on to Lithuania. We slept soundly and the plan worked.
On the way to Lithuania
Now we are on our way to Lithuania. But first we have to go shopping again and we can do that in Augustawa in a Kaufland. There is actually a Kaufland. When Basti was shopping, it suddenly started to pour heavily and it took him a little longer than expected to go shopping. But he got a lot of vegan and gluten-free foods. However, it was now 4:30 p.m. when we could continue.
After briefly considering whether we should go to Druskininkai in Lithuania or not, we changed our minds and drove directly to our overnight place. On the way we stopped briefly at a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Augustower Hunt - July 1945 remind. Stalin had given the order to arrest soldiers from the Polish Home Army and independence groups. Around 2,000 people disappeared without a trace, not counting the victims behind the Lithuanian and Belarusian borders. In 1991 this monument was created.
Conclusion on Poland
In any case, Poland is a very beautiful country and well worth a visit or two !!!
We really liked it here, the people are super nice and try very hard to be able to communicate with you. In addition, Poland is a really clean country. No matter where we were, whether on foot or by car, you never saw rubbish lying around. On the contrary, there were so many rubbish bins that were used and emptied regularly.
Most of the roads are well developed. But then you also have some that really shake you up or that were laid out with cobblestones. A challenge for our polar bear in between.
In addition, Poland is a really green country. There are fields upon fields and a lot of forest. As far as you can see pure nature. In between there is always a small village or just a few houses before it turns back into fields and forests.
Then, an incredible number of stork nests, all of which were also inhabited. An unbelievable sight. They have set stork nests near the houses or on power poles. Also in the meadows you can see many storks again and again.
The pedestrians have also been thought of. Here in towns and cities you have a zebra crossing every few meters. In the cities there are usually traffic lights. It's amazing how slow you have to drive to be able to stop. 😉
