Monday, March 24, 2014

A perfect weekend in Gdansk (Poland)

Actually it is much easier to get away from the everyday than we think. You take one day off, and have already a long weekend. If you are smart, you can book a flight for Thursday evening, and you have almost 3,5 days to spend in an unknown city.

Since we booked our trip only 2 weeks in advance with my friend we had only one complete day and the Friday evening, but even in this short time we managed to visit so many places. Gdansk is a Wizzair destination, therefore the chance is high that you manage to catch a flight with decent price even if you do not book so much beforehand. 

We stayed in a twin room at the Old Town Hostel which we were really satisfied with. Breakfast was included in the price, the rooms had nice design and it was close to the center.

Friday evening it was already sunset when we went for a walk in the city, therefore we just aimed to locate the main sights on the map what we would visit the next day. At the end of the evening we decided to eat in one of the restaurants in the center. We chose Mon Balzac which was an excellent choice. It was a fine dining place with live music and very exclusive interior design. I ate wild boar with mushroom sauce, and took a mojito and a mineral water. At the end all this together cost something like twenty euros. 


Mon Balzac, Gdanks (Poland)


The next day we visited almost all of the main sights within one day. Afterwards in the evening we were so surprised when we realized how many places we saw! We were not hurrying, but since we were aware of the short period of time we can spend in Gdansk, we tried to be constantly on the move besides the chill time when we stopped to eat and enjoy Polish bakery products and traditional dishes.

We had lunch at a Polish restaurant which is opposite the Town Hall in the basement of a red building (I do not remember the name now). We ate zurek, a plate of dumplings with different fillings and potatoe pancakes with smoked salmon and caviar. Even so that we shared the first two courses, we hardly managed to eat the third course, because the portions were so big, and very delicious too!

For visiting the sites I recommend you to download the application called Gdansk Guide (I have a Nokia phone). It is a free application and shows your location and follows your route also in offline-mode.

There were two particular sites which impressed me the most: Artus Court and the Uphagen House. Gdansk was a rich Hanza town and it is reflected on the buildings of the very well preserved inner city. I have been to many castles, but the richness and tasteful aristocracy of the Uphagen House impressed me even more than Versailles or the Hermitage.

Artus Court, Gdansk

Uphagen House, Gdansk

The public transportation works well in Gdansk. In the inner city you use mostly tram, or walk, because most of the sights are within walking distance. In this short time we even managed to get lost, but got saved by a friendly bus driver, and almost missed the plane, but then we didn`t. 

 It was a great trip, because it showed again that if you have the right attitude, some money, and a city full of history, even 1,5 days are enough to have a memorable trip.

I had enough of the words now, the rest you can see in form of a visual diary under: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/set=a.607842819285444.1073741847.276514799084916&type=3 . I will upload the photos here in the next couple of days continuously as I have time to do it.

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