Gdańsk and tricity in Poland – stuff to do

My notion about Poland and Poles was that they are lisping black marketeers selling krówkas. Afterwards they go to a church to make a confession to a priest about their sins. Where does this notion come from? I guess, it is something what was handed over to me by the Czech society. Is it true or false? What’s it like with the faith in God and an interruption? Is it so “serious” from the Czech (atheistic) point of view?

You find in this guide: basic information about Poland, specific information related to the tricity area (Gdańsk, Sopot, Gdynia), how to get there from the Czech Republic, how to use local public transport and which sights and places to visit. Moreover, you find out where to take a hike to nature, what and where to eat and basic Polish phrases to get by.

Get in

It is easy to get to Gdańsk from the Czech Republic. You can take a direct train EC 108 Sobieski which departs from Ostrava at 9:05 AM. The train is a direct connection from Wien, Austria (departing at 6:10 AM). The price of a train ticket is between 24 € to 44 € single trip.

A return train has a designation IC 109 Sobieski departing from Gdańsk at 11:15 AM. It arrives to Ostrava at 18:49. The train carries on to Wien, Austria.

Withdrawal from ATM, fees and paying by debit card

The currency of Poland is Polish złoty (ZLT) which is not Euro. Is it better to exchange money before setting off or after arrival to Poland?

It is usually better to withdraw money from a foreign ATM and being charged in their own currency – in this case ZLT. This is the best way how to get a good exchange rate. However, I didn’t take the situation in Poland into account.

There are many Euronet ATMs. I find the Euronet ATMs suspicious. They usually offer you to be charged in your own domestic currency instead of a foreign currency. That means that their exchange rate (disadvantageous) is used.

Example: The exchange rate of my own bank was 6,05 CZK for 1 ZLT at the time of my trip. The exchange rate used by the Euronet was 7,35 CZK. This is a huge difference.

In such a scenario, you just skip this kind of charging and let the ATM to charge you in the foreign currency. I tried it. However, there was an unpleasant surprise. If I had wanted to be charged in ZLT, I would have had to pay a Euronet ATM exchange fee of 20 ZLT.

I also tried another bank, a renowned one (ING bank) to verify the issue. It was the same as with the Euronet ATM.

It got me to a dead end. I couldn’t withdraw cash, unless I would like to lose a lot of money. This kind of a situation had happened to me for the first time. I was forced to pay by a debit card everywhere. Fortunately, it wasn’t a problem as even toilets take a payment by card. The only place I couldn’t use was a souvenir shop at Oliwa Cathedral. However, you could make a payment contribution to the Catholic Church by card at the cathedral.

Tricity and its history

Tricity is a common name for three cities: Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia. The cities are very close to each other. The area is an important economical and industrial place at the Baltic Sea. The tricity area has good common public transport.

Gdańsk is renowned for its historical centre. Sopot is a seaside resort with spas. Gdynia is industrial and a very young city (It has historical reasons.)

Gdańsk

History of Gdańsk

Interesting historical events occurred in Gdańsk. The Second World War started on Westerplatte on 1^st September 1939. It was the first place where Germans attacked. Adolf Hitler demanded to cede Gdańsk to Nazi Germany incessantly. The Poles refused to do so. Hitler attacked Poland and decided it to take it by force. If you’re interested in the Second World War, you can find out more at the Museum of the Second World War. The museum is huge. There are whole streets recreated. A tour guide at our boat voyage told us that you need around 4 to 6 hours to see everything in the museum.

Another interesting events which happened in Gdańsk are related to the Solidarity movement. The Solidarity is a trade union. Lech Wałęsa was the leader of the movement. The first time labourers went on strike was in 1970. Poor living conditions and a sudden rise in prices of food and everyday goods were the trigger. At that time the communistic regime used the army and militia against the protesters. 44 people were killed.

Some time passed and protests and a strike erupted again in 1980. The demands of the strikers were quite simple: Improving living conditions and legalizing the Solidarity trade union. The leading figure was Lech Wałęsa, an electrician from the Gdańsk Shipyard.

There is a very interesting comparison with the Czech Republic where the leading figures were intellectuals and Vaclav Havel instead of labourers as in Poland.

Museums in Gdańsk

Resistance against communism touches me personally. That is the reason why I visited European Solidarity Centre. It serves as a museum of the Solidarity movement and the communistic and soviet oppression.

There are a lot of photographs, videos, and audio recordings. There are LCD screens with video and audio recordings with headphones. You can listen to interesting facts and information about the resistance movement. It is also possible to pick up a portable audio guide at the cash desk. When you walk through the rooms of the Solidarity centre, recordings change automatically depending on your location. There are also physical exhibits like a secret police raid van which was used to drive members of the force to the place where they beat protesters.

There are also other museums as Museum of Amber. Amber is solid resin. There is abundance of it around Gdańsk and its surroundings. People walk on beaches and pick it up. However, I didn’t find any. Either because there was none, or I couldn’t identify it.

There is National Maritime Museum in the centre of Gdańsk. There are halved models of ships and other exhibits. There is located SS Sołdek ship next to the museum. The ship serves as a museum as well. It is possible to walk through all the cabins and the bridge. A ticket can be bought at the National Maritime Museum.

Sights and historical centre

Gdańsk has a historical centre. There are a lot of sights to see. If you don’t want to look up the information and sights yourself, you can book a guided tour on viator.com. There are various tours and experiences offered. It is very easy to book and pay online.

I attended two of them. The first one was Discover Gdansk! for 5 €. The second one was Gdansk Guided City Cruise on Historical Polish Boat for 16 €. Both of them were good.

The historical centre is situated around ulica Dluga (Dluga street). There are among sights to see: Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Gdańsk Main Town Hall, Old Crane, High Gate, Green Gate and so on.

Where to eat and drink

There are two types of eating establishments in Poland. The first one is a standard restaurant. The second one is a Bar mleczny (translated as milk bar). The latter is a canteen/cafeteria with lower prices. A restaurant which I can recommend is restaurajca Dominikańska. It is a middle-class restaurant. The service, visual aspect of dishes and the building were exquisite.

However, if you would rather visit the milk bar, I have tried Bar Mleczny Stągiewna. You wait in a queue, tell the cook behind the counter what you would like to eat. You pay at the end of the counter. The quality of food was mediocre in comparison with the restaurant previously mentioned in the text. It is possible to try flavoured soda in a bottle branded Bolek & Lolek. Bolek & Lolek are Polish cartoon characters. In English, the cartoon was distributed as Benny & Lenny, Jym and Jam and Tim & Tom. Here is one episode to watch.

There are lots of bakeries and cake shops / confectionery / coffee bars. The latter is cukierna in Polish language. The concept of cukierna (cukrárna in the Czech Republic) is difficult to translate to English. Here is an article about it on wiki. Desserts are sold by weight.

Personally, I visited Cukierna W-Z. I was satisfied with their offered assortment.

Moreover, there are various restaurants and cukiernas and coffee shops to pay a visit. The advantage is that most of the establishments have menus on display outside and visible on streets. It means you can have a look first and then decide to enter or not.

After multiple walks through Gdańsk, I came to a conclusion that it has post-industrial / industrial parts as well. Some of them are still lived in/used nowadays. The used one is the harbour and its surroundings. The unused one is further to the interior. There are dilapidated houses and buildings. The old buildings are being replaced by new ones. There is much effort to improve the city.

Sopot

Sopot is a seaside resort. It means it is for walks and relaxation. I recommend getting off at Gdańsk Oliwa train station. Walk towards Oliwa Cathedral with a city park.

From there you can walk towards the seashore. If you keep walking on beaches, you reach Pier in Sopot (Molo w Sopocie). It is 511,5 metres in length protruding to the Baltic Sea. There is a spectacular view at the end of it. Not only you can see the sea you can also catch a glimpse of seaside-resortish buildings at the shore.

If you get hungry, there is Bar Przystań, a fish restaurant on route to the pier.

After you reach the pier, walk through the city centre to the Sopot train station. You will see some nice buildings.

Gdynia

Gdynia is rather a port and an industrial city. The city grew extensively during the era when Gdańsk was not part of Poland, but a state called Free City of Danzig between 1920 and 1939. The majority of people in the city committee were Germans. Poles had a feeling that they were oppressed by them and couldn’t do business freely from the Gdańsk harbour. That was the reason why Poles built a brand-new harbour in Gdynia during the period. Nowadays the Gdynia port is more important and bigger than the one in Gdańsk.

I wanted to visit Museum of Emigration. Unfortunately, it was closed on Monday. The second choice was Gdynia aquarium. There are a lot of fish as well as fish-like creatures.

There are two ship museums on Gdynia pier. They are: ORP Błyskawica and Dar Pomorza. 

I paid a visit to Gdyńska Zapiekanka, a Polish fast-food restaurant. The main item on the menu is Zapiekanka. Zapiekanka is a Subway-style baguette with various toppings and a sauce. There are two sizes available: 25-cm long and 50-cm long.

Nature and beaches

The whole coastline is lined with beautiful sandy beaches which are truly exquisite. If you prefer hikes to nature, there is one on Sobieszewo Island. The interesting fact about the island is that it was not an island in the past. An artificial canal was built near a village Pryegalina in 1840 due to frequent floods.

In addition to various birds, seals are supposed to be seen on the island. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any. However, I found a fridge on the seashore. I opened the fridge to find out if a seal wasn’t hidden inside. It was not. It was like a visit to a zoo where you are desperately waiting to see the animal you came to observe in the first place. However, you don’t see it, It is hidden.

If you get to Nowy Port Lighthouse near the port, you can observe how big ships are hauled by smaller ones (tugboats) out of the harbour to the open sea.

There is a beautiful beach, Plaza Brzezno, with a view to the port as well as view on ships waiting to be hauled to the harbour.

Public transport in tricity

Use Jakdojade app to orientate yourself in the local public transport. The app helps you to plan a route from the point A to the point B. You can also buy a ticket in the app. The railway public transport in the tricity area was a little bit confusing for me. There are multiple operators. The first one is serving IC/EC trains. The second one is SKM (S-Bahn style urban-suburban rail system). The rail cars are yellow and green. The third option are regional trains in red colour stopping at local stations with conductors on board. In addition to the aforementioned, Gdańsk and Gdynia have their own city public transport systems. That is the reason why it is better to use the app.

There are ticket machines at train stations and at tram stops to buy either a train ticket or a public transport ticket.

Polish cuisine

Polish cuisine is regionally diverse. Probably the most renowned staples are krówki, pierogi and vodka.

I tried soup żurek. It is sour and there is either the whole or chopped sausage inside.

I tried bigos as the main course. It consists of sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and a sausage.

Furthermore, I tried various desserts in cukiernas and bakeries and fried fish with a garnish and a salad.

I also tried zapiekanka which I have already mentioned above. A full article about the Polish cuisine is here (including photos).

Overall, I was satisfied. Especially in restaurajca Dominikańska. The service, quality of food and the building are very nice.

Poles I met

I met a Pole on the train there. He was returning from Warsaw to Gdańsk. He visited a doctor who checked his Cochlear implant. The implant allows deaf people to hear. What I found the most interesting was that I couldn’t recognise he was deaf. He told me. He said it had been due to efforts of his mother who wanted to make him a regular member of the standard society. He also told me Poles don’t like to be thought of as black marketers and cheaters.

Another Pole I met was my flatmate from a hostel I was staying over. We talked about religion and how seriously it is taken. The younger generation doesn’t take it so seriously and don’t attend church so often. The former very conservative government tried to ban interruptions.

When I was on an SKM train I had a chat with a Polish girl who studies at Gdynia Maritime University. He mentioned that Poles are perceived by Czechs as having a lisp and talking like to a baby. However, Czechs are perceived in the same way by Poles.

Seven-day Polish–Czechoslovak War

A short 7-day war took place between Czechoslovakia and Poland over a dispute of Cieszyn Silesia area. It occurred in 1919. Poland proclaimed Cieszyn Silesia to be an integral part of Poland and seized it by force. Czechoslovakia lost an important rail connection, Bohumin – Zilina, (and the only one at that time) to Slovakia at that time. Czechoslovaks didn’t like it. A trigger to armed takeover was local elections in the Cieszyn Silesia. It started on 21^st January 1919 and ended on 30^th January 1939. The demarcation line was moved and the important railway to Slovakia became part of Czechoslovakia again.

Conclusion

Gdańsk and tricity are worth visiting. Gdańsk has a historical centre as well as post-industrial parts. It has rich history due to the beginning of the Second World War and the creation of the Solidarity trade union as a resistance against communism in the lead with Lech Wałęsa. On the other hand, there is enough nature and parks to walk and birds to watch.

It is very easy to get by with English. If you are a member of any other Slavic nation, it is even easier as Polish and other Slavic languages are partly mutually intelligible.

Gdańsk is also easily accessible from the Czech Republic and other neighbouring countries by train as well as by a plane (There is an international airport in Gdańsk.)

Here is link with an itinerary map of all points of interest mentioned in the text and more.

Basic dictionary to get by

There is a basic dictionary in the table below. Use the Google translate to find out about pronunciation.

Useful information sources