Morning photos of Gdansk….
Author: admin
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Gdansk – Forum Gdansk (with a canal…)
When I first came to Gdansk a few years ago, this shopping centre wasn’t even under construction. When I last came to Gdansk in 2018, it had just opened and it has clearly transformed this part of the city and it also confused me as I hadn’t expected it to be there, so I thought I was lost. On this visit, the shopping centre isn’t just open, but water is now running through it.
It’s been a little bit of a local issue, as the building owners wanted to have two channels located on top of each other. I’m not a canal expert, but they wanted to not always have water running through if it was too high, as that might make their shopping centre not smell quite right. I don’t understand the whole thing, although I know a civil engineer who might, but that’s why it took a couple of years for it to get resolved.
The water isn’t just a feature like some shopping centres such as the Venetian in Las Vegas, it’s an actual canal which goes through the centre. For various technical reasons, the water couldn’t flow through until November 2019 and I like the whole effect that it has had to the character of the building. It’s the Radunia Canal, which was originally constructed by the Teutonic Knights between 1348 and 1356. Initially this shopping centre was going to be called the Forum Radunia, but it was changed during the construction to its current name of Forum Gdansk.
As an aside, this is an impressive shopping centre and it is of some considerable size. What I also like is that they’ve filled the units up with shops, unlike the Castle Mall in Norwich (now known as the Castle Quarter, with the local joke that it’s named this as only 25% of the units are in use) in Norwich where there has been such a mass retail exodus that they’ve been filling up units with random rubbish.
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Gdansk – Antoni Browarczyk and Martial Law
This eye-catching memorial commemorates the life of Antoni Browarczyk and others who died in the martial law period of Polish history. It’s hard to imagine Poland being run by the military as the communist authorities felt that this was the best way to deal with growing dissent and a call for democracy. It was a pretty dire time for the Polish people and around forty people were killed by the military during the period from December 1981 until July 1983 when martial law was in force.
One of those who died was Antoni Browarczyk, aged just 19 when he was shot to death in a political demonstration in Gdansk just a few days after martial law was declared. His mother spoke to the local newspaper a few years ago, still upset and confused about what happened and how it was dealt with. The sculpture was installed here in 2016 and was designed by Gennady Jerszow and is made of bronze. The memorial is located here, near Forum Gdansk, as this is where Browarczyk was killed. Forum Gdansk, one of the most modern shopping centres in the country, is a symbol of the new Gdansk, with so much changing over the last forty years.
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Gdansk – Retro Cafe
Gdansk has no shortage of cafes, but this one was well reviewed and their external signage stating that they were “a cafe with a soul” made it sound tempting.
The cake selection, all well presented and looking not inconsiderably appetising. The service style is fairly self-evident, staff welcome customers at the door and show them to a table before returning shortly afterwards to take the order. All nice and easy to understand, I like that approach.
I had intended to order a pistachio coffee as that seemed like something unique, but then I saw later on in the menu that they sold artisan beers and to ask the staff member. I did that and he mentioned that there was a dark beer, which I ordered. He did return to tell me that the beer had coffee in it, but this made me more interested in it than I was before, and then it arrived. Incidentally and as a side-note, I forgot about the pistachio coffee, such is the joy of beer.
What arrived was a milk stout, my favourite of drinks, so this was a delightful choice. It’s a bottle of Barakito from Browar De Facto which is located near Torun, coincidentally my next destination when I leave the Tricity (Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot). An above average beer, a sweetness of taste with a full body and a pleasant aftertaste. The strongest taste is coffee, which is unsurprising, as the beer takes its name from barraquito, a coffee popular in the Canary Islands. This brewery seems to have a relatively limited reach across Poland, so this is a rather decent choice from the cafe.
There’s a retro feel to the cafe, which also had some period music to add to the ambience. It was generally busy during the time that I was there, but never quite full. There’s quite a wide menu available and the cafe also has numerous vegetarian and vegan options for those looking for that. It seems to be, or at least the reviews suggest, a popular choice for those wanting breakfast and they also offer a take-away service.
This is the coconut chia cake and I have to confess to not knowing what the hell a chia is, although a quick look on Google shows that they’re seeds which are commonly used in cakes. A biscuity base (I can’t help but think of this video when writing that) with lots of texture from the seed things and then a sweet sauce on top. I’m not usually a desserts person, but this was a light, but filling, option.
Service was excellent, a friendly young server who was engaging and helpful, so the atmosphere was always welcoming. Given that this was a centrally located cafe in Gdansk it would be easy for the service to be more routine, but it all felt well managed with staff who seemed personable and polite. The prices were towards the upper end of the scale, but the quality was high and I was pleased with my choice of lunch location.
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Gdansk – Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity Grand Finale
I had wondered why there were tens of collectors on the streets of Gdansk today, but I’ve realised that it’s something called the Grand Finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (or Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy in Polish, or WOSP). It’s the largest public fundraising event of its kind in the country, akin to Comic Relief in the UK, and it raises money for children’s hospitals in Poland. The sums of money raised are sizeable, donations in 2019 were 175,938,717zl, or around £35,000,000.
This year’s event is the 28th and it’s shown live on television, as well as being celebrated around Poland and in Polish communities around the world. My photo above isn’t very clear and I should have taken my camera, but it’s a large square in Gdansk where they’re showing the live television fund raising programme. As it stands, the screens are showing that they’re raising more money than they did at the same point last year. Very lovely.
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Gdansk – Pułapka
I’m pleased to see that the number of craft beer bars in Gdansk is continuing to grow, a trend that will no doubt continue as it has in so many other cities. This is a bar that I haven’t been to before on previous visits, although it has been trading for a number of years.
Not the clearest of photos unfortunately, but there was a decent range of different beer types and they were all clearly displayed.
This is the Willy Tonka 2020 milk stout from Browar Monsters, which is one of the best of this type of beer that I’ve had. The flavours aren’t immediately obvious, but there are pleasant aftertastes to the beer which I assume are from the tonka beans which its named after. There’s also a taste of coffee and it was all rather moreish. Incidentally, I was impressed that around 30 seconds after I added this beer to my Untappd news feed that the brewery acknowledged it.
The bar’s interior, all very on-trend, but also clean and comfortable. The service was friendly, engaging and polite throughout, the bar had one of those relaxed vibes which can tempt customers to stay longer. Although that seems deliberate, the word Pułapka means trap, so the patrons can be kept in for longer. The staff member behind the bar was attentive to all customers and it seemed to be primarily locals, with the occasional tourist coming in from time to time.
It’s not far to walk here from the city centre, but it’s sufficiently tucked away to give it that quiet and detached feel and it’s well worth a little visit.
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Warsaw – National Museum in Warsaw (Baptismal Font)
What with the 1492 Carrying of the Cross and the Polychrome Statue of St. Barbara, half of the previous contents of St. Elizabeth’s Church in Wrocław seems to be on display in this museum. Anyway, this baptismal font is a notable piece of work, made from bronze and dating back to before 1477.
The church today seems very proud of the artefacts and items that it still owns, with very little from before 1500, and I do wonder whether they cast half an eye over the collections in the National Museum that once came from here. This is certainly one of the most detailed fonts that I’ve seen though, so it’s worthy of having such a large national audience and it’s probably just a security headache in a church anyway with people trying to steal it.
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Warsaw – Polish Army Museum (Yak-40)
This Soviet built aircraft, the Yak-40, is part of the outdoor display at the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw. It came to the museum in 2013 from Okecie Airport in the city, which is now better known as Warsaw Chopin Airport, where it had been used for VIP transportation. The Yak-40 aircraft was used for commercial and military travel and was mostly, but not entirely, operated by fleets in eastern and central Europe.
Although it wasn’t open the day that I went, they do allow visits to see inside, with access from the rear of the aircraft.
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Warsaw – National Museum in Warsaw (Carrying of the Cross – 1492)
This installation looks like it is almost new, representing the carrying of the cross, the Last Supper, washing of the feet and agony in the garden. The detail of the faces is quite astounding, even a little menacing, with the wooden figures dating back to 1492.
The representation of the carrying of the cross.
These sculptures were originally located at the Chapel of the Krappe Family in St. Elizabeth’s Church in Wrocław. This is the same church, which I’ve visited, that the museum’s Polychrome Statue of Saint Barbara is from. Johannes Krappe had taken over the chapel in 1477, but it wasn’t consecrated until 1492, by which time these figures had been installed. It’s not known who created and designed the figures, but their purpose was to teach the congregation the suffering that Christ had been through. I can imagine that they were not ineffective in that task, they’re emotional figures.
I can’t find out the journey that these figures have taken over the centuries, their survival in such pristine condition is noteworthy in itself.
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Warsaw – National Museum in Warsaw (Pietà from Lubiąż)
I didn’t know this before, but a Pietà is a depiction of the Virgin Mary holding the dead Jesus on her lap. It’s quite eye catching given its colour and vibrancy, with the whole polychrome item being in a decent state of repair. It’s a beautiful item and it dates to around 1370.
The card by the exhibit says that it comes from the Cistercian Monastery at Lubiąż Abbey, but the museum’s web-site which has more information, adds that it might also be from the Cistercian Monastery at Trzebnica. I hadn’t heard of Lubiąż Abbey, but it seems an amazing historic site, one of the largest Christian sites in the world. The monks were kicked out of their abbey in 1492 by Jan II the Mad, who from his name sounds a bit of a character.
