Fall in love with Gdansk
A weekend trip with friends will work anywhere, that's obvious. However, if you choose the most beautiful Polish city as your destination, it will be a fabulous trip.
Two weeks before departure, it was no longer possible to buy intercity tickets and, condemned to the Cheap Railway Lines, without a restaurant car, we had to organize a dry provision with potato salad and hummus sandwiches ourselves.
The three and a half hours passed in a flash thanks to the pleasant company of a couple from Słupsk returning from their holiday in Cyprus and a few games of hearts washed down with Jaegermaister and Retsina.
Our first steps after settling in were to the Church of Saint Bridget, with its amber altar and patriotic bronze epitaphs, the creation of which was personally supervised for almost forty years by the Solidarity chaplain, who was removed from the position of parish priest due to the sexual abuse of children.
Then we climbed the 409 steps to the viewing terrace at the top of St. Mary's Basilica, the largest medieval brick church in the world, and immersed ourselves in the unique atmosphere of the old town, strolling among the stalls selling amber jewellery.
Dinner at the Dominikańska Tavern on the Motława River with Baltic salmon tartare, cod dewolaj, herring fritters, fish soup and bitter stomach soup.
Saturday we spent in museums. In the Museum of the Second World War we looked for interference of our government in historical truth, in the Polish Post Museum we admired heroic defenders of the post, and in the Amber Museum we viewed the largest excavations from the Baltic beaches.
In the meantime, we feasted on Gdansk's tabloids - the most famous local delicacy, burgers with pulled pork and mulled wine.
We had dinner at Słony Spichlerz, an elegant riverside food hall with international restaurants serving ramen, sushi, tacos, pad Thai and Russian pierogi.
The highlight of our trip was a walk along Monciak in the October sun and a visit to my favorite bar, Przystań. Salmon tartare, fried sprats, Kashubian herring, Greek cod, fish soup, halibut from the oven.
Tricity rules.
