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This was the final day for us unfortunately, with five of us flying back from Gdansk Airport and Richard going separately from a VIP terminal somewhere else in Poland. The plan was easy, a taxi was booked for 06:45 and that would give us enough time to get to the airport before we needed to board. It was evident that Susanna and Bev especially would want to be early, given missedflightgate at the start of their trip, and so everything looked like it would go perfectly to plan.

I think this sums up the situation nicely. The time difference means that the Polish times are an hour later. It’s not for me to gossip of course, but Steve, Ross and I had a long chat about the situation and it was evident that Susanna and Bev had stayed up late with a bottle of wine and then slept through their alarm. Ross and Steve were of course livid at their incompetence, but I remained calm as is clearly evident from my messages. The group were fortunate indeed to have my calm and steady approach to dealing with the trouble makers.

Susanna and Bev stumbled out of the hotel, actually literally, only 14 minutes late which was an impressive getting ready time and shows what they’ve capable of and I will remember that for future time keeping plans. They didn’t get their cup of morning coffee, but managed to collect body, soul, mind and luggage together in some form.

As the adult of the group, I was put in charge of sitting in the front of the taxi. Bev annoyed the taxi driver by getting muddled up with the seatbelt and he turned to me, smiled and said “women” which was probably a little sexist, but I could see why he was annoyed given that he had been standing about with us waiting for them so his patience was already frayed.

Luckily the tram didn’t move from its stand….

Bev was inside the car arguing with the taxi driver, whilst Susanna desperately tried to wake up. I’ve deliberately not used photos of them looking too worse for wear, as that would be unfair and inappropriate. And I would never sink to those lows.

Bev with her two coffees, that was her way of waking up.

After a morning snack and drink, the two miscreants were feeling remorseful but were back on top form.

Boarding the Ryanair flight, which was uneventful and through which I slept most of the time. I was nervous about using Ryanair, despite not having any issues with them over my decade of using them, but their service was always fine and I have no complaints. For £50 return, I thought I received excellent value for money.

The border looked chaotic, but we were through in fifteen minutes.

Ross had rushed to get an earlier train and that’s where this blog series comes to an end. We were all back in one piece, there had been no arguments and the company was marvellous. There are lots more trips to come and I think it’s fair to say that we all had an enjoyable time, with Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot not letting me down. Plenty of craft beer, decadent food, some football, history, culture and good company. All I have to do now is hope that none of the group take legal action against me for the content of the blog and I’ll call that a result.

I stayed at the Hotel Artus last year and enjoyed the view from the window that I had then, with this year’s one night visit having an equally impressive outlook onto the Cathedral. Five of the group were staying there for our final night, with Steve being just around the corner, and it’s a central location which proved handy. The welcome at the hotel was friendly and the prices very reasonable given how conveniently located the building is.

Every time I see this I think of the Corby trouser press and Alan Partridge, but I digress…. It was a shame that I didn’t get to see the hotel for long as I got back late after accompanying Richard to a bar as he led me astray, whilst also having to get up early the next morning. The hotel supplies earplugs because of the external noise, but I very much like that sort of distraction and the sound of the bells ringing. For anyone staying, I’d recommend trying to get a view of the cathedral, it just adds to the experience for me.

After some confusion at Whiskey in the Jar, we decamped next door to Billy’s American Restaurant which I had visited last year when I came to Gdansk on my own.

Susanna was very excited at her cocktail which was fizzing and bubbling. Actually, to be honest, we all were and I’ve videoed the whole experience which I’ll upload here at some point. It’s amazing what a little bit of dry ice can do, although I suspect the waiter thought he had a load of idiots in after watching our joy at this simple thing. He never showed that though, the service here was personable and helpful throughout.

See, I wasn’t exaggerating about the excitement….

I went for the Touchdown IPA from Browar Czarna Owca, a very decent American IPA which was in keeping with the restaurant’s theme.

I opted for that traditional Polish dish of chicken fajitas and I was sufficiently surprised and delighted by this arrangement. Tender chicken and plenty of opportunity for me to make my own wrap, I nearly always seem to end up ordering these when I see them on a menu. I think it’s the childlike sense of excitement of shoving random food in a wrap, although in my opinion they never give enough to complete the job efficiently. Anyway, I digress, and I think that everyone enjoyed their meal. Susanna kindly gave me some of her ribs, they were tender and the meat fell off the bone.

I’m pleased to say that we didn’t experience any issues with the bill, which was a relief after the earlier little problem that we encountered. The restaurant wasn’t that busy, but the atmosphere was inviting and vibrant with the food and drink being served after a reasonable period of time. We weren’t rushed out and indeed I had to get Susanna to attract the waiter’s eye, which she’s good at, to get the bill.

It was our last night in the city, but most of the group were exhausted. However Richard and I are nothing but hardcore, so we went to another bar.

Just for completeness, we went back to Pułalpka and I had the Miraz double fruited imperial pastry sour with lots of plum flavour to it. Not a bad way to end the weekend in Gdansk in terms of the bars.

Gdansk looking lovely at night and I am missing this fine city.

I’m having to reuse a photo from when I visited Whiskey in the Jar on my own last year, as our group visit here this year didn’t work out. It’s a small national chain and I’ve visited nearly all of their locations as they are usually a reliable venue. I particularly like their Warsaw outlet which I’ve visited a couple of times before. Since my last visit, they have moved to new premises in Gdansk near to their previous one and it looked contemporary and modern when we went in.

They were unfortunately all over the place this time if I’m being honest. The greeter said that they couldn’t split the bill but they could accept a single payment across card and cash. Then another staff member came over and said that was wrong and the venue only accepted all cash or all card payments, although perhaps there were some translation issues here as that seemed a bit odd to me. The only option we had, as some of our group only had cash, was either to leave or to sit across two tables where we paid cash on one and card on the other. The latter seemed sub-optimal to say the least, so we unfortunately had to leave. Disappointing, perhaps it was just a one-off, but the staff seemed to be trying their best to help. But I still like them and I’m sure that we would have enjoyed the food and drink though, it has always been decent before.

The afternoon’s entertainment was to get a tram to visit the murals in the Zaspa area of Gdansk, somewhere that I haven’t visited before. It’s a housing estate now, but it was once the site of Gdansk’s airport before it moved to a larger site to the north of the city.

It was about a fifteen minute tram journey and it was the first time that the group has used a tram this weekend, so that was part of the reason for going on this little expedition. I like to surprise and delight the group.

There were tens of murals and we had an on-line guide to them which I nominated Richard to navigate us around from and he did a reasonable job of that. This one dates from 2012 and is by the German artists Klaus Klinger, with the notes reading:

“A model worker of the Age of Consumption wanders through a flowerly meadow pushing a bottomless shopping trolley. The mural deliberately recalls the style of socialist-realist propaganda. Interestingly, the woman in the mural is headed straight for a shopping mall built from a converted hanger where the airport terminal was located until 1974”.

This mural is by Rafał Roskowinski of Poland, entitled ‘Toucans’ and created in 1997. The text reads:

“One of the ten works painted during the festival organised to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Gdansk. This mural brings the leading theme of the festival – colour – into the concrete-dominated space of the housing estate. Fearing intervention by the local graffiti scene, the artist left the lower part of the wall to Zaspa’s TKA crew. In line with the unwritten code, the “Gdansk” graffiti was saved and still complements the colourful mural.

Much faded since it was first painted by Rafał Roskowinski in 1999, this imagery is of John Paul II and Lech Walesa and it overlooks the park where in 1987 the Pope celebrated Holy Mass. I hadn’t realised this when in Gdansk, but the former Pope’s previously positive reputation in Poland is currently under significant attack amidst more allegations against the Catholic Church, but there’s a defence of him this week at https://catholicherald.co.uk/how-the-stories-circulating-about-st-john-paul-ii-are-baseless-speculation/. I hope that the allegations are baseless, he was an integral figure in the fall of communism and the growth of Solidarity, which is why these two figures are on this mural. As an aside, it’s the last thing that the church needed in Poland, the number of people attending mass in the country at the time of John Paul II was over 55%, it’s now down to 28% and has been falling for several years.

Perhaps the most dramatic of the murals, this one was created by Michał Wegczyn in 2012 and marked the 70th anniversary of the National Armed Forces. I think this is the mural that most impressed me, it’s got a dark side but a reminder of the bravery of the Polish troops is always a positive move in my eyes.

After looking at around one third of the murals, it was time to return into Gdansk on the tram as we were never going to finish seeing them all and Ross looked like he needed a long lie down. I’d recommend that anyone interested in street art of this form makes the expedition out to the outskirts of the city to have a look at these and there are also guided tours conducted by local residents.