Category: Poland

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.

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.

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.

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.

Unfortunately, and rather inevitably, I’ve got behind with trying to write about this weekend given just how busy it has been. I’ve managed to ensure that no-one has had a chance to sit down and think, as we have had too many bars to visit to allow that to happen. Anyway, there is some drama to come, which all adds to the excitement for my two loyal readers. Given that Richard was about to appear I thought we’d go to a slightly decadent food court which I’ve visited before, Słony Spichlerz.

Pizza for lunch always seems a good idea, this is from the Czerwony Piec pizza outlet at the food court and the beer is the Bałtycki Dziad Stout, a very acceptable stout from Alebrowar. Served searingly hot, the pizza was just what I was hoping for in terms of tastes and flavours, with Bev questioning whether I’d made up the phrase of leopard spotting. I hadn’t, but if it isn’t chicken nuggets then her knowledge is a little limited. Ross ordered a vegetarian pizza, for reasons unknown, then quickly and willingly swapped that for some of Bev’s pizza when the opportunity arose. On the bright side, Bev had nothing to complain about, well, other than the font wasn’t to her liking on the menu as she couldn’t easily see the wi-fi code. But, I didn’t say anything.

I think it’s really useful to offer people a venue where they can choose from six or so different food options. Then everyone in the group all has pizza anyway, but as long as there’s happiness all around then that’s fine by me.

After he only got slightly lost, we were finally joined for lunch by Richard, who had enjoyed his specialist evening in Warsaw the night before. He had already eaten several plates of food on his first class rail service, and had experienced a debacle with the luggage storage at Gdansk which he dealt with admirably. He needed change, didn’t have any, couldn’t find an ATM that didn’t require a large withdrawal and then had to find a shop and get the change he needed for the locker. I’d say that he was very brave. That story really deserves its own post, but it’s best to want people leaving more.

Back to the more important matter, this food court is sizeable and has plenty of tempting food options along with an upstairs bar. There’s a fair amount of seating and the prices are towards the higher end of the scale, but they’re still reasonable.

This is my second visit to the Solidarity Museum in Gdansk, which tells the story of the political and civil resistance of the brave people of Poland against the oppressive communist regime. The museum, which is also a library and academic centre, opened in 2014 and the exterior is designed to look like the hulls of ships as this is where the movement came from, the Gdansk Shipyards.

The grand and expansive lobby of the museum.

The Soviets liked to pretend that there was a closeness between the people of their country and Poland, with Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet President between 1964 and 1982, and Edward Gierek, the Polish President between 1970 and 1980, continuing that farce in this photo. I think it’s fair to say that the majority of the people of Poland aren’t feeling much closeness with Russia today.

This was the reality for anyone who opposed people such as Gierek, they were thrown in prison. As a political leader, Gierek was seen as relatively reforming and modernising, but he presided over economic chaos and political suppression.

The map of Soviet influence fortunately doesn’t look like this any more.

There are the heroes of Poland in my view, the brave men and women who stood up and argued against the policies of the state. They were arrested, often beaten and their careers destroyed.

This is the shirt of Adam Gotner who was shot at an earlier protest on 17 December 1970, the bullet hole is visible, but he survived.

Things would have been much better if someone like Steve, a modernising and forward-thinking individual, had been involved with matters.

Not that it’s relevant for this blog, but I have some deep concerns about the current Pope, but it’s certainly fair to say that Pope John Paul II was a pivotal figure in the fight against communism and intolerance in Poland. He remains a hero for many in Poland, not least for how he spoke to and for the people of the country in the 1980s. The Polish Government at the time were not impressed at his involvement I think it’s fair to note.

The Popemobile.

The realities of communist economic policy, there were product shortages and long queues.

The 21 demands issued by the strike committee on 17 August 1980. These boards were placed on the Maritime Museum following the protests, but then hidden by a museum worker when the army took over the running of the country and they were later rediscovered and moved to this museum when it opened. And, for completeness, here are their demands:

1. Acceptance of free trade unions independent of the Communist Party and of enterprises, in accordance with convention No. 87 of the International Labor Organization concerning the right to form free trade unions.

2. A guarantee of the right to strike and of the security of strikers.

3. Compliance with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech, the press and publication, including freedom for independent publishers, and the availability of the mass media to representatives of all faiths.

4. A return of former rights to: 1) People dismissed from work after the 1970 and 1976 strikes. 2) Students expelled because of their views. The release of all political prisoners, among them Edmund Zadrozynski, Jan Kozlowski, and Marek Kozlowski. A halt in repression of the individual because of personal conviction.

5. Availability to the mass media of information about the formation of the Inter-factory Strike Committee and publication of its demands.

6. Bringing the country out of its crisis situation by the following means: a) making public complete information about the social-economic situation. b) enabling all social classes to take part in discussion of the reform programme.

7. Compensation of all workers taking part in the strike for the period of the strike.

8. An increase in the pay of each worker by 2,000 złoty a month.

9. Guaranteed automatic increases in pay on the basis of increases in prices and the decline in real income.

10. A full supply of food products for the domestic market, with exports limited to surpluses.

11. The introduction of food coupons for meat and meat products (until the market stabilizes).

12. The abolition of commercial prices and sales for Western currencies in the so-called internal export companies.

13. Selection of management personnel on the basis of qualifications, not party membership, and elimination of privileges for the state police, security service, and party apparatus by equalization of family allowances and elimination of special sales, etc.

14. Reduction in the age for retirement for women to 50 and for men to 55, or (regardless of age) after working for 30 years (for women) or 35 years (for men).

15. Conformity of old-age pensions and annuities with what has actually been paid in.

16. Improvements in the working conditions of the health service.

17. Assurances of a reasonable number of places in day-care centers and kindergartens for the children of working mothers.

18. Paid maternity leave for three years.

19. A decrease in the waiting period for apartments.

20. An increase in the commuter’s allowance to 100 złoty.

21. A day of rest on Saturday. Workers in the brigade system or round-the-clock jobs are to be compensated for the loss of free Saturdays with increased leave or other paid time off.

The strike committee evolved into the Solidarity movement, the logo was created by Jerzy Janiszewski.

The almost comedy announcement, although it had serious implications for Poland, made in 1981 by Wojciech Jaruzelski when he said that martial law was required because of Solidarity. He was the Prime Minister of Poland between 1981 and 1985 and personally responsible for crimes against the people of the country, but he avoided criminal action due to ill health and he died in 2014. In his later years he apologised for the failures of communism and said he had reformed, but I’m not sure how widely that was believed.

The leader of the strike movement, Lech Wałęsa, the future President of Poland.

The Polish authorities didn’t like the rise of Lech Wałęsa and Solidarity.

Although printing political document for Solidarity was banned, illegal printing presses sprung up around the country.

Ronald Reagan visiting Moscow on 31 May 1988.

A recreated circular table from the Polish Round Table Agreement of 1989.

The Solidarity election posters ready for the 4 June 1989 elections and they won every single Senate seat.

Candidates for the party wanted to appear linked to Lech Wałęsa, so he appeared in just about every election leaflet.

Communism collapsed, Poland was free once again thanks to Solidarity and the people behind the movement.

It’s a fascinating museum, telling the story of how Solidarity was born, where it came from and the influence which it now has. There’s a viewing platform on the top of the building where it’s possible to see the docks and where Solidarity was born. Steve was told off for walking on the gravel, but Ross and I carefully walked just on the paving stones. I think Steve would have been a radical if he had worked at the docks….

It’s a definitely a museum worth visiting, I think we all enjoyed it and found it useful. It’s not hard to feel great sympathy for the Polish people seeing what they’ve been through in the twentieth century, their country smashed apart by war and then left in economic and political chaos by the communist authorities. Things feel and look so much more positive now, but it needed the bravery of these men and women of the Gdansk shipyards, and far beyond, to start that change. I have more to note about this museum, but for the purposes of vaguely trying to keep up with the blog this weekend, I’ll limit myself to that.

Our first stop of the day was at St. Mary’s Church, which is the co-cathedral for the area along with Oliwa Cathedral. I’ve written about this building before, but it’s a magnificent and grand structure. I’m always quite taken by the height of the aisles, but the history of it bouncing between the Catholic and Lutheran traditions for centuries is fascinating and it has only been Catholic once again since 1945. Many of the artworks from the church were in the care of the National Museum in Warsaw and were only returned back here in the 1990s.

This is new since my last visit, the burial place of Paweł Adamowicz who served as the Mayor of Gdansk between 1998 and 2019 when he was assassinated. He was killed at a charity event by a man with mental health issues, a tragedy that I remember sent shockwaves throughout Poland and beyond.

Steve found a leaflet about the Polish camino, he’s done numerous of these long walks in Spain and so he was surprised and delighted by this. My next problem was getting Bev and Susanna out of the building as we’re returning later in the weekend if possible to climb the tower, but fortunately they eventually noticed my passive aggressive hints they needed to leave for the moment.

Anyway, more about this building in later posts, although I’ve written before about the Astronomical Clock and the story that Soviet troops smashed their way into vaults of the building.

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to keep up on this blog given how much I forced the group to pack into yesterday, but let’s see how we go. As we woke up on the third day of this trip, we had Steve in a Gdansk airport hotel, Richard in a Warsaw hotel and then Bev and Susanna in their city centre Gdansk hotel sobering up after their missing the flight the previous day.

I had been woken at 06:00 by the church bells, but I considered this as a good thing, generations of people have been woken up by them and it all adds to the authenticity of a visit. Someone might complain in the future and they’ll be silenced, but for now, they can ring freely. I couldn’t actually see the church from my window, but I could see the tower of the Mercure Gdansk, so my two loyal readers can look at a photo of that. I’m not sure how I haven’t managed to stay there, maybe next time.

Steve, ever calm and professional, managed to make it to the hotel where Ross and I were staying, before we went to walk to see Bev and Susanna. Susanna was there, calm and unflustered, whilst Bev had gone to get a coffee in a desperate attempt to wake up. Our day was to consist of a visit to the Cathedral, a visit to the Solidarity Museum, lunch at a decadent food court, a boat trip on a galleon, a bar and then an evening meal. Fortunately, this did work out, and as a spoiler for the next few posts I’m pleased to say that everyone was well behaved, Bev was only slightly sluggish in getting around and Richard only had one sneezing fit which caught the attention of the entire restaurant. History, culture, beer and politics, a fine combination. The only slight limitation with this whole arrangement is that it’s too hot in Gdansk.

I’ve visited Pułapka before and won’t add much to my previous post on it, but it’s another one of my favourite bars in Gdansk. I accept that I have quite a lot of favourite bars here…..

I do want to quickly write here about the Girbik from the Ziemia Obiecana brewery, and I’ve had several beers from them in the past and they’ve all been excellent. This is a 7.2% DIPA but the alcohol strength isn’t easily noticeable, it’s too smooth a beer. Hoppy, fruity and a suitably decadent way to end the evening.

Oh, and the covered over stairs to the basement, who knows what secrets lie down there….

It’s fairly likely that I’ll drag the rest of the group back here over the weekend, I’ve noticed some bottles on their Untappd list that I’ve taken quite a fancy to. Incidentally, Ross and I were in this bar when we discovered that Susanna and Bev had successfully caught their flight to Gdansk, so the weekend really will be starting soon!