Easter in Eastern Europe - Vol1 - King of the Castle

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The UK had more bank holidays in a row that most people knew what to do with! However, we decided it would be a perfect excuse to get a little off the tourist map and see the rather different sights and sounds of Eastern Europe....

We arrived into Gdansk, and after getting somewhat interrogated at immigration, I managed to get into the country – fourth in the queue and yet the last person in the whole plane to enter!? Pretty sure I don’t fit the classic terrorist profile? We didn’t really know how we were going to get to our hostel – not even sure if the buses were still running, but then an Australian accent pierced through the silence and convinced us it would be cheapest for all of us to get a taxi into the central city. Enter ‘Matt No. 1’ he’s been to Gdansk a number of times and managed to walk us straight to our hostel – quite convenient!

Our first glance into Gdansk had certainly caught my attention – we had wandered up the promenade of the Motlawa River, with softly lit buildings reflecting in the water, and the faint sound of people enjoying a drink in the warm evening air. We had all whipped out our cameras before we even got to our hostel, I wanted to see more! but it will have to wait...
We were all rather tired, but none more so than Clay (who had flown into London that morning from Auckland before coming here) - he couldn’t find his toothbrush, then realised thats because it’s in his suitcase... and where’s his suitcase? it seems he had left it out in the middle of the road where we were taking photos! – Jetlag 1 Clay 0.

The next day was quite exciting, as we had a day trip to the magnificent Malbork Castle, which was built by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th Century, and is the largest castle in the world (by area). We had so much fun wondering around the many ancient buildings, pushing open heavy wooden doors to see whats behind, scuttling down narrow secret passage ways wondering whats around the corner. The Castle itself was hit quite hard from WWII, and they have rebuilt most of it back to its original glory. However, one of my favourite rooms is in fact the cathedral, which they have only partially restored, and you can see the wide-spread devastation.

We had lunch at the castle restaurant, which was an interesting experience! We had our first taste of Pierogi’s, a Polish delicacy kinda like a dumpling that Matt had recommended last night, and they were yum! James was daring enough to try the ‘Black Chicken and Beer Pancakes’ – actually rather good! We managed to obtain cardboard crowns (kinda like BK crowns) for the rest of our adventure around the castle – much to our delight.

We went into the Upper Castle, the oldest party of the complex, explored more rooms, including the Throne Room and the Knights Hall. After quite a bit of searching we managed to find ourselves on a narrow pathway above all the rooms, looking down into the central courtyard – we really weren’t sure if we were meant to be up here, but it was too much fun! We found the staircase that led us up to the top of the main tower, with view right across the castle grounds, the Nogat River and the Malbork countryside.

We easily spent most of the day looking around the castle, then headed back to Gdansk to meet up with Matt for a few beers in the old town, then took us for dinner at a traditional Polish restaurant, famed for it’s pierogi’s. We got a large mixed platter of them to share – they even do dessert pierogis!

Afterwards we headed to a bar called ‘Absinthe’ where we meet some of his acquaintances through couch-surfing: Yella, and his local host Ula who were heaps of fun! Ula and I got on like a house on fire, and wasn’t long before we were dancing on the table tops – literally! Before we knew it, it was 6am, we had lost Matt and it light outside.... probably time to head home! Personally I blame Ula and her beer & ginger! hehehe

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