Wisloujscie Fortress - part 1

Panorama of Wisloujscie Fortress

Wisłoujście Fortress - this is what I wanted to write about on my last entry. Why did I write about it then? Well, the answer it pretty simple - it was closed. So why I decided to write about it now? Because I can't wait four months for it to reopen. Sadly the place is closed offseason. As I learnt stearing at the door's opening hours board. Nontheless I will write about the fortress again, when it reopens:) If I only came there two months  ago :)

Panorama - up close - of Wisloujscie Fortress

Let's start with that it was my first time there. All I knew was that the fortress is located close by Westerplatte. The way I imagined it was as a kind of lighthouse. Kinda tall round whitish building and that's about it. As stupid as this sounds, I had no idea what twierdza, which is polish word for fortress might be used for. For me it could be just a plain building that a person would barricaded himself. Only when I translated this word into english it all started to make sense to me. When going there I had to push myself not to turn around as I was convinced that I am going to end up in the middle of nowhere. Since my car is a little bit unstable these days and shuts on me for any reason I didn't want to be forced sleeping in bushes or worse.

Wisloujscie Fortress - right wing

There is no good directions on the way so I was guessing which turn to take (fortunatelly there weren't that many:). Since this area became kind of industral with port being nearby, don't be suppried to pass by slag heaps and factory building that to some might seem to be abandond, I think they are just run down. However it's not about the journey there, but the place itself. 

Drive up to Wisloujscie Fortress

I must say I was quite suprised when I saw it, and in good way. The thing is huge. There is lighthouse looking building as I imagined, but it is surrounded by massive walls that have lawn as a roof. It reminded me of my hobbit houses on Hail Mountain. It turns out I love any building that has lawn on the roof :)

View of Fortress on the other side

 Since my car didn't survive the trip and I had to left it at car mechanics, I think next time I come visit the place when they reopen in may I would be coming by public transport. I just don't want to risk it ;) Luckily I was able to borrow a car and drive across city to take pictures of Wisloujscie Fortress from the other side, since the ferry rans only during weekdays.

Wisloujscie Fortress on the map

I did try my best to see what secrets the place holds. Luckily I was able to find a whole in entrance door, so here is the sneak peek of what is coming next (in sixth month time). Hope you like it :)

Mistery of Wisloujscie Fortress

Stogi Beach

I wanted to write about something else today, but as usual it didn't work out. Don't get me wrong. I planned to write about Stogi Beach as well, but not today. Actually I want to write about every beach that you can go to in TriCity, because despite them being so close to one another they tend to differ.

Stogi Beach is one of my favorite beaches in TriCity. It is set a little bit of the side, and since there is a port and Vistula river, it is one of two beaches that aren't connected with the others.

So, why is this one of my favourite beaches? It's pretty simple. Since it's not linked to other beaches and is not located in the touristy part of the city it tends to be less crowded. However during hot summer day it still be a struggle to find nice quiet spot.

Although, if you decide to go relax on weekday you might experience some noise coming from nearby port. But for me it adds to experience, and surely I prefer that to screaming kids and loud disco music.

Also the sand here seems to be more soft and white. It's funny that sand at every beach in Tricity is a little bit different, even though they are so close to one another.

Between the beach and entrance area where all bars and restaurants are located is something that is called "Coastal Strip", this part off limits, as it's an area protected by law where the wild life, especially plants, is left to be. So be wary as you can get fine when caught strolling there.

There is one more thing that differentiates Stogi Beach from the others. It is the distance from the Stogi district (populated area). Other beaches are located about 5 minutes walk from busy city streets, some are even closer. To get to Stogi Beach you must prepare yourself for a walk of around 30 minutes through wooded area. However if you are eager to get to the beach as soon as possible, you can hop in tram, or a car to get there. Both of the transportation options would guarantee you travel time of no more than 5 minutes.

Election day

So this day has finally arrived. The Local Elections day. I promised myself that I will vote this time and for weeks I have been looking forward to this day. However, one thing is promising myself to do something that is weeks away and another to actually do it, when the time comes. As the day gone by I was preparing myself to drag myself to the voting station. Less than two hours before closing of the voting stations I managed to pull myself together.

It took me all of two minutes to walk to the voting station. There is was, I managed to conquer the hard part, getting out of the house :) Another two minutes and I was done. Ofcourse I had to take a picture of me putting my vote into the voting urn to show of in front of my family as none of them gone voting :( Then, to celebrate me taking part in election day I went down to store to buy myself some chocolate :)

There is the proof, I did vote :)

On the way to store I passed by one of my favorite spots, that comes to life after nightfall. I call it "a little amberland". Essentially they are luminescent stones that have different objects embedded in them. Whenever I show this spot to anyone for the first time, they always behave like little children getting exited to see what is embedded in which stone and guessing what that object might be :)

Little amberland

To sum up, I know, that local elections it is not such a big deal. I know that nobody's life depends on me going to vote, but there are so many people that complain about local government, yet when they have chance to do someting about it, they decide to stay home and do not partake.

Here we have a padlock

Oh well. When I got back with my chocolate, I put on live transmission of the voting poll to keep my exitment going :) And since I voted today, I can wake up tomorrow with firm belive that I did all I could to provide better future for my future children :)

And here we have a fish

Gdańsk in TOP-10

Just found out that Gdansk was named 9th top destination by Agoda.com, based on analysed customer reviews.


See for yourself: Where to find the best hotels


I say: Well done, and also, I know that few hotels are being built around Old Town, so next year I am waiting for spot in top 5. (that is if Agoda.com does the ranking every year :)

Westerplatte

Today I visited Westerplatte. It is not the first time I've been there. Fist time I was dragged there by my parents and grandparents, then at my adulthood I dragged all my guests there. After all, it is "a must see" to all visitors of TriCity, as the II World War began here.

Sign at Westerplatte that says: No more war

The place haven't changed much since my first visit there. However few years back "outside exhibitions" have been added. Essentially they are display boards placed in few areas that describe the beginnings of the War and explain the significance of the place. All information panels, as well as the display boards have both polish and english description. Which I find to be a nice touch. Finally there is no need to drag a translator along :)

As I struggled to convince anyone to tag along for the tour, I was suprised to see whole families strolling through the woods and by the seashore. It was late afternoon - 4pm - so we had to power walk through the place to make it before the nightfall. We almost did. Although I don't think it made such a difference since the whole day was kind of grim and dark.

Cemetery of Fallen Defenders of Westerplatte

Track of a tank

Outpost "Fort"

The word Westerplatte comes from german and means north island. Nowdays it is a peninsula, but back in XIX century it was an island. As silly as this might sound, until today I didn't relize that on the north side of the peninsula there is sea. I have never walked to this bank before. All my visits to Westerplatte were about going upto the monument and back. I have never walked around. As I have learnt today, that is not all that you can do there. There is whole educational path established that would take you through all important spots on Westerplatte peninsula.

  

Nevertheless if you don't feel like walking around, there are few places that you can stumble upon while walking down beaten path. One of them is barrack, or more ruins of a barrack. It has been secured so you can enter it, and even, if you are brave enough, go down to basement level. I wasn't. During the day, I get goose bumps when I even cross the door arch. But today, after nightfall, it look darn scary to me. I wouln't dare come close to it.

The most known and noticable part of Westerplatte is the Monument of the Defenders of the Coast raised on a mountain. The shape of the monument is supposed to resemble a jagged bayonet stuck in the ground. I also read that there should be seven candles that are refering to the seven days of defense of Westerplatte.

All Saints' Day in Gdansk

Although All Saints' Day isn't something that is strictly related to TriCity, but a cultural thing that is cherished all around Poland, I would like to write few words about it.

In other countries people like to dress up and go to parties, and it is well known as Halloween. We have never celebrated this holiday in such way, however the mode for it started sinking in here as well, and you can see more and more kids in costumes searching for candies at peoples' houses.

In Poland All Saints' Day, or Halloween (if you prefer) has more spiritual tone, where people spend the day thinking about their loved ones that passed away. Many people travel across country to be able to lit a candle and put fresh flowers at their graves.

On that day all cemeteries in every city, town or village is flooded with people, thousand of candles is lit. All that light makes cemeteries look beautiful and hopeful, to me anyways. When I look at countless amount of candles lit, I think of it as a souls of our loved ones that are being kept alive because of our love and memory of them.

It makes me feel hopeful, because even if you are gone from this world, there are people that still love and care about you, and even if you can't be there with them in person, you are in their hearts.

I have taken few pictures, however they don't show the beauty of the place, that can be experiance only when being there.

And if you can't get to your loved one's grave, you can still lit a candle in their memory, by the cross in the heart of cemetery.

Bastions - The Lower Town

Unfortunately I might have underestimated how much work I would have to put into preparing posts and especially pictures for my blog. Now 2-3 posts a week seem to be more like a fantasy, than a reality, however I will try to reach that goal in future, I hope. The fact, that last weekend the time was changed into winter one isn't much helpful. Now it's pitch black when I finish work, so well, to take today's pictures I had get up at crack of dawn to make it before work. Ok, it wasn't that much of crack of dawn :) I guess as the time goes on and the winter's moving in I will have to embrace Tricity "at night" (during the shortest days of year we get in Poland approximately 4 hours of daylight - which is funny if you compare to the longest days of year, that last about 20 hours:)

The Lower Town of Gdańsk is a part of Gdańsk- downtown (belive or not, but it is not the same thing), and of course has a german name - Niederstradt. However I will write more about the Lower Town a bit later. I hope to attend a walk of the neighbourhood with a historian, that knows thing or two about this area, in couple of weeks so I will have more to write about, becuase at present I know pretty much nothing :) Well, I do know that this The Lower Town has rich history behind, but that's about it ;)

Today I would like to show you a piece of the Lower Town, which I think is a gem. I am talking about bastions that are located on south-east bank of the Lown Town island. Yes, Down Town is an island, at least it used to be. Now it's a semi-island, with 90% of being an island and 10% of being an inland. Anyways, that is my theory.

On the picture can be seen  is original gate to City Gdańsk

The bastions were made in first half of the XVII century. To this date five of them survived, and they also have very original names: Wolf, Excess, Bear, Rabbit and Garden. During the times of their glory they protected the city from enimes.

What I like the most about this place is it's weirdness and uniqueness. Just before I visit this place again this morning I was planning to write that,the bastions are peaceful place, but when I got there this chilly morning I realized that it's absolutly not. You can hear the city all around you: trains passing, factory noices (I think they were factory noices), but you can't see most of it. I guess I never noticed that before, becuase I never came there during working hours. And back then it was peaceful there :)

Despite all city noices, it does feel relaxing there. Allthough I was almost running from place to place to take the pictures today, I did feel that relaxing atmosphere there. Just didn't have time to take it all  in :)  You have your birds there flying around and swimming in water. There are benches to sit on, and  further out is playground for kids and something that people call here "gym under a cloud", which essentially is just gym equipment placed outside :), We have fancy names for everything here,oh yes :)

I didn't mention the most characteristic thing about this place. You can't see it much in the pictures, you can notice it when going for a walk there, but it is most noticeable when looking at google maps. The river has a zig-zag shape. I am not most travelled person, but I never seen a man-made zig-zag shaped river, and for most of the part the river maintained it's original zig-zag shape with sharp corners of 90 degree angle.

Also from the highest bastion there is a view of the old city.