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Tag: Gdansk

Gdansk Group Trip – Day 1 (Under Beer)

Although hunting for bars that I haven’t been to before, one of my favourite locations in Gdansk is Under Beer and I felt the need to pay it a quick visit since I was nearby. As I’ve visited before, I won’t add much here, but this repeat visit didn’t disappoint.

I was delighted to see a beer from Funky Fluid’s Gelato series that I haven’t had before, this one is Dekadent Banana Parfait brewed in conjunction with Pühaste Brewery of Tartu in Estonia. It’s an ice cream sour (and can there be a more summery drink?) with a fruity aroma which has the flavour of banana and lime running through it, without it having an artificial edge. And any beer with the word decadent in its title is of course worth trying. A beautiful beer, I’m positively excited to visit Warsaw Beer Festival to continue to work through whatever delights Funky Fluid come up with next.

Ross had some lager, but he had forgotten what it was called by the time he arrived at the table, although I’m sure it was delicious…. I suspect I might be back here later on in the week with the rest of the group.

May 11, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 1 (Farina Pizza)

Ahead of the mass of people arriving tomorrow, Ross and I went out for a peaceful pizza at Farina, located at ul. Szeroka 89.

The drinks menu and I had been attracted here by the effort they make with their bottled beer selection. They do have a beer which seems to have been brewed for the restaurant but I couldn’t find it on Untappd and so I decided it couldn’t possibly exist at all.

And the pizza menu. Prices in Poland have been rising like everywhere else, but they remain reasonable (divide by five for the approximate UK price).

There was an air of Italian authenticity to the internal design, or at least, as much as you can realistically get in Gdansk. Clean, comfortable and quiet since we were visiting in the late afternoon.

The Czarny Bez from Amber Valley, a lager cut with elderflower syrup which gave it quite a pleasant floral feel to it.

The n’duja pizza, suitably delicious with leopard spotting to the edges. The N’duja had its usual spicy edge complemented by the creamy mascarpone along with a deluge of greenery on top.

All was well with the on-line reviews with very little negativity, although they picked up a ridiculous 1 star review a few months ago, with someone commenting:

“They took money from the child for the toilet”

I liked the owner’s response which I think is reasonable given that public toilets aren’t free in Gdansk (well, the ones in shopping centres are, which is always handy).

“Write the truth . not from a child, but from you. you asked if you could use and we informed that the toilet is for customers. otherwise it is payable. 50 m away is public toilet, also paid.”

Anyway, I digress. Given their positive reviews, I had high expectations of this pizza restaurant and I wasn’t let down by the service, food or the atmosphere. All rather lovely.

May 11, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 1 (Bus Journey to City Centre with Sam North of Youtube Footy Adventures)

After having ninety minutes of sleep on board the aircraft, I decided I was good for the rest of the day in that regard so it was just the bus journey into the city centre to manage in the morning. We were in the queue to buy tickets from the machine when the bus came and promptly left again, but they’re every half an hour so the wait didn’t feel too onerous.

Then Ross, who knows nearly everything football related, noticed Sam North of Footy Adventures and very bravely for him went and introduced himself. I’ve now added Footy Adventures to my YouTube subscribed list and he is a very friendly guy, I like his ideas to come out and make 24 hour videos of cities around Europe. Travel content is always exciting to me and I think Ross is particularly engaged with football travel content. Hopefully he wasn’t entirely bored about my riveting travel stories from around the world and I just know that he’s going to enjoy Gdansk.

I navigated Sam to the city’s main street and let him get on with his adventure and he was initially off looking for coffee which didn’t seem a bad idea at all. It all added a touch of glamour to the proceedings although Ross and I decided not to appear in the YouTube video as I don’t like being filmed so I wouldn’t have watched it back anyway. But here’s a photo instead.

With that, I walked Ross and I in a slightly circuitous route to the hotel and I’m pleased to note that not only did they give me a room with free early check-in, but Ross was also able to check in early to his room as well. I’ve been busy doing work whilst Ross has been sleeping, but I guess we can’t all be tough travellers. It’s all been a suitably exciting day today, we’ll be on the hunt for pizza and beer shortly, those staples of the Gdansk food and drink scene.

May 10, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 1 (The Ryanair Flight to Gdansk)

All this telling me to relax is very stressful. I just want to know when and where the aircraft is going from, I like being in a state of heightened tension before a flight and certainly not relaxing. Things have moved about since I was last at Stansted a few years ago and my favourite seating area has gone, but I found a quiet seating area a level below the main terminal which was rather peaceful and delightful. Or as much as these things can be anyway.

Safely at gate 49 and I have to comment positively that Ryanair are incredibly efficient when things go right. The signage is clear, it’s obvious where to stand, the process is managed well and they do this better than British Airways which often is either organised chaos or not organised at all.

The big long queue to board, but the wait was for only five minutes or so.

At least with no airbridge I can take a photo of the aircraft. The aircraft is SP-RNA which was brought into use in 2008 and has a few weeks ago been transferred to Buzz, which are a division of Ryanair. What I find fascinating is that this aircraft will be used for seven flights today, from Stansted to Gdansk to Prague to Gdansk to Oslo to Gdansk to Dublin and back to Gdansk. They get their money’s worth out of these Boeing 737s.

The flight was nearly full and I cannot fault Ryanair for the service today. The cabin crew were pro-active and polite, the pilots made clear announcements, the aircraft was clean and everything was organised and on time. This flight cost £25 and I have to note that I’ve been surprised and delighted by Ryanair. I was asleep for most of the flight, but I received exactly what I paid for which was simply a glorified bus journey and they don’t pretend that it’s anything more than that. I’ve never actually had any problems with Ryanair after over a decade travelling with them, but when things go wrong they do have a poor reputation of fixing the issues.

Safely at Gdansk Airport where three shuttle buses swept passengers away to the main terminal.

Where we had to wait of course because we’re not in Schengen and the border guard, who was very amenable, spent some time adding up the number of days that I’ve been in the European Union. But it’s good to be back in Poland and the weather is warm and frankly too hot. But I don’t complain.

May 10, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 0

How exciting, it’s a group trip this week to Gdansk, with six of us going to this quite marvellous city. Of course, nothing is simple, Ross and I are departing by train this evening whilst the others arrive at random times during the week. Everyone is flying with Ryanair to Gdansk other than Richard who has hired a private jet or something to take him to Warsaw and then a first class train to Gdansk. How the other half live….

Here’s my scribbling down an itinerary that will likely change numerous times, but showing my commitment to organisational excellence. We have museums, bars, restaurants, bars, a boat trip, bars, trams, bars, cathedrals, bars, churches, bars and pizzerias. I have already whetted my appetite by looking at ontap.pl to see what beers are being sold in Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot at the moment. I am beyond excited at just how many tempting sours there are across the city and very excitingly, I’ve discovered there’s an outlet of PINTA in Sopot.

I’ve missed Poland and if any of the other five going don’t enjoy Gdansk then they’re idiots and I am unanimous in that. And for anyone interested, which I readily accept is likely below one in number, the photo on this page is from my trip last year to Pikawa in Gdansk.

May 9, 2023
Gdansk – New Swing Bridge over River Motława

This new swing bridge for pedestrians was constructed as part of the development of Granary Island and it opened in 2020.

Here it is in action to let the pirate ship through.

I think it’s rather nicely designed, it’s quite graceful to watch it spinning around. It was constructed by Immobel (Belgium) and Multibud (Poland) and cost around £1.5 million. This view has certainly changed since I first came to Gdansk a few years ago, with Granary Island still showing the damage from the Second World War, but now it’s a modern leisure and residential complex.

I took this photo in 2016 and Granary Island is on the left and the swing bridge would be right at the foreground of this image.

And here it is at night. All rather lovely.

February 8, 2022
Gdansk – Memorial to Murdered Scouts During the Second World War

I don’t have much to add about this memorial in Gdansk, other than I think it’s a really appealing design to make its appearance look like a tree stump. It’s here to commemorate the lives of those scouts and their leaders who were killed during the Second World War, many of whom were murdered as the organised ranks were considered a threat to the new German regime.

One of those murdered was Alfa Liczmański who was the co-organiser of the scouting movement in the city, which in 1939 had 2,000 members. He was arrested soon after the Free City of Danzig was seized and was imprisoned locally before being taken to the concentration camp in Stutthof, located around 35 miles from the city. He was executed by the Germans on 20 March 1940, although his body was exhumed after the war and his remains moved to Cmentarz Srebrzysko.

The memorial was unveiled in 2003 and there’s more information about the movement at https://gdanska.zhp.pl/komisja-historyczna-choragwi-gdanskiej/.

February 8, 2022
Gdansk – 210 Bus to Airport from City Centre

Many cities around the world treat passengers coming in on airlines as this money making opportunity from the moment they get off the aircraft, with dodgy taxi arrangements and expensive public transport from the airport. Glorious Gdansk, as ever, does none of that. The 210 bus goes from the airport to the city centre (and of course back again) and costs 3.8zł, or about 70p, for the journey. The 110 bus also goes into the city, but stops at Galeria Bałtycka (or Gdańsk Wrzeszcz to be precise, but I tend to remember things by shopping centres and their food courts) which then requires a walk/tram/bus/train into the Old Town of Gdansk.

The bus back to the airport goes from opposite the central railway station, or at this spot near to Forum Gdańsk. There’s not normally more of a 15 minute wait between buses and the times are clearly displayed. There’s a 24-hour service, although the night time version of the 110 and 210 buses is the N3 service.

Spacious inside and it’s easiest just to buy tickets from the machine by the bus stop, which are available in English and Polish to avoid any purchasing mistakes. They accept card and cash. But it is essential to validate the ticket on boarding, not that I’ve ever been asked to show my ticket in Gdansk.

The journey takes 45 minutes to get from the centre of Gdansk to the airport.

Taken at roughly the same place at the airport, it was a little colder when I arrived into Gdansk a couple of weeks ago…..

And here we are, back at the delights of Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport.

February 8, 2022
Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport – Executive Lounge

I’m not entirely sure of the official name here, but I think it’s just ‘Executive Lounge’, so we’ll go with that. It’s the only lounge in Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport, so it’s not a confusing arrangement. It’s only around one minute walk from security and it’s near to most of the gates, with the signage being reasonably clear.

There was only one staff member visible as it was quiet, and she was welcoming the occasional entrant in a friendly manner, as well as filling up the food and drink supplies.

As can be seen, not a packed lounge in terms of the number of customers. There were a few power points dotted around, although not really enough, and the lounge uses the airport wi-fi which isn’t of a very high standard. Not an ideal arrangement in either case.

The view back down onto the concourse, with the queue to for check-in for my flight still visible to me. I was pleased not to be at the back of that queue.

The drinks selection. There were signs on the fridge saying that staff had to serve the food and drink, but the staff member told me that I could just get whatever I wanted myself. Covid regulations seem to be tailing off quite quickly at the moment and since it was quiet it made more sense for the customers to help themselves.

Some of the food selection, which is mostly snack based.

Always a positive sign I think to see a local beer, Jasne from Brovarnia Gdansk. It was an unexceptional lager, but it’s local and hard to find anywhere else, so an effort has been made and so I approve.

There wasn’t much else in the way of the food, but this salami and salad roll was quite tasty.

I gained entry into the lounge via my credit card which gives me two free lounge accesses per year, but otherwise it would be £20 to get in. I’m not sure that there’s much value there, unless someone wanted to drink a lot of alcohol quite quickly I suppose. However, I liked the lounge and it was peaceful and quiet. There could perhaps be more power points and the lounge really needs its own wi-fi that works properly, but the arrangement seemed organised and I was pleased to have visited.

February 7, 2022
Wizz Air (Gdansk to Luton Airport)

And it was time to come back to the UK, departing from Lech Wałęsa airport in Gdansk. As an aside, it must feel odd for Lech Wałęsa when he uses this airport to know that the entire place is named after him. I’m always slightly saddened to leave Poland, but I’ll be back in a few weeks and so can look forwards to that.

Usually I’d just download my boarding pass on my phone and go straight through security, but Wizz Air don’t have any on-line processes in place to check the documents of travellers, so everyone is directed to the check-in desks first. It’s positive that they’re checking the UK’s Locator Form, although to be fair they’re legally obliged to, but a shame they don’t have a set-up similar to that BA have with VeriFLY.

I tried to get through a little earlier, but the friendly member of staff at check-in said they would only open the boarding desk for my flight two hours before the flight departed. She also helpfully mentioned that my mask wouldn’t be accepted by Wizz Air on any of their flights, although I did silently think it had been accepted on the Wizz Air flight out to Gdansk. But, I wasn’t sure on their policy and had a spare mask, so that was all fine. I was told to check the boarding screens around 150 minutes before the flight, which transpired to be useful advice, as that’s when the check-in desk for my flight opened. I was fortunate to be nearly at the front of the queue, as it snaked back to the entrance to the terminal within a few minutes. The member of check-in staff quickly checked that I had a passenger locator form confirmation and then my boarding pass was printed, which is a free service when customers can’t check-in on-line.

Safely through security (where I was praised by the security staff for my efficiency, which I lapped up willingly) and into the lounge (more on which in another post) it was time to trek to the corner of the airport and Gate 1, located in the non-Schengen zone. There was a queue, but there’s always a queue with Wizz Air…..

This process is the same with Wizz Air and Ryanair, they call passengers forwards to wait before the aircraft is ready for boarding. Which means a wait on the steps down to the tarmac, which is fine for me leaning against a wall reading a book on my phone, but less so for those who don’t feel quite as comfortable standing on steps for twenty minutes.

And it started to rain quite heavily, but it was only a short walk to the aircraft. Wizz Air rarely use airbridges, which has the advantage of meaning that I can take photos of the aircraft.

The aircraft was registration HA-LXS, an Airbus A321, which has been in the Wizz Air fleet since June 2017.

I boarded via the back of the aircraft and the flight was clearly busy, and I think just about full.

I had the middle seat, which is the first time I’ve had this in years, although the other passengers on each side were ideally behave which makes things easier. The leg room on Wizz Air really isn’t ideal, but the flight was only for two hours and so is bearable. The crew were friendly and helpful, although I couldn’t work out where they were from as their ability so speak so many different languages is really quite impressive. The pilot announcements were hard to hear, but we landed on time although the wind made the landing quite bumpy. Well, very bumpy actually, but it added to the excitement, although the babies on board decided at this moment that they really didn’t like what was happening.

It’s also fair to add here that this flight cost me £7.50, so it’s hard to fault Wizz Air for anything given that. The service ran as expected, the aircraft was clean, the flight was on time and everything was as comfortable as could be expected. The arriving into Luton Airport on time was fortunate as my friend Liam was there to pick me up, so he didn’t have to wait for endless amounts of time in an industrial park in Luton. Anyway, based on this flight I’d happily fly with Wizz Air again, they fly to a wide number of destinations that I want to visit and although I can’t claim the flight was luxurious, it’d be ridiculous to complain at the price that they charged.

February 7, 2022