11......return ticket to Hel(l)

It's taken a few days to get online again ( that's what happens when the hostel you're staying in doesn't have wifi!) Since last writing I've seen a lot ...done a lot, not slept as much as I should have!

After leaving the shipyards I returned to the centre of town where I stumbled across a sweet shop with a difference...they made their version of "seaside rock" in public, so I watched the process with interest..free samples an added enticement...

...then, of course, I HAD to buy some (but only to bring home as presents, not for me to eat!).

On Sunday the day dawned bright and warm. By 10.00am when I reached the upmarket beach resort of Sopot (think Brighton meets Cannes) it was already 23degrees and warming. The town itself shows a clear art nouveau influence , although there are occasional more modern buildings...

...this one based on illustrations in a book, and the occasional sculpture. The one that I liked best was that of a fisherman and his catch, suspended above the street on a wire, the statue and his catch act as a counterbalance so even in high winds he stays put!

 The resort has long stretches of cream coloured sand, a shallow sloping beach shelf that makes it ideal for children, but not so good if you really want to swim.

By mid day the temperature had reached 30 degrees (water temperature was 17 degrees, cold at first but then very comfortable for lounging about in) The gulls floated lazily overhead.

The water was flat, hardly a ripple in sight, and somewhere, not so far north of where I was sitting was Russia! As the day progressed, the town got busier, and a group of Happy Clappers set up on the pier, and kept going for five hours. Of course, as the crowds increased, the gulls became more opportunistic..

...encouraged by people who were quite happy to feed them.

The increase in numbers also meant that short cruises were on offer on a fake (very) pirate ship. It offered a chance to get out onto open water and enjoy a little bit of a breeze. Cormorants were fishing nearby,

and there was a massing of jellyfish just a little way offshore. There was also an enterprising wedding photographer shooting a couple on a boat!

The following day I bowed to the pressure of smelly socks and sweaty tee shirts, and tracked down somewhere to get my clothes clean. Not an easy thing  in a city where everyone seems to have a washing machine, not one launderette! I ended up having to pay for a service wash at a laundry and dry cleaners....that was one thing that was NOT cheap! But at least now I don't stink...no, and neither do my clothes!

My first impression of "Old" Gdansk was that somehow I'd been transported back to Amsterdam...

...finding out a little about the history, this wasn't too surprising, there were many cultural and economic links between the two cities and states for many years. The city is an odd mix of buildings covering the period from 1450 right up to the present day.

 

 Not all of it blends harmoniously, and the constant cobbles underfoot are a real pain in the feet, legs and hips! There are constant reminders that this has always been a seafaring city, with an economy based on the trading that goes with that.

One thing that one cannot escape from on the streets is the Amber trade. The coasts here have been the base for the collection and trade in Amber and in the cereation of beautiful objects made from it since prehistoric times. There is a museum here in the old Torturers Tower (the stairs are still torure).

The displays cover everything from raw amber, amber with inclusions, ancient artifacts.....

....historical works of art....

and modern jewellery....

and contemporary works....

I already loved amber as a material, but what I saw in this one small museum made me realise that what I had known about it until now was nothing compared to what can be, and is being done with this wonderful fossilised resin.

In planning this trip I couldn't help noticing that near to Gdansk was a peninsula that stuck out into the Baltic. In places less than a kilometer wide, it stretches out covered by dunes, forests and fishing villages. Not so long ago it was a restricted area for miltary use. But now it has been opened up again. Where Sopot was upmarket, this is definitely, down to basics. And it's irresistable, asking for a return ticket to Hel (OK so there's an L missing, and the Poles don't get the joke)...actually it's well worth the three hours journey from Gdansk...although I could have done without the screaming kids, and the three school groups of teens that got onto the two carriage bendy train.

A word about trains here...when will they discover that if they build a platform high enough one doesn't have to climb up waist high steps to board the train?

Once arrived, one quickly realises the dominant smell is that of fish....smoking! And there, right on the pavement in front of me, a mobile fish smokery.....a good sized portion of smoked herring for £1!

Windswept, and with the weather becoming increasingly less inviting, I decided that I would enjoy looking, but definitely NOT swimming.....

...but I did take another boatride out into the waters that lie between the peninsula and the mainland. In the distance one can just make out the faint silhouettes of the cranes and chimneys of the Gdansk shipyards. Or turning the other way, a good view of Hel itself.

But the sky was getting cloudier by the minute, and the sea choppier....and when it started to rain as we reached shore, I decided it was time to return to base.