We make a relatively short trip to Elbląg as a stop over for a couple of days before we head to our meeting point for the Camping and Caravanning Club's escorted tour with six other adventurers.
We're here to visit the vast Malbork Castle and investigate the unique Elbląg Canal with its method of raising boats between levels.
We arrive at a camp site right by the river and decide to head off to the Castle, where we manage to get a self guided audio tour without the expected crowds.
Malbork Castle was once the HQ of the Teutonic Knights and is the largest Gothic castle in Europe. Well worth the visit: highly recommended.
Here it is:
The outer skin has been rebuilt following WW2 destruction so it looks to be in wonderful condition.
This large hall's ceiling is held up by a single post. Someone seems to have got their sums right....
We decide to stay for a second night to take a trip on the Elblag Canal; it turns out that the ticket office is 500m from the campsite and we grab two seats on a trip leaving in the morning.
The more-or-less five hour trip up the canal the next day includes a coach ride back and seems to us the ideal way to experience this brilliant bit of hydro engineering by Georg Steenke
Although the main attraction of the trip is the engineering, sailing along through rivers and large lakes populated by hundreds of nesting birds is a fantastic experience in itself and shows us yet another fascinating face of this country.
How about some pics...
Looking to the stern as we ride up the slope
Journey's end
Using the height of the water to power the winches that raise the (largish) boat up the inclines in cradles while we're all still on board is very clever indeed. It also surprises that it's quite slick, too; it's probably a lot quicker than a series of locks. Wonderful.
Someone else's boat going up..
If you have three minutes to spare, here's Edbląg Canal: The Movie
So that's it: another mini adventure!
Off to Camping Seeblick at Mragowo tomorrow. See you there ABW
.......
Before leaving Elbląg the next morning, we take a walk into this developing town; there's a lot of development going on, all in sympathy with the Polish five storey narrow house design. Impressive indeed.
Interesting style for the stained glass windows in the cathedral..
Great conservation, great development; pity about the roads.
We're here to visit the vast Malbork Castle and investigate the unique Elbląg Canal with its method of raising boats between levels.
We arrive at a camp site right by the river and decide to head off to the Castle, where we manage to get a self guided audio tour without the expected crowds.
Malbork Castle was once the HQ of the Teutonic Knights and is the largest Gothic castle in Europe. Well worth the visit: highly recommended.
Here it is:
The outer skin has been rebuilt following WW2 destruction so it looks to be in wonderful condition.
This large hall's ceiling is held up by a single post. Someone seems to have got their sums right....
We decide to stay for a second night to take a trip on the Elblag Canal; it turns out that the ticket office is 500m from the campsite and we grab two seats on a trip leaving in the morning.
The more-or-less five hour trip up the canal the next day includes a coach ride back and seems to us the ideal way to experience this brilliant bit of hydro engineering by Georg Steenke
Although the main attraction of the trip is the engineering, sailing along through rivers and large lakes populated by hundreds of nesting birds is a fantastic experience in itself and shows us yet another fascinating face of this country.
How about some pics...
Looking to the stern as we ride up the slope
Journey's end
Using the height of the water to power the winches that raise the (largish) boat up the inclines in cradles while we're all still on board is very clever indeed. It also surprises that it's quite slick, too; it's probably a lot quicker than a series of locks. Wonderful.
Someone else's boat going up..
If you have three minutes to spare, here's Edbląg Canal: The Movie
So that's it: another mini adventure!
Off to Camping Seeblick at Mragowo tomorrow. See you there ABW
.......
Before leaving Elbląg the next morning, we take a walk into this developing town; there's a lot of development going on, all in sympathy with the Polish five storey narrow house design. Impressive indeed.
Interesting style for the stained glass windows in the cathedral..
Great conservation, great development; pity about the roads.
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