Tag: Poland

Gdańsk to Ustka

This morning we went for a second time to a bakery near our hotel. On both our visits they were loading bake goods into vans. I assume these were delivery vans. The smell of baking pastries was devine. We bought three pastries to take back to the hotel. They were sooooo good!

Delivery van being loaded
Ordering our pastries
Duke has our pastries in his hand
Breakfast

Later we checked out and walked to the train station where we picked up our rental car

Walking to the station
Signing for the rental car

About an hour into the drive we stopped at an Aldi grocery store and picked up a few necessities

In the grocery story

Tonight we are in the town of Ustka. After we checked in we went for a walk on the beech.

Walking along the Baltic coast
The beech
Our hotel – Hotel Royal Baltic

Gdańsk day 2

Gdańsk is an absolutely beautiful town and we are having absolutely perfect weather. Today we went out wandering and exploring.

First we visited the museum in the Gdańsk Crane. The crane is a medieval port crane built originally in the 1400s. The museum explained a lot of the medieval maritime history of Gdańsk. The crane was recently renovated and is very interesting.

The Gdańsk Crane
One of the giant wheels inside the crane.

Then we walked to the European Solidarity Center. It has an excellent permanent exhibit about the solidarity movement which started here in the Gdańsk shipyard. The audio tour was very well done. Basically, during the 1980s Polish people came together and focused and worked singlemindedly to achieve democracy for Poland.

Inside the permanent exhibit
The entry to the Solidarity Center is built to look like the entrance to the Gdańsk shipyard where it all started.
The observation deck on top of the museum
A view of the old shipyards from the observation deck

By the time we finished at the Solidarity Center our feet were hurting. On our way back to the hotel we stopped for coffee.

Coffee break
Back near the hotel we had a beer break

For dinner we ate outside at a wonderful restaurant, Literacka.

Wild boar
Dinner

As we walked back to the hotel the full moon was coming up. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.

Walking back to the hotel

Ełk to Gdańsk

Our hotel in Elk was very interesting. There was no receptionist or staff that we saw. We had a code to enter at the gate and when we checked in. The automated machine at the door allowed us to pay and then it produced a key card for our room.

Machine for checking in and out
Our room just before we left this morning
The H Aparthotel where we stayed

We had an early start. We got a 7:00 train in Ełk going to Gdańsk. The train was very comfortable. Around noon we arrived in Gdańsk and walked to our hotel.

Ełk train station
Along the route to our hotel in Gdańsk

Gdańsk is a beautiful city. We explored a bit this afternoon.

The canal next to our hotel
The 11th century grain elevator

We had an excellent dinner at ViceVersa a restaurant on the water. Then we walked around and enjoyed the beauty of Gdańsk.

At dinner
This pedestrian bridge rotates to let traffic through on the canal
The moon coming up
Walking back to the hotel
A street performer

Kaunas, Lithuania to Ełk, Poland

There were only two buses available today to take us to Ełk today, one at 7am and one at 7pm. Our choice was to take the one at 7pm. So we spent the day in Kaunas. We went for a walk.

The pedestrian bridge to the stadium.
We found a park bench
We had coffee
Church of St Michael the Archangel

About four o’clock we had an early dinner, walked to the bus station and caught our bus to Ełk. We crossed into Poland, the time went back an hour, and now we are at our hotel. We will only be here about 10 hours because this is where we can catch the train to Gdańsk our next stop.

The bus station