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(I had some technical difficulties with adding photos and sorting them correctly yesterday, now they are ok! May 11 2006)
I'm trying to catch up on the blogging. Malbork is in Poland, where I was last week, and the town is famous for pretty much one thing, and that's the Marbork Castle.
I left Lublin on Wednesday evening and the plan was to arrive in the very early hours of Thursday in Ebleg, and then catch the first train that begins running a bit before 5am that goes into Marbork. Good plan, I thought.
Well, the bus ride from Lublin to Ebleg was really really something else. Something bad. It was a mini bus, not a regular bus, and the driver drove like he was on crack. He was determined to get us there before schedule? or something similar to that, and we passed car after car after car on that single lane country road. While he was texting on his cellphone or yelling into it. And it didn't help matters at all that other drivers were also on crack. We were passed by a car that was being passed by another car. Now try to picture
Approaching the Castle
Still in the wee hours. Look at the lighting! THAT.
I slept none during the ride. Partly because the ride was so rough, and partly because the driver had us tuned in to techno and it was not playing softly.
Around 3.30am we arrived in Elblag. We were gassing up at a station. I knew we had arrived because my cellphone can ID locations (towns, counties)for me. While the driver was filling up, he came onto the bus to tell me that we were in Elblag and that was my stop. Um.. Ok, so this was Elblag, but where am I supposed to go? I thought we were going to the bus station (which according to my guidebook which I should REALLY burn is right next to the train station). I asked him, pociag? That means train. He points forward. Okay! That's really helpful. So I gather up my bags and I go into the gas station to buy me a drink (no, not that kind) and then I came back out and started walking towards where he was pointing. Oh, he was nice enough to repoint in the same direction again when I came out, I really should've tipped him.
So I walk and I walk.
Cats
Living inside the Castle walls. The streets are empty, all the crazies are asleep in the gutters already and the garbage trucks haven't started up. I dunno. I walked for maybe 5 minutes? And then there it was, the Elblag Train station!
Oh it was so dumpy. I guess it was my own mistake to have pictured in my mind the Warsaw train station. Something with zing, something that gets traffic...
Elblag is a little town, the train station is proportionally small. I walked in and the first thing I noticed was the bums sleeping on the floor. It was kinda sad.. Then there was the 24 hour coffee shop that was open, and inside were the other bums, slumped over their seats and sleeping with their heads on the tables... and the really old lady working behind the counter... damn. everything about that station was depressing.
I didn't want to sit in the coffee shop without buying anything (and there was nothing I could or would eat in there), so I went back out of the station and waited next to some planters for my train which was due to run in a little bit over an hour. There was a
A train passing over the river Nogat
This was interesting for me, probably less so for you... taxi que and a bunch of old Polish men standing around waiting for fares. I didn't feel unsafe, but I felt very out of place.
* * *
I bought a ticket when the office finally opened, and I got on the train to Marbork. I was rather excited at the prospect of catching the sunrise and being able to photograph the Castle with the warm morning sun...
I arrived in Marbork in good time, around sunrise, and I put my big bag into the locker and started to walk towards the Castle. It didn't take long, a bit past 6 and I was already there. And the ticket offfice didn't open until 8.30, tours don't start until 9. ah.
2.5 hours to kill.
I walked around the fortress-compound and across the river (I forgot the name already?) I went into the adjacent church. I shot photos. I walked around some of the stalls that were being setup in preparation of the tourists coming... I took a seat on a stone bench and waited... and waited... and fell asleep. I woke up, ate some chalwa (halva), and a man who worked there in the
Stainglass
Inside Malbork Castle, looking into the courtyard research department (?) passed me and smiled, and tilted his hat. Very cute. Then a few minutes later, he came back out from his office with a paper bag and said 'some things to read for the early bird'. And a tired, sleep deprived early bird I was! Inside the baggie were phamphlets in ENGLISH (he guessed right) for me to read about the Caste and the city.
* * *
The wait was finally over and I got myself a ticket. The Polish tour was included in the price but the English tour was not happening. :-/
I kinda thought, well, may be I can be slick and just walk around by myself, but I knew most likely the guards would herd me back with the tour.
A little bit past 9 the gates were opened and the tourists were allowed in. There happened to be a pretty big German tour heading in at the same time... hm.... But they were all together and it would've been really obvious if I tried to sneak in with them. So I kinda sorta hung with the Polish tour like I was supposed to.
So. Here are the
hard earned photos from Marbork. Lovely town.
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Bas
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Marbork and Poland
I visited Marbork yesterday (25-6-07) and it was beautifull, had a good time. No english tour, but I was with a polish friend so that was okay. we went around in the castle without a group.