Blogs from Gdansk, Pomerania, Poland, Europe - page 7

Advertisement

Europe » Poland » Pomerania » Gdansk March 23rd 2009

"One more time, how do you say Pleased to meet you?" I asked Michał as we got off the plane and walked across the wet runway in Gdansk. I wanted to make a good first impression on his Mum. Plus, she didn't speak English anyway, so I figured I should make the effort. Michał gave me a disappointed look I was quite familiar with. I'd last seen it a few hours before when I told him I'd dropped my boarding pass on the way to the airport. 'Miło mi Panią poznać' he responded, wearily. You think that looks hard to pronounce?? Imagine hearing it. See that first word? That says Meewo. Apparently if you put a cross through an L it becomes a W. Fair enough... So Michał is really mee-how. I won't even go into ... read more
Down at the local Sklep
Carefree Days at Sopot
Delight

Europe » Poland » Pomerania » Gdansk October 8th 2008

Tah Dah! One taxi, plane, taxi, bus, bus, and I'm here in Gdansk; registered in hostel and spent afternoon 'downtown'. Great weather so far! Getting use to the silence of one who does not speak the language. Enough people in service sector speak English to point me in general direction. It was a good trip despite the early morning, 4:15 a.m. to get flight. Can't complain as the ticket was ten dollars Canadian, no taxes, but with the extras for luggage it was fifty dollars total. If anyone follows my tracks, I recommend the Lucky Hostel in Gdansk. They will pick you up at the trainstation free of charge, and a single room with breakfast is 26 Can dollars. Rooms are tiny, but when you just want to crash, they are fine. Very clean place with ... read more
Statue
Gate to Kings Mile
Kebab

Europe » Poland » Pomerania » Gdansk September 16th 2008

7 Days In Gdansk June/July 2008 Back in 2005, myself, Rob Heyes, Michael Hodgson, David Jeffries and John Yates began a tradition; the exploration of European cities. Trips prior to 2008 may be a little too old to retrospectively blog, so I’m going to concentrate on 2008’s trip to Gdansk. Earlier in the year, the 5 of us had decided to do something over summer. As usual, commitments at home prevented the prospect of a lengthy trip and so we scoured skyscanner.com for cheap flights. Gdansk was the absolute cheapest, and having visited Poland 4 times already I thought it may be a good choice. Gdansk lies in the north of Poland, on the southern edge of Gdansk Bay, looking out towards the Baltic Sea. The 5 of us found ourselves in a British owned apartment, ... read more
Banter
Trash!
The Port Crane

Europe » Poland » Pomerania » Gdansk August 29th 2008

For all the cosmopolitan charm of its new town, the northern Polish city of Gdansk's real history lies within its hulking, dilapidated shipyards. From within this run down background, many believe the first nail was driven into the coffin of communism in Europe. The workers spoke out for the Polish population and former the largest trade union in the world to show their puppet government that they were no longer prepared to accept the Soviet Union pulling the strings. Now pay attention at the back there. The first rumblings occurred two weeks before Christmas 1970. Obscene food price hikes caused workers in Gdansk and nearby Gdynia, along with several other cities in Poland, to rise up in angry protest. The militia were criminally heavy-handed in dealing with the demonstrations, and 45 people were killed. After a ... read more

Europe » Poland » Pomerania » Gdansk July 9th 2008

The Tri Cities - Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot I travelled from the farm in Mazuria on Sunday 22nd of June. About a 5 hour trip with a nasty vodka hangover from the night before at the tacky disco with the sleazy manager, giving me lots of vodka shots. Needless to say I spent most of the trip sleeping and drinking water! Initially I had planned on staying in Gdansk, though I had no accomodation booked. But when i arrived I decided I wanted to stay in Sopot, which is a beach town, though alot smaller. What a great decision! After walking around for a while with all my luggage and also my hangover I found a room. People advertised vacant rooms in private houses in they're windows. A nice small room and this way I can ... read more
Streets of Gdansk
Castle on the water
Sopot

Europe » Poland » Pomerania » Gdansk June 25th 2008

So here is a map of Poland with a marker of where I will be: Still just playing around with this site and trying to remember HTML coding. It's too bad I skipped that class about building a website senior year in high school so often. Mighty Taco for lunch was a way better choice at the time though. Is there anyone who knows how to put this text under the picture Is there anyone who knows how to get the text underneath the picture instead of to the side? ... read more

Europe » Poland » Pomerania » Gdansk June 25th 2008

Our next stop on the Poland trip took us all the way to the northern coast and the city of Gdansk. The city is an important Polish port and is the location of the famous Lenin shipyards where the Solidarity movement began. Lech Walesa worked here as an electrician in the 1970s and in 1980, he helped form Solidarnosc as a trade union to combat communism in Poland. We had nice weather and walked throughout the old part of the city which, like a lot of the larger ones in Poland, was bombed and suffered a lot of damage. It is quite sad to see and read about all of the wonderful old sights in these cities that were destroyed during World War II. Fortunately, most cities were quite proactive about reconstructing damaged buildings in their ... read more
Gdansk Port
Medieval Gdansk Crane
Astronomical Clock

Europe » Poland » Pomerania » Gdansk June 17th 2008

Europe » Poland » Pomerania » Gdansk May 31st 2008

It’s always a bit of a shock when the alarm goes off at 6.00 when one is on holiday. Having said that, I bounded out of bed this morning and threw open the curtains of my room. For the first time ever, I was behind the Iron Curtain and I wanted to see what it looked like. So far, it looked like every other port I have ever been to - with one significant difference. The docks were lined with people who had come out at that ungodly hour of the morning to see the ship. Not only were we coming in, but a German boat called the Aida was coming in as well. I would say that those people got their zlotys worth this morning. What is a zloty, I hear you asking? It is ... read more
Sopok
Gdansk
St Mary's Basilica

Europe » Poland » Pomerania » Gdansk April 21st 2008

I ended up in poland just as spring was really starting to hit eastern Europe which was a good change. First, I headed up to Gdansk to visit my friend Marta who lives up there. Gdansk is in right on the Baltic Coast and is where the first shots of WWII were fired (Just thought you needed to know that little fact). I played tourist for a day while Marta was working and then on the following day we went into the country to see the sights and do some hiking. On our little adventure we went to a few small towns walked around a lake or two and even went to a odd kind of museum which you will have to see the photos of (I even saw a Guiness Record Desk!!! I know). From ... read more
No More War
Downtown Gdansk
Gdansk




Tot: 0.194s; Tpl: 0.006s; cc: 6; qc: 88; dbt: 0.1371s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb