Sixth stop
After a very, very wet journey and a little excitement* finding the site, we're here in Sopot, looking forward to exploring the area, despite the weather.
*Well, we missed the site entrance (hardly visible, faded sign etc etc) and turned down the next road which turned out to be a dead end to the beach with a 90 degree bend. Given that our outfit is over 12m long with nowhere to reverse-turn, we had to un-hitch and turn the van round using the motor mover (it's 1.7 tonnes), thus providing a group of local guys with a phone video opportunity. Just hitched up and a very helpful woman in a BMW X5 reverses up and offers to lead us to the site entrance, which we overshoot slightly. I begin to reverse with the hazards on, then realise that a police van is pulling up behind.... so we follow the BMW lady around the next island with the police van in tow then promptly turn into the site (which really doesn't look like a site), waving thanks to all, including the police. Phew! Helpful Polish people, yet again - probably thinking mad English caravanners.. not quite our usual slick effort, by some considerable margin.
When the rain stops and turns into a light fog, we walk into Sopot and head along the longest wooden pier in Europe apparently. Nice beer in a cool bar, too. Nice place.
Along the pier - making the most of our European citizenship....
The mist falls on the square
Should stick to Costa Coffee - not the local beer...
A day in Gdańsk
We use the local train to take a day in Gdansk and, as we might have expected, it's a mighty impressive place; the old town is dominated by five story stately buildings but there is still a sense of space, especially in the main Long Market and it's here that we take a leisurely lunch, helped down by a glass of Żywiec.
Much of the centre was reconstructed after the destruction in WW2 and it's been fastidiously maintained since then.
The tall houses
Long Market
The view from the top of the largest brick-built church in the world (St. Mary's); of course we climbed it! 405 steps.
This is where the fall of the communist state arguably began with the creation of the workers' union, Solidarity, in September 1980 in the Lenin Shipyard under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa. Until this time, all unions in Warsaw pact countries were controlled by the communist state.
A monument to the fallen shipyard workers of 1970.
MORE
There's so much more but you've read enough.
Into Hel
After a visit to a ViaToll customer service centre to register on their app so we can top up our ViaToll account online (super helpful again) we continue on to Hel, a small town at the tip of a narrow peninsula reaching into the Baltic sea.
Sat Nav looks interesting...
Hel has seen more than its fair share of conflict from the 17th century through to WW2 and the peninsula is dotted with relics of war (and the cold war). Although it has its fair share of 'seaside' trivia shops, it's clearly a favourite with young families and we can see why. A fascinating time here (and another nice lunch...)
Hel Harbour
At the very tip of the peninsula
Relics of WW2
On the way back from Hel, we're stopped by the border police for 20 minutes to check our docs and that the car's not stolen, I guess. Unfortunately their computer crashes so we chat to the officer while it's sorted, bridging our language problems with Google Translate. All good in the end though.
On the road again and heading for 'home', we visit Gdynia, where a WW2 battleship and a three masted schooner are docked.
Great day, worn out, time to plan the journey tomorrow. We're heading for Elblag.... See you there, all being well.
After a very, very wet journey and a little excitement* finding the site, we're here in Sopot, looking forward to exploring the area, despite the weather.
*Well, we missed the site entrance (hardly visible, faded sign etc etc) and turned down the next road which turned out to be a dead end to the beach with a 90 degree bend. Given that our outfit is over 12m long with nowhere to reverse-turn, we had to un-hitch and turn the van round using the motor mover (it's 1.7 tonnes), thus providing a group of local guys with a phone video opportunity. Just hitched up and a very helpful woman in a BMW X5 reverses up and offers to lead us to the site entrance, which we overshoot slightly. I begin to reverse with the hazards on, then realise that a police van is pulling up behind.... so we follow the BMW lady around the next island with the police van in tow then promptly turn into the site (which really doesn't look like a site), waving thanks to all, including the police. Phew! Helpful Polish people, yet again - probably thinking mad English caravanners.. not quite our usual slick effort, by some considerable margin.
When the rain stops and turns into a light fog, we walk into Sopot and head along the longest wooden pier in Europe apparently. Nice beer in a cool bar, too. Nice place.
Along the pier - making the most of our European citizenship....
The mist falls on the square
Should stick to Costa Coffee - not the local beer...
A day in Gdańsk
We use the local train to take a day in Gdansk and, as we might have expected, it's a mighty impressive place; the old town is dominated by five story stately buildings but there is still a sense of space, especially in the main Long Market and it's here that we take a leisurely lunch, helped down by a glass of Żywiec.
Much of the centre was reconstructed after the destruction in WW2 and it's been fastidiously maintained since then.
The tall houses
Long Market
The view from the top of the largest brick-built church in the world (St. Mary's); of course we climbed it! 405 steps.
This is where the fall of the communist state arguably began with the creation of the workers' union, Solidarity, in September 1980 in the Lenin Shipyard under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa. Until this time, all unions in Warsaw pact countries were controlled by the communist state.
A monument to the fallen shipyard workers of 1970.
MORE
There's so much more but you've read enough.
Into Hel
After a visit to a ViaToll customer service centre to register on their app so we can top up our ViaToll account online (super helpful again) we continue on to Hel, a small town at the tip of a narrow peninsula reaching into the Baltic sea.
Hel has seen more than its fair share of conflict from the 17th century through to WW2 and the peninsula is dotted with relics of war (and the cold war). Although it has its fair share of 'seaside' trivia shops, it's clearly a favourite with young families and we can see why. A fascinating time here (and another nice lunch...)
Hel Harbour
At the very tip of the peninsula
Relics of WW2
On the way back from Hel, we're stopped by the border police for 20 minutes to check our docs and that the car's not stolen, I guess. Unfortunately their computer crashes so we chat to the officer while it's sorted, bridging our language problems with Google Translate. All good in the end though.
On the road again and heading for 'home', we visit Gdynia, where a WW2 battleship and a three masted schooner are docked.
Great day, worn out, time to plan the journey tomorrow. We're heading for Elblag.... See you there, all being well.
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