After I had arrived in Hel, I first walked a little by the „town’s” beach and then I sat in a café in order to have a coffee while enjoying the fine weather. It was a proper summer – sunny, warm, although not too hot – in other words, ideal! I also treated myself to an ice-cream that is very popular in Poland – swiderki, and that is one extremely twisted ice-cream.
Twisted ice-cream – Swiderki
Hel is the name for the place, as well as for the entire peninsula which has an incredible shape – a thin and long stretch of land, i.e., of sand which extends towards the centre of the Gdansk Bay. The peninsula is around 35 km long, in its widest section, and that is close to the tip where Hel the town is located, it is around 3 km wide, but in its narrowest section it is only some 100 metres wide!
On this occasion, my main destination was the very tip of the peninsula and I soon headed in that direction. The way goes along the main street in Hel which is full of restaurants and shops with summer equipment, and which is then replaced by a beautiful forest that has a broad path leading through it.
Forest on peninsula Hel
Since the end of WWI, the Hel peninsula which was then given to Poland had gained in its military significance. During WWII, the peninsula was, of course, a part of Germany which developed it further for military purposes and the same continued after the war when the peninsula was returned to Poland. Even today, there are sections where the Polish army is stationed, but in several places in the forest to the left and right in relation to the path, i.e., the dirt road leading to the very tip of the peninsula, there are numerous remains of old bunkers and radars which tourists may visit nowadays.
But, as I’ve said, I was primarily interested in that tip of the peninsula. There is a large sand beach there and on this sunny day it was full of visitors.
Beach on the tip of Hel
Still, regardless of the sun and warmth, the Baltic Sea is not for the faint-hearted. Here, look at the next photograph:
Beer in the shallows of the Hel’s tip
After all, before it is consumed, the beer is never warmed up, but rather chilled well, and that certainly does not suggest bathing and splashing in the water. Except for those who are used to it and want to harden themselves. I was sort of somewhere in the middle – I was not used to it, but every now and then I like to harden myself:
Here I am, close to the beer and at the same ambient temperature
But, joking aside, yes... When you enter the water, it’s cold. However, the limbs soon get used to it and it’s not a problem to walk in the water. And yet, I would certainly not wet the upper parts of my body.
Walking thus along the beach, at one point I got to the place which constitutes some kind of the very tip of the peninsula and from there I could see well the beach that stretched to the left and right down the sides of Hel.
View from the tip of Hel down the sides of the peninsula
After this fine walk along the beach, I returned to Hel the town and went for lunch there. I decided to go for grilled local fish – a halibut. It was truly very tasty, but it would not suffice, if there were not liquid to go along with it.
Grilled halibut for lunch
Beer that refreshed me and helped the lunch feel better
Following the nice lunch, I passed again through the centre of the place, had a view at the Fisheries Museum from the outside and then went to a park where in theory I could catch a coach leading off the peninsula.
Fisheries Museum in Hel
So, once you get to Hel, there may be certain problems getting out of there. I hardly managed to find a bus station of a sort, but there was no helpful and systematized information. So, I opted for a train. And the train goes SLOWLY! Even the information there was wrong. It said that the train went as far as Gdynia, but when I got off there, I saw some people remaining on the train. So I asked them through a window if the train went to Sopot, they confirmed and I went back in.
Still, while the train still dragged itself along the peninsula, it was interesting that occasionally I could quite clearly observe that the width of the peninsula was only slightly bigger than the road, the railroad and less than a hundred metres covered by forest. During its ride along the peninsula, the train occasionally stopped at some smaller stations along the railroad, because in addition to tourism-related buildings, camps, resorts and hotels, there are also permanent settlements.
After Hel I wanted to go to Sopot. It is the best known seaside resort on the coast of the Baltic Sea, but it also functions as a health-spa. If Leba and Hel are relatively peaceful summer resorts where families, especially families with small children come, Sopot is the place to which everybody comes, especially the young and those who want to feel young.
Sight in Sopot as I was leaving the railway station
Right from the train station it was very crowded – a lot of people were pressing on the platform, in the street leading towards the centre and especially in the main pedestrian street leading to the beach. In addition to many people, that street was also full of shops, restaurants, pastry shops and ice-cream parlours. The street descends to a large square that paves way to the longest wooden pier in Europe (around 515 m), so if you are ready to pay for the privilege, you may go to its end.
View from the beach in Sopot at the longest wooden pier in Europe
Since I was staying in Sopot only for a short while, I decided to walk along the beach. The beach is made of fine, whitish sand and it has numerous cafés-restaurants that provide beach beds of all styles. Even late in the afternoon it was all still very lively. At one café-restaurant, in addition to the beach beds and beach umbrellas, I also came across a great public salsa dance school. It was very merry and the music was infatuating. If you want a hot atmosphere, then even in Poland you don’t go for a polka dance, but for salsa.
And then I decided to return to Gdansk. It was my last evening in the town and I wanted to return there while there was still some daylight.
Detail from Gdansk, to the right is the Large Mill
What was particularly interesting in Gdansk those days was the St. Dominic’s Fair which, almost with no interruptions, has been celebrated for over seven centuries. When I say with no interruptions, I don’t mean that it is celebrated throughout the year, but almost every year in the similar period, around the beginning of August. In the past, the Day of St. Dominic used to be marked only on one particular day, but nowadays this is a fair that lasts for three weeks.
And what can I tell you about it – it’s a fair, the place where people gather in order to trade with different goods, sell food and beverages, or consume them, in order to have fun, exchange parts of their collections, show and sell crafts and artistic objects they make, but it all comes down to a large crowd, as well as joyful and radiant faces of the visitors.
Although I didn’t eat, I was particularly impressed by large flat metal pans that offered hot bigos, made of sauerkraut, with cured pork shanks. Perhaps there are more ingredients, but these were the most visible ones and I found it interesting that people here eat sauerkraut in summer (in Serbia, it is used only in winter, never in any other season).
The bigos
In addition to stalls with sauerkraut, the ones selling large pieces of wholemeal bread covered with lard and thinly sliced gherkins were also very popular. In Serbia, “lard and bread” as we call it is nowadays mentioned only in the stories about our parents’ childhood. Poles, however, have made a type of a brand out of it. And, as far as I could see, everybody is happy about it.
Stall selling “lard and bread”
It was nice to walk around Gdansk in dry weather, while everything was lit by the setting sun. As a matter of fact, Gdansk is not particularly big. Especially not that central part. I mostly visited it in sequences, but if one is well organized, I guess that a day or two are probably enough to see and visit all that may be of interest. On the other hand, Gdansk has in the meantime become a popular tourist centre and that entails various events, as well as a lot of fine places where one may relax nicely while eating and/or drinking.
Gdansk facades and the tower of St. Mary’s Church
Gdansk facades and the Neptune Fountain
I took advantage of coming across a fine pastry shop where I finally tried Polish raspberries, since I always returned to Gdansk too late and could not buy them in the market. And ... they were good!
A large pistachio macaroon with raspberries
The following day, I first went to visit some churches in the area in which I had rented the flat, but they were all closed. I did not despair, but went back to the flat, packed up my things, returned the key and then went to the railway station where I left my bag at the wardrobe, while I returned to the centre. I had plenty of free time before my coach was leaving for Kaliningrad and I enjoyed walking some more around Gdansk. As I’ve said, that central, old part of Gdansk is not very big, but it is beautiful enough that I didn’t find it boring walking again along the same streets. I had even realized in the meantime that I had omitted visiting one of the particularly beautiful and picturesque streets, so I corrected that. It was Mariacka Street, which means St. Mary’s Street, and it links a gate of the same name and a basilica of the same name.
Mariacka Street – at the end of it there is the St. Mary’s Gate which leads directly to the walking area by the river
St. Mary’s Street is full of shops selling amber which in Europe is mostly found around the Baltic Sea, and consequently also in Poland. On the other hand, the most interesting elements in the street for me were the gutters carrying off rainwater towards the street in order not to have the terraces from which buildings are entered turned into pools.
Mariacka Street, a detail
I made a break at one of the numerous restaurants along the walking area passing by the Motlawa river in order to eat something and then slowly I headed for the railway station. Still, Gdansk kept inspiring me to make stops and admire it.
Large Mill (left), with the tower of St. Catherine’s Church behind it
At the railway station, I took my bag and went to the nearby coach terminal. From there I had a coach that was driving directly to Kaliningrad, i.e., the capital of the Kaliningrad region, a Russian enclave tucked between Poland and Lithuania. It was to be my first visit to Russia (if I don’t count my stay at the Russian base in Antarctica) and I was really looking forward to it.