Category: Poland

There are no chain hotels in Elbląg, but the Hotel Atrium in the heart of the city was well reviewed and not particularly expensive. I checked in at 15:00 and the usual receptionist wasn’t there, but I was given my key and went back down to deal with the other administrative issues later on in the day. The welcome was friendly and everything in the hotel was clean and orderly, so my first impressions were positive.

I had only paid for a single room, but they gave me a twin room as they seemed to have a low occupancy. Internal noise wasn’t a problem, but there was a lack of sound insulation generally from inside the hotel. The owners also have a dog which made itself heard quite a lot, but not to a degree that became annoying. Externally, I could hear the cathedral bells ringing, but I like noise like that, it’s part of the heritage of the city and the building has been for 800 years or so.

This is the view from my window and the reason that I could hear the cathedral bells so easily.

The breakfast area downstairs in the cellar. Although the hotel has space to offer evening meals as this room has seven or so tables, they don’t do that, not least perhaps as there are so many nearby restaurants for guests to choose from. There were some takeaway menus in the drawer of the desk in the room as well, and it might be allowable for guests to get them delivered and eat them downstairs (the food that was delivered, I don’t mean to eat the takeaway menus themselves).

There is a cooked breakfast option included, in addition to the cold buffet selection.

I did struggle a little with this, due to my picky nature that I can’t eat bacon that has uncooked fat on it and the eggs were way too oily, so I felt quite guilty that this remained mostly uneaten.

The cold buffet selection, all nicely presented and regularly restocked.

On the second morning I limited myself just to the cold buffet options, and they were delicious, with decent rolls, cheese that had some taste to it and some cold meats alongside the coffee, tea and orange juice. I’m never really in need of cooked options, but it’s useful that the option is there.

The reviews for the hotel were broadly very positive, and the only negative one on Google was an angry guest who got charged for towels the hotel said that he’d pinched. Other than that, the hotel seems to have kept its guests very happy over the last few years, the reviews are complimentary about the cleanliness and the quality of the breakfast.

This was a pleasant enough stay and the hotel staff were friendly, it feels something of a family managed arrangement. I’m not sure they’re making much money given the limited number of guests at the moment, but I can imagine this is a bustling environment during the summer months. I’m not sure that I have a need to revisit Elbląg in the near future, but I’d willingly stay here again if I need to return.

There’s more information about the hotel here.

Starting off as a Catholic church, before becoming Lutheran, and then becoming Catholic again, this has been in the centre of the old town since 1247. It was damaged by a fire in the late eighteenth century, but worse was to come during the Second World War when it was nearly entirely destroyed, so much of what is here now has been reconstructed recently.

I find cathedrals can very often be quite confusing to get in, but these side doors are the entrance. As an aside, I used to think it was just me who got confused easily at things like this, that was until watching other people faffing about, which made me feel better……

Pope John Paul II is very important to the Polish people and he visited the cathedral on Sunday 6 June 1999 and the Vatican have a copy of his homily.

This photo doesn’t really show just how dark the cathedral was internally, but it was quite difficult to see because of the lack of lighting. I used my phone’s night mode and have brightened it, which makes things much more visible now than they were to me when I was inside the building. To all intents and purposes, I took this photo in the dark.

The beautiful stained glass.

The destruction of the church in January 1945 could have marked the end for this building, as there was no guarantee of it being reconstructed. The city’s population was much reduced, there were limited funds and so much to rebuild across the country. However, the priests were dedicated to the rebuilding project and work started removing the rubble in 1948. Disaster hit in 1955 when a storm damaged the building again, but by 1965, the reconstruction efforts had been completed.

The aisle of the cathedral and there’s more about the architecture of the building at https://medievalheritage.eu/en/main-page/heritage/poland/elblag-st-nicholas-cathedral/.

The interior is relatively plain and simple, with most of the furnishings having come from other churches.

Ignoring the plastic around parts of it, this is I think a Gothic bronze baptismal font dating back to 1387, very much the pride of the cathedral. There was only one other person in the cathedral when I was there and he praying near to this, so I didn’t go and disturb his private thoughts.

This cathedral has gone very much full circle, back to the Catholic church which it was first constructed as, although the building itself has been wrecked on multiple occasions and little remains of what there once was. It was a determined effort to ensure that the reconstruction took place at all, a credit to the local parish and individuals who were so keen to rebuild.

There was a cold wind blowing through Elbląg and since the craft beer bar wasn’t yet open, this cafe was suitably tempting. The city isn’t busy at the moment, which at least has the advantage that just about every cafe has seats available.

I dithered for perhaps longer than was reasonable in choosing a cake, although I noticed other customers equally perplexed about which option to go for. The options all looked tempting and they were neatly displayed, with the prices clearly indicating the cost per slice or the cost by weight. The service was welcoming and personable, I liked the informality of this cafe.

The cafe is also well reviewed on-line, although I did agree with the individual who commented that there were a lack of individual cakes such as eclairs. I could have done with an eclair and there’s no Cukiernia Sowa nearby to satiate that craving.

I’ve now decided that every latte should come with a little meringue on it, which is something that Pret should definitely pick up on. Perfectly decent coffee and yet another fruit cake, which is endlessly healthy of me. All nicely presented and the atmosphere in the cafe was inviting and peaceful. There were a few other customers around, but the cafe was never overly busy, but I can imagine this is a bustling environment during the summer months when the tourists are meandering about around the area.

One of my go to web-sites for craft beer in Poland is https://ontap.pl/, which lists the various beers that venues have and links to their Untappd scores and it has numerous other features. There’s only one location listed in Elbląg, which meant that it would feel amiss if I didn’t visit it. It’s also very well reviewed and I get the impression it dominates the craft beer scene in the city.

It was empty of customers when I came into the bar, but it got busier later on. The atmosphere was inviting, the staff member was helpful and there were eight different beers available across a range of beer styles. The beers are chalked up on boards behind the bar and there are also samples of each visible which helps identify the type of beer it is.

In the photo is the Portermass Cocoa Nibs, Vanilla and Cinnamon from Browar PINTA and I’ve had several from that brewery over the years, but this is the best. Although we’re a bit part the Christmas period now, the mixture of chocolate and cinnamon on top of a rich imperial Baltic stout is a decadent treat. It’s 11%, but it was smooth given that alcoholic volume, a very drinkable beer.

I also ordered the Juicilicious from Piwne Podziemie and then realised on Untappd that I’d had this before a few months ago in Warsaw. When I order a beer again without checking if I’ve had it before, I just have to hope that I liked it last time, and in this case, I very much did. It’s a decent hazy IPA with a citrus and hoppy taste.

This venue doesn’t do food other than some crisps and nuts, and I could have done with a pizza or the like to go with the beer. The environment was welcoming, so it’s a venue to linger at, and I liked the beer options available, nicely curated. The prices were reasonable and as they’ve been going for a couple of years and are still trading, it seems like they’re doing well, so hopefully they’ll be trading for many years to come. I was pleased that I came here, an on-trend and well managed bar.

There has been a church on this site since 1239, the same time as the Teutonic Knights came to the city and I remember visiting their castle in Torun. The Dominicans founded their monastery and they extended the building in the late thirteenth century. A large fire destroyed much of the building in 1504, but it was rebuilt and later that century a pulpit was constructed which is today in the city’s cathedral.

The Dominicans had left the building in 1542, when they gave it to the city authorities, who then handed it to an Evangelical church. There was some reconstruction in the late nineteenth century, but there was major devastation in 1945 and a fire swept through the building. Much was lost and the building remained in ruins until 1959, when it was decided to turn it into an art gallery.

There are still some ruined buildings to the side of the churchyard.

The member of staff at the desk was helpful, but I think she was surprised to see anyone visiting, I suspect I was their first visitor of the day and they’d been open for a couple of hours. She showed me which bits of the building that I could visit, although first she had to rush around turning all of the lights on. There was a friendly atmosphere to the whole arrangement and the admission fee was low.

I had seen a photo of this before and after the war in the city’s museum earlier in the day, sadly badly damaged during the Second World War.

There is now a two floor metal structure within the church which is relatively recent, with this holding the art collections.

The former nave of the church, with the two new floors visible on the right. I probably should have used the lift, as the metal steps are see through and I realised just how high I was by the time I reached the second floor. I’m not great with heights, but I bravely battled on.

Looking past the blue, that’s a very Germanic arch.

Without being negative, as I understand that the art gallery arrangement has secured the building, but I didn’t engage with the artistic collection at all. I thought in places that it intruded on the building, the heritage of the church just undermined the works within it, they weren’t strong enough to cope with their environment. This artistic installation of water dripping into buckets (or I assume it’s an installation, it’s just randomly placed there) is rendered pointless because of the grand nature of what is around it, there’s no point trying to find meaning in an artwork when it’s surrounded by a building entirely dripping, if I can verge from literal to metaphor meanings, with stories. As a balance, I did try and find out more about this exhibit on the gallery’s web-site, but there’s nothing.

Many of these tombstones are damaged, but they’ve at least survived in some form.

When I went into this huge space the lights were off, and it had more of a charm and atmosphere to it. I understand the need for lights with regards to an art collection, but they take away from the space a little. I’m trying not to sound negative about the art collection, because that is what saved the building and makes it viable and accessible today, but it’s an uneasy mix in places. I’d imagine that, like me, a fair number of people are really visiting to see the building itself, not necessarily to see the galleries. With the exception of a sign externally giving the history of the church, there’s nothing internally giving further information about the building’s heritage. Nor either is there anything on the gallery’s web-site, which is perhaps a little disappointing.

One of the aisles (which is perhaps the side of a former cloister) is also accessible, all carefully restored.

Some of the tombstones and memorials which are located in the aisle of the church, all safely preserved now. I don’t know enough about the church locally to know if this could have remained an active religious building if it wasn’t for the Second World War, but I’m pleased that it has been saved. Given that the church was Protestant, the transition from Germany to Poland certainly meant it would have had a very different future. The building remained derelict until 1959, as this city took some time to recover, and the former church could easily just have been bulldozed. I like that there are many festivals and events that take place here, it’s a really thought provoking environment. I didn’t engage much with the artworks here today, but I like what the whole place has become, but I still feel as if I could have been told more about the art collection and the building itself.

I’m not intending to win any prizes with these photos, a couple of which aren’t quite level, but an initial indication of the city of Elbląg in the evening. The city is quiet tonight on a January evening and the restaurants all look nearly empty. It’s reasonably warm and although there’s more snow on the ground than in Gdansk, most has melted. I haven’t seen much lit up beyond what’s in these photos, which is the old market square area.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I can’t quite capture in my mind the medieval charm of this once Hanseatic city, so much has been destroyed over the centuries, not least during the Second World War. There are some photos of the city as it was before the war at https://fotopolska.eu/zdjecia/m37662,Elblag.html?zakres=3&zdjeciaOd=1900&zdjeciaDo=1917.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Elbląg, but it became evident immediately just how repaired it needed to be following the destruction of the Second World War. A fair amount of imagination is needed to picture the Hanseatic city as it once was and much of the reconstruction took place towards the end of the twentieth century and that is noticeable. Anyway, those initial impressions aside, my first place to visit in what is a new location for me was the cafe of Molto Bene which is in the historic old market area of the city.

There was an old world charm to the interior and the staff member was welcoming and friendly. I was the only customer she had during my visit, with the exception of someone who purchased a coffee to takeaway. These places are doing well to open with all the limitations that they have at the moment, but it’s sad to see any cafe with such little lunchtime trade.

I went for a large latte and a rather delicious meringue with fruit on top. I was entirely delighted with my healthy fruit option, with what I think was a mango puree and the firm exterior of the meringue and the melt away inside added some sweetness to the arrangement. All nicely presented, although they probably need new cups as they’re slightly chipped.

There was certainly no issues with the quality of the food and drink here, nor was the welcome anything other than friendly. I hope that they get a suitable surge of custom in the summer months to make up for these challenging times.