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Moat and Bridge
Moat that the Knights would flood for protection.Today we docked in Gdynia, Poland. It was a heartwarming day for our friend Dave. His family left Poland for America just over 100 years ago. Dave had never been here and although we did not get to see the actual town where his family lived, Bydgoszcz, we saw good deal of the farming country which we think is similar.
First thing we headed out of the port and through Gdansk about 2 hours south to Malbork Castle of the Teutonic Order. This was the first castle that we’ve seen that reminded us of Knights in shining armor ;-) And…in fact Knights actually lived there. There was a Grand Master elected for life and 200 Knights. The castle covers 50 acres and sits between a river and a lake. Water from the castle came from the lake which is at a higher altitude and gravity fed to the buildings and moat. There was a “wet” moat that they would fill with water from the lake and also a “dry” moat within the castle walls where, under siege, they would bring all the animals. They had an under floor heating system. Steam from a central fire would produce hot air that would
heat rocks under the floor and then hot air would rise from the rocks through holes in the floor. We saw the monastery where 60 monks lived, the church, kitchen and of course the bathrooms ;-) They weren’t as primitive as one would think in 1270! About 50% of the castle is restoration work as it was horribly damaged by the German Armies during WWII. It is the largest brick castle in the world!
From the castle we passed through beautiful flat farmland with potatoes, wheat, garden vegetables, corn and every now and then, high up on poles, gigantic Stork Nests. Evidently the storks breed here and have their young, then as winter approaches they migrate to Egypt on their way to Africa.
As we approached Gdansk on the motorway, we began to see more houses scattered about and then apartment buildings very similar to the large block buildings we saw in St. Petersburg. We had a typical Polish lunch of cole slaw, some kind of sausage stuffed with something…(sorry but we never did figure out exactly what it was and mashed potatoes with spinach in mixed in, and a Polish beer. Perhaps not Jean’s favorite meal ;-)
After lunch we had a walking tour of Old Town and saw the Solidarity offices, and the largest brick church in Europe, The Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There were people selling things along the street but then vast majority of things to buy were very touristy items. However, they do have wonderful shops that sell amber jewelry and we learned a lot about “real vs. “fake” amber. Real amber floats when put into a saline solution of some sort ;-)
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Connie
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I'm Polish Too
Now I'm sure we'll have to do this northern cruise itinerary some day. My grandparents on my Mom's side were immigrants from Poland. Sadly I have no idea where and the names are almost impossible to track - too many spelling variations. Polish food can be good ... but it's definitely not Italian that's for sure :-) Loving your blog. Thanks for doing it.