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Gdansk Group Trip – Day 4 (PINTA in Sopot)

We got the bus from Oliwa to Sopot and I was in a mood for most of it as it was too bloody hot. The buses in the city need better air conditioning.

I couldn’t believe how fortunate it was that the bus stop I got everyone to get off at was nearby to PINTA in Sopot, what a lovely coincidence. Given that, it seemed only sensible to stop for food and drink.

I went in to order whilst the others perused the menu outside. We were going in anyway, I wasn’t intending the group to even think about it, but fortunately they loyally marched in soon enough.

It wasn’t the busiest on a Saturday lunchtime, but I’m sure that it’s much busier in the evening. It’s an outpost of the impeccable and exciting PINTA brewery (arguably the first craft brewer in the country), with their Warsaw location being one of my favourite places in the country’s capital city.

The board of decadent and delicious drinks.

This is part of the Risfactor series of drinks brewed by PINTA and I have to confess that I pinched some of Richard’s beer as I only realised after I had ordered that I hadn’t had this one. It’s Cocoa Nibs and Roasted Peanuts and it was smooth and rich with dollops of peanut flavour. Beautiful and a good choice from Richard.

The Kwas Xy, a Catharina sour and I had to look that up, but it’s a strong Berliner Weisse which in this case has been loaded with tropical fruit. A very decent beer, although not as much as going on in terms of the flavour as I’d ideally like.

Richard was pleased with his sizeable pear and blue cheese salad. Ross ordered last and was impatiently waiting for his food to be available at the little hatch where we had to collect it.

The drink at the back left is the Kwas Jota, a particularly sour sour which had strong flavours of red and black currants, I liked this. The burger was served a little pink even for me, but tasted of a decent quality and complemented the sours nicely.

The server was helpful, the environment was clean and the beer list was well curated. I’m not sure why Sopot has been treated to an outpost of PINTA, but I hope they realise that they’ve very fortunate in having such an excellent bar available to them. The on-line reviews are positive and the bar doesn’t seem to have been open for that long judging by the relatively few reviews. The prices were towards the higher end of the scale, but the quality of the beer in my mind justifies this.

May 16, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 4 (Public Transport Debacle)

The task that we all had for the fourth day was to make it to Oliwa, two of us from Gdynia and four from Gdansk. This sounded a relatively easy task, the public transport in the Tricity is excellent. However, it’s not idiot proof as we discovered.

Richard and I got muddled up and weren’t confident that we should be on the train that we were, so we got off at Sopot and boarded a different one. I decided to go to the front of the train to seek a conductor, but they didn’t seem bothered about the situation, but we didn’t want to risk it further. The mistake that we made was not realising that the SKM train service wasn’t listed on the boards or screens, so the trains were there but we waited for a regional train which were much more infrequent. No real problems for us, but it took us longer to make the journey than it needed to.

Finally in Oliwa. Fortunately, the others had patiently waited at a cafe for us and hadn’t started on the day’s activities.

The others hadn’t fared much better on their travels. Bev and Susanna bought senior tickets successfully and Ross said “same again” and managed to get a senior ticket for himself which isn’t really what he wanted. Two of them also had tickets to different locations to the other for reasons unknown. However, the most exciting was yet to come, Susanna didn’t realise that she needed to validate her train ticket on the platform and got sternly told off by a train guard. After apologising and appealing to the guard’s sense of fair play, given that they at least had tickets the guard decided to let them off. Thanks to Steve for this photo and it seems as if he was the only person who knew how to purchase the correct ticket. He’s very sensible is that Steve.

May 16, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 4 (Oliwa Cathedral)

My idea for the fourth day of the expedition was to show the group some more of the Tricity of Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia, as well as Oliwa which is a suburb of Gdansk. We started the day at Oliwa Cathedral (formally known as the Archcathedral Basilica of the Holy Trinity), but the next post will be about transportgate which we faced in getting there, which was challenging for just about all of us. I’ve visited this cathedral a couple of times before, but it’s always worth a repeat visit.

The history of Oliwa Cathedral dates back to the 12th century, originally founded as a simple wooden structure in 1186 by Sambor I of Gdansk, Duke of Pomerania. Over the centuries, the cathedral underwent numerous expansions and renovations, resulting in a combination of architectural styles ranging from Romanesque and Gothic to Baroque. The first brickwork was added in 1224, and subsequent reconstructions took place in 1234-1236. Despite facing destruction and damage over the years, the cathedral persevered and witnessed significant transformations.

In recognition of its historical and cultural significance, Oliwa Cathedral was bestowed with various titles and honours, including become the Polish cathedral of Gdansk in 1925. This was because Gdansk had become the independent Free City of Danzig, meaning that a new religious order was needed. In 1976, it was designated a minor basilica, and in 1992, it was elevated to the status of a metropolitan cathedral. The cathedral houses notable features, including a substantial Rococo organ renowned worldwide. This was designed by Johann Wilhelm Wulff, also known as Brother Michael, the organ’s construction spanned from 1763 to 1788 and received subsequent improvements by organ masters.

We tried to get inside and at first thought that there was a service taking place, so we went to wait outside. Something didn’t feel right as there wasn’t meant to be a service on, so Richard went to check on what was happening. He returned scared as he had seen a nun and had run away, so we instead asked Susanna as she is scared of nothing. It transpired that there was an organ recital, but it was coming to an end so we could go in. Richard commented how lovely he found the organ music, whereas Bev said several times that she absolutely hated it.

Steve, recreating Susanna’s infamous camera pose.

Bev, trying to look innocent in the cathedral’s nave.

The cathedral’s second organ, which is a choir organ dating back to 1680. Incidentally, I like those steps, they’ve got some character to them.

I’m always intrigued by wall paintings which have been restored and exposed once again, it’s hard to imagine what the now whitewashed walls would have once looked like.

More decoration above a religious and holy cupboard.

The choir and chancel.

The roof of the choir and chancel.

Looking back along the nave once again. Inside the cathedral, there are 23 different altars which are mostly in the Baroque and Rococo style.

The cathedral’s main organ. This has been repaired many times, not least when the Prussian army pinched some of the pipes during the First World War and melted them down. I’m sure that the cathedral authorities thought that this was entirely sub-optimal.

This is a beautiful building and I think everyone in our group thought that it was worth visiting, despite Bev’s negative commentary about their organ music which is renowned around the country. There’s no charge to enter the building, although donations are appreciated and there appears to be a charge for those who want to listen to the organ music.

May 16, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 3 (Mercure Gdynia Centrum)

Richard and I were staying in Gdynia for the evening, although he opted for a more decadent room in the city’s Mercure hotel than I had because of his great wealth. I had chosen this hotel as I thought it would be somewhere new for me and it was also part of an Accor extra points promotion, which I’m pleased to note have been posted correctly. Anyway, when I arrived I realised that I stayed here in January 2020, I had completely forgotten that. I do get muddled up easily….

The grand reception area. The welcome from the staff was friendly, authentic and genuine, so I was pleased to be back in such an inviting place. The bar area off to the right was busy and there was a vibrant feel to proceedings. In this instance, I should say that I mean vibrant in a positive sense, sometimes I use it as code for a venue where it feels like there will be a massive fight within ten seconds.

I was upgraded to a room on the eighth floor and given the alcohol themed room. Of course, I’m not sure why on earth they thought that would be suitable for me, but I didn’t say anything. Unfortunately, the bottles in the barrel were empty.

One of the features in the room was this little display, which are real corks and not some wallpaper. I liked theme rooms, and especially so this one, although if they had popped some extra beer in it then I would have liked it even more.

Wine posters. I was pleased to note that there was a bath in the bathroom, it’s more common practice recently to take them out to install showers instead.

Our welcome drink, with Richard getting some wine whilst I was able to choose between a number of beers from a local brewery. I went for the Kurortowe wheat beer from Browar Miejski Sopot, a very acceptable way to end the evening.

The hotel is 40 years old this year and there’s promotional material throughout the building noting that. There was also a welcome gift of food, I appreciated that. Richard saves his for when he gets home as a reminder of a trip, whereas I eat them straight away. There were more than two in the pack incidentally, that’s all that’s what was left by the time I took the photo.

The view of the sea from my eighth floor room. I stayed here for two nights and it is a well run and managed hotel, but there was the limitation for me that there’s no air conditioning and the hotel is something of a sun trap. It was all too hot for me, so I likely wouldn’t come back here as it wasn’t relatively that hot in Poland during the visit, so I suspect that I’d find it almost unbearable in the height of summer. Indeed, the vast majority of negative comments are about the air conditioning, but I’m not sure how the hotel is going to fix that without a substantial refit of the entire building. The hotel got an odd complaint a few weeks ago saying that the staff didn’t speak Polish, which is an unusual comment I’ve never seen before about an Accor hotel in Poland. It seems ridiculous anyway, the hotel responded that all of the staff were Polish, although this gives me an opportunity to say that their English was perfect as well.

May 16, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 3 (Tawerna Dominikanska)

My restaurant choice for the evening was located in front of the moored up galleon which we had earlier sailed across the seas on. Well, sailed across to Westerplatte, but the principle is the same.

Gold trees with lemons, it was some interesting decor. There was an immediate welcome though and we were given a table which allowed us to look out at the galleon throughout the meal. The interior felt spacious and it remained busy throughout our dine. I had sent Susanna in earlier on to book the table, as she is the most social member of the group, with reservations advisable on weekend evenings.

I’m always content with a Żywiec Porter.

This was delightful, Zurek which is Polish sour rye soup. Realistically this was more food than I needed as a starter, but I enjoy eating the bread whilst progressing down the soup as you can’t usually eat the bowl in restaurants. The soup itself was rich in flavour, the sausages were tender and there was the traditional egg as well, a real combination of tastes and textures. A sustaining meal in itself, Richard also ordered this and I think it’s fair to say that we were both surprised and delighted by it. This was the star of the culinary show for me, I’m back in Norwich now, but I really wouldn’t mind another soup and beer of the quality I received here.

The main course was cod and chips, which perhaps wasn’t entirely original of me, but three of our group ordered it. Ross bought an entire cow at his end of the table as he wanted steak whilst Richard went through some sous vide offering. The fish was fried, although being quite British I would have preferred it to have been battered as well, but I liked the contrasting flavour of the sauerkraut and the chips were salty and firm on the exterior.

Richard decided to put on a little sneezing show for the restaurant, which was lapped up enthusiastically by a nearby table, but our table didn’t of course say anything as we’re ultra polite. I think everyone was suitably impressed with the food, which was reasonably priced and served in large portions. The service was attentive and polite, with the main server being willing to present everyone with their own bill which I thought was very customer service driven as I’m sure that’s a nightmare to faff about with.

The restaurant is located in a touristy area of Gdansk, but I’d say that they’ve avoided becoming a tourist trap and have decided to focus on seafood. The on-line reviews are positive and the prices are reasonable, so I think it’s a safe bet and the views over our galleon (as I’m referring to it) were quite a bonus. Richard and I left at around 22:00 as we had to go to our hotel in Gydnia, whilst the others had a rather shorter walk to get back to their accommodation. I’m told that everyone went back, although I suspect that Bev and Susanna went off to buy a bottle of wine or similar for their room. But I’m not one for gossip.

May 16, 2023
Norwich City of Ale – 2023 Trails

I’ll be back to the Gdansk trip shortly, but as a quick diversion….

How exciting, it’s nearly time for the Norwich City of Ale trails, which I haven’t really had an opportunity to do in previous years. I’ve collared some people to assisting me with them this year, with further information at https://www.cityofale.org.uk/. The theme this year is Norwich Strangers, migrants from the Flanders area who were welcomed into Norwich, primarily in the late sixteenth century. The event takes place between 25 May and 25 June 2023.

The trails are:

Dutch Trail

Brickmakers
Brewery Tap
Stanley
Artichoke
Marlborough Arms
Cottage
Leopard

Flemish Trail

Crown Point
Redwell
Rose
Murderers
Lamb Inn
Garnet
Wildman

Canary Trail

Sir Tobys
Playhouse Bar
St Andrews Brewhouse
Steam Packet
Last Pub Standing
Coach and Horses (Thorpe Road)
Fat Cat & Canary

Strangers Trail

Crown Costessey
Fat Cat
The Ten Bells
The Plough
Strangers Tavern
Belgian Monk

Drapers Trail

Whalebone
Roseberry
Angel Gardens
Duke of Wellington
White Lion
Rumsey Wells
The Vine

Worsted Trail

Plasterers
Malt and Mardle
Kings Head
Merchants House
Ribs of Beef
Wig and Pen

Walloon Trail

Louis Marchesi
Maids Head
Golden Star
Red Lion
Lollard’s Pit
Jubilee

Weavers Trail

Walnut Tree Shades
Coach & Horses (Bethel Street)
Georgian Townhouse
Earlham
Black Horse
Garden House

Dyers Trail

Freemasons Arms
Kings Arms
Trafford Arms
Unthank Arms
The Warwick
Beehive
Cellar House

May 16, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 3 (Craft Beer at Lawendowa 8)

This is a craft beer bar in Gdansk that I haven’t visited before and I’m not sure how I haven’t noticed it. It’s Untappd verified and located at ul. Lawendowa 8, nearly opposite to Pułapka. The interior is quirky, some artwork that Bev liked more than most of us, some cinema seating and a range of different chairs to sit on.

There’s Richard and a red bear. It’s not evident to me which is which from this photo, I’ll let readers decide for themselves.

I started with the Imperial Herr Axolotl with Prickly Pear and Lime from Ale Browar. There was some sourness to this and I liked the fruit flavours.

I asked about some of the tempting options in the fridges, and after discovering I hadn’t tried this one from Funky Fluid’s Gelato series, I eagerly went for it. With a name like Bublanina, I knew that I wouldn’t be disappointed, it was packed with cherry and fruit flavours with a suitable amount of sourness. Quite a complex beer in terms of the number of flavours, it didn’t taste as if it was 5.5%. Once again, I was surprised and delighted by Funky Fluid, perhaps the most innovative brewery that I know.

I took a group photo, but the lighting here is terrible, but it’ll just have to do.

I liked this venue, the service was friendly, there was a well curated beer list, the interior was quirky and they had a red bear. It’s not the largest of venues and they don’t do food, but it has an informal and inviting atmosphere to it. All considered, if I may say so (which I think I can), it was another excellent choice of mine for a pre-meal drink.

May 15, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 3 (The Galleon Returns)

The galleon sweeping in to take us back to Gdansk after our little exploration of Westerplatte.

Captain Pugwash and his deck hand.

No-one in the group agreed to try and climb up the rigging, despite my offering 20p.

I didn’t know that the National Geographic had a boat, but yet here it is.

More rigging. The galleon was being serenaded by a group of drunk men from Northern Ireland and, rather more quietly, the live singer on board. I regretted both if I’m being honest but I’ve never been one for the raucous. Bev very much enjoyed both and was screeching some sort of shanty related noise to those nearby, but I didn’t say anything as the main objective is to ensure that everyone enjoys themselves. Although perhaps in an ideal world she could have enjoyed herself a little less if I may share my private thoughts on the singing.

The cranes of Gdansk.

Inside the galleon just before we disembarked, or deshipped, whatever the term is.

It was a suitably relaxing trip back and I nearly fell asleep, but luckily Bev’s singing and chatter kept me awake. I’ve got some video of the expedition, I’ll try and compile it together over the next week or so when I’ve worked out to edit videos. I’d recommend the whole galleon tour, it’s reasonably priced and the return fare isn’t much more than a single fare. The live music added some character to proceedings and there is a bar for those who want to enjoy a drink.

May 15, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 3 (Westerplatte)

We enjoyed our galleon trip to Westerplatte and we had a couple of hours here to explore the area. I’ve visited a couple of times before and this peninsular of land is important because it is where a Polish military garrison was established in the 1930s and also where the first fighting of the Second World War took place.

Rather unusually for Poland, a number of the information signs have been vandalised. There is a previous post about Westerplatte on this blog, but unfortunately the links to the images have become broken, so that’s something else that I need to fix.

A map of how the area once looked.

There are some remnants of defensive buildings with the coastline being off to the right of this photo. Some of the party wanted to go and look at the sea, but my firm leadership meant that the group had to wait until the walk back.

The remains of Polish Guardhouse No. 5 which the Germans attacked on 2 September 1939. Seven Polish soldiers, including Corporal Adolf Petzelt, were killed, with the surviving soldiers restoring the break in the defensive line by 7 September 1939. I’ll return in a later post to the bravery of these soldiers.

The cemetery for Polish army soldiers which was unveiled in July 1946. The resistance from the Polish soldiers at Westerplatte surprised the Germans, with the German commander Friedrich-Georg Eberhardt allowing the Polish commander Henryk Sucharski to keep his sword when he was finally captured. Those were the days of at least some honour amongst soldiers, the Nazi regime wanted to treat the Poles as sub-human and any such basic courtesies were soon lost.

Into one of the bomb damaged buildings. It’s not the most inviting of signs to be fair.

Unfortunately, since my last visit, people can’t go downstairs into this basement. The building was designed to collapse if bombed, but not to damage the cellar area which needed to be protected as it was a shelter. Despite the huge damage caused, the design worked and the cellar area was protected.

An amazing structure, I think the others in the group would have been interested in being able to access the whole building. I imagine that it was just all too dangerous though.

This memorial, the Westerplatte Monument, to the Polish soldiers who defended the coast was constructed between 1964 and 1966, using earth from the Gdansk docks renovation to build the mound. There was a plan to incorporate a museum into the structure, but this wasn’t ultimately added. The communist authorities at the time had no interest in promoting anything that might be anti Soviet, but this got through as they wanted to show how strong the local people were against the Germans.

The view from the top of the mound.

After some complaining from the others that they wanted to see the sea, we walked back to the galleon this way. The sand is fine and soft, but Bev refused to go into the water saying that it was too cold. It meant that I had diverted back this way and no-one wanted to make sandcastles or anything. Although the recent history of this area is military, it once had a leisure element with it being something of a spa area.

Whilst waiting for the galleon to take us back to Gdansk, we indulged in some ice creams and drinks. Bev had a coffee and spent five minutes complaining about it, whilst Richard had a tea and complained about that because it wasn’t served with boiling water. They’re a tough bunch to work with, but the rest of us were happy with our acquisitions. With that, we were ready to wait for our return galleon journey and Bev had promised again that she wouldn’t sing loud sea shanties.

May 15, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 3 (Galleon Tour to Westerplatte)

A few years ago I went on this galleon tour with my friend Łukasz on his stag weekend in Gdansk and I recall him enthusiastically working through the bar on board. As I thought a trip to Westerplatte would be interesting for the group, I thought it would be rather pleasant to go back on it. I was slightly alarmed to read in the promotional material that there would be sea shanties, but Bev promised not to sing so I decided to risk it.

Here’s Captain Pugwash and the rest of the crew.

They’ve got two of these galleons which go to numerous destinations, but mostly Westerplatte and Sopot.

I took my place at the front of the ship. I don’t know the nautical terms.

Look at the eager anticipation of the crew members. Ross was wondering when he would next look at this phone, Bev was planning her next sea shanty, Richard was getting ready to provide IT support to the captain and Susanna had fallen asleep. I thought that the galleon operators were very lucky to have us on board with such a range of talent ready to help them.

The 50 metre high Amber Sky ferris wheel which was installed here in 2018.

The bascule foot bridge opens for us.

A Hurtigruten cruise liner. Susanna mentioned these to Richard a few years ago and he rushed to book one before she could. Or something like that, I get muddled up with the exact facts.

The football stadium that Ross and I had walked to earlier on during the week.

There will be the delight, at some stage, of a longer video that I took on this outbound expedition, but that’s realistically going to have to wait until my return to Norwich. For the moment, the above is a snippet of what I had to deal with, with Bev breaking her promise that she wouldn’t sing shanty songs. Fortunately, they stopped playing them when the galleon set sail, but on the return they were playing for the entire voyage, but more on that later. There was also a loud group who I think Bev wanted to be with as they were singing shanties, but I had deliberately walked to the other end of the ship. I think of my friend Julian during situations like this and think what would he do. He’d deliberately walk to the other end of the ship, he’s an inspiration.

The weather was good for us, actually too hot but I enjoyed the breeze when we got out to open water. The trip to Westerplatte takes just over twenty minutes and I enjoyed standing at the front pretending that I was an admiral, as I’m easily pleased like that. It’s also a tour through the history of Gdansk, starting in the historic Hanseatic centre before going through the still operating industrial area and dockyards. Dotted along the riverside are modern constructions, part of the rapid growth which Gdansk is going through.

I’m also pleased to report that none of the group fell overboard or anything similar, so we were then ready to explore Westerplatte.

May 14, 2023