It’s busy at Bristol airport over Easter! We paid £5 each to miss the queue for security which could have meant a near run thing for the flight – but it was well worth it. Ryanair size every piece of luggage before you get on, and if there isn’t room overhead, tough – you sit with the bag!
 | Family, History and more … from the Teutonic Knights to Westerplatte and WWII |
Tczew. Tczew is a short 30 minute train journey from Gdansk, with roadworks making this the preferred option, with your cheapest ‘Ty i ras, dwa, trzy’ tickets. They have a walk which takes you around the main parts of the old town giving a great flavour of the town. Tczew is quiet and the bars and restaurants are few. On Easter Friday the stations of the cross started at 8pm with a procession around the old town. ‘Stacja Czternasta – Restauracja’.
Gdansk. A walk around Gdansk needs a climb to the top of the Town Hall – The Ratusz, but it was shut when we were there. A river trip on one of the boats from the bridge is worth doing, but allow time for an hour at Westerplatte, go out one boat, come back another. 40PLN isn’t a lot really for a good 3 hours entertainment. You can get a ticket which takes you in the Zuraw, Soldek boat & the Museum for 18PLN, again a good deal; or just 8PLN for the Zuraw. The Dlugi Targ is the main drag, so walk along from the gate to the river and enjoy the renovated buildings – they were flattened by the Russians in the WWII. The largest brick built church in Europe, is plain inside, but it’s very imposing from outside, and you can climb the tower.
Sopot.The train service is about every 15 minutes from Gdansk and only a short trip past the famous Gdansk shipyards. A walk down the “heroes of Monte Cassino” pedestrianised road takes you to the Molo (pier) which you must go out along, and it is free out of season, so we were lucky. There were more English (ok Canadian) voices here than we came across elsewhere. In 2011 there was much modernising going on, which to be fair doesn’t help, as you could be anywhere. It looks like cycling is popular along the front, so that’s something to do next time.
Malbork. The trip around the Teutonic Knights castle takes over 2 hours. You can get there by train from Tczew, the road is in sad need of repair. The battle of Grunwald at ten past two (i.e 1410) is famous in Polish history. It’s quite a site (& sight), and although all the rooms are broadly similar, the trip is well worthwhile and history a big part. There are Audio guides – you do need them, but when we went the electronic guides weren’t available. There was an exhibiton of Amber with some amazing pieces.
