Well good day good day.
We have finally made it to Gdańsk and this is a city I was most excited about visiting
in Poland.
And we are here.
Yeah, we are here.
And this is also the most northernmost city we're going to be visiting in Poland as well.
Oh my goodness on that note this morning we woke up at four thirty and the sun was already
up.
Like it is crazy how early the day starts here.
You've gotta love that.
Anyways, we are really excited and today we are going to go out and explore a lot.
Let's go.
Alright, so first up we're walking to the Basilica of Saint Mary (Bazylika Mariacka
- St. Marienkirche) because it is just down the street from our Airbnb and it looks massive.
It is huge.
It is undergoing some renovations right now so there is a lot of scaffolding going on
but hopefully we can still get in and maybe climb up the towers for some views.
We'll see if that is even possible.
Sam ready to climb the tower?
Absolutely ready.
It is a cool surprise.
I didn't think we could even get in.
I thought with all of the renovations.
Yeah.
We thought it would be closed.
This is exciting.
It is exciting.
It is going to be 409 steps to the top.
We paid 8 Zloty each and we are climbing up the spiraling tower.
I'd like to point out that we're only at 130.
Still a lot more to go.
So we are out of the tower.
We're somewhere in the ceiling I think.
I have to say though size 10 feet for women that is a little too big for these stairs.
I'm like tiptoeing up I feel like I'm a giant in Poland.
My giant feet.
Giant feet in Poland.
I don't know if you guys can see that but the staircase continues all the way up there
to that wooden platform.
We're hardly done.
Woo.
After visiting the Basilica, we walked over to the main pedestrian street in Gdansk: Dluga,
also known as Long Street (Ulica Długa - Langgasse).
Unlike most Polish cities, Gdańsk doesn’t have a main square, but this stretch of road
acts as the equivalent with lots of vendors and performers along the way.
On the west end of Dluga (Dooga) we came across the Amber Museum (Muzeum Bursztynu), which
sounded a little unusual, so we bought tickets and went up.
Here we learned the history of Amber trade in the Baltic, and we also discovered that
the tower that now houses the museum, was once a prison and torture chamber.
But anyways this museum is pretty cool.
So the first few levels like you get to see different exhibitions where you learn about
amber and culture.
Amber in jewelry because Gdansk is really known for amber jewelry.
And they actually have one entire street dedicated to amber shops.
So we're going to head there later but we're visiting the museum now and another cool thing
is this museum has a lookout point so we're going to get more views of the Old Town.
Alright Sam, so we've enjoyed two different vantage points of the city today.
Which did you prefer?
Our first two activities that we've done here basically we got amazing views of the city.
I actually prefer this view from the museum.
Yeah, same.
You've kind of got a better like overview of the main pedestrian area and also you can
see the church really well from there.
Yeah.
Plus there was less climbing involved.
That is true.
Wasn't quite as scary.
Climbing up the church cathedral was more of an experience.
Yeah.
Not done with museums just yet, our next stop was the Historical Museum of the City of Gdańsk
(Muzeum Historyczne Gdanska).
I think we spent more time staring at the ornate doorways, ceilings and staircases,
than we did at the exhibit itself!
And check out these ceilings.
You don't see this every day.
Alright so we're here on the river and there is lots going on.
There is a lot going on.
There is all kinds of boats out here.
Yeah.
There is people kayaking.
Uh huh.
There is people on these kind of like they look like motorized cars.
Yeah.
It is hilarious.
And then you have like the big tour boats and we saw like a I don't know something that
looked out of Pirates of the Caribbean.
I know.
Like an old ship.
We've seen just about everything on this river.
So yeah, we're just going to walk around and see what else we can find.
And here we have Gdansk looking all postcard perfect.
Here, we also saw the Medieval Crane (Żuraw), which was first mentioned in texts in 1367,
and was at one point the biggest working crane in the world.
It is open to visitors but we had already climbed up two viewing towers earlier that
day so we decided to skip this one.
Next, it was all aboard the SS Sołdek (Stanislaw Sołdek), a Polish coal and ore freighter
which is now a ship-museum.
Well ahoy ahoy Matie.
How are things aboard your ship.
Matie matie.
This is my ship and I've let you come up to the top today only for a short tour.
So let's make the most of it and then I'll kick you off.
Okay, so Saturday night here in Gdańsk.
Yeah.
And we wanted to go to a local bar but it was packed.
Yep.
It was packed.
So we've ended up on a boat.
On a boat by the water.
And I saw this place going for a walk actually this afternoon and it looked so cool.
Yeah.
Like they do fish and chips.
I've also ordered that too.
Yeah.
But I've just been like thinking about beer all day.
We've been doing a lot of walking and I've really wanted enjoy some nightlife here in
the city.
So yeah, I mean it is eight thirty but it is still daylight.
Yep.
So cheers to a Saturday night on a floating restaurants.
Cheers.
The fish and chips have arrived.
Yeah, I mean how could we head this north and be right on the sea and not have fish
and chips.
I love fish and chips.
Oh, drizzle that lemon.
I've been eating fish and chips all my life.
Especially when I've gone to Atlantic Canada they specialize in that too so I know what
good fish and chips taste like.
Yeah.
Alright, hope these are up to standard.
Let's dig in.
The fries aren't bad.
Let's try the fish.
Oh, skin and all.
Mmmmm.
That is nice.
Yeah?
Yeah.
Really tender.
Mmmmm.
Mmmm.
He says.
And since we’re on the topic of food, we need to show you a milk bar we really enjoyed.
Alright guys so we've been meaning to take you to a Milk Bar for a while.
There is a really famous one.
It is called Neptunes. Neptune Bar (Bar Mleczny Neptun).
We've been going to Milk Bars in every single Polish city we've visited.
Yeah.
And this one has some really good food.
I know.
Like we've been really impressed with the quality.
This one is a little different in the sense that they have like a display menu that you
can just point at.
And so we're just like ooh that looks good.
Oh that looks good.
No guessing.
Yeah, we don't have a great ideas of the names of some of these things but we can tell you
what it looks like.
Yeah.
So this one is basically a cutlet.
I think it is a pork cutlet with some cauliflower, carrots, potatoes with dill.
We also got this creamy soup.
It looks like a potato based soup with some green beans, dill, carrots and other veggies.
Yep.
Sam couldn't resist some cake this early in the morning.
And this is breakfast.
It is nine thirty in the morning.
This is breakfast right now.
Hahaha.
This is pretty embarrassing but it is going to be more like a brunch right?
And to drink yes.
Compote.
This one will last us a while.
To drink we have compote.
Yes.
Which is I don't even know how to describe this it is kind of like if they made like
strawberry jam and took the syrup and kind of added some water and turned it into juice.
That is what it looks like.
It is kind of a natural fruit juice that has been watered down a bit.
It has like real chunks of strawberry in there and it is really good.
But we just don't know how it is made.
Mmmm.
Is it good?
So good.
So good but yeah let's dig in.
Alrighty Mister.
Alrighty.
So dig right in.
Let's try let's try the cutlet first.
Grab it with a bit of cauliflower.
Nice little breakfast going on.
Mmmm.
That is a really nice cutlet.
Check it out.
That is quite creamy.
Oh and we can hear the church bells tolling in the distance.
It must be ten.
Mmmmm.
Is it good?
I love the dill in creamy soups.
It is just so nice.
Is it fairly thick?
Is it a thick soup?
I mean it is not like the thickest cream soup but I mean it is not a broth that is for sure.
It is good.
Mmmm.
And dessert wise.
On to dessert.
Check out that cake.
Wow.
That has got some meringue on top.
I think it might have a fruit filling.
Wow.
Oh, is that good?
Wow.
That is very decadent.
It does look decadent.
I can't believe I'm having that.
I know.
In the morning.
It is like a sponge-y cake on the bottom.
You've got merengue and like some kind of cherry sauce drizzled all over.
But anyways it has just been a fantastic meal and like you said earlier we've been eating
a Milk Bars throughout our entire trip in Poland.
Yeah.
It is something we highly highly recommend.
Yes.
You get really good food, good prices and it is just very satisfy meals.
On our last day in Gdansk, we walked over to the European Solidarity Centre (Europejskie
Centrum Solidarności), which is about a 15-20 minute walk from the Old Town.
The museum tells the story of Solidarity, a Polish trade union and civil resistance
movement, founded in 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard.
This was the first union not controlled by the communist party, and it’s a fascinating
museum to learn a bit more about the history.
And that’s a wrap for our Gdansk travel guide.
We hope you guys enjoyed this video and that it gave you a few ideas of things to do in
Gdańsk on you visit.
You know the drill, if you have any other tips or suggestions to share with travellers,
feel free to pop those in the comments section below.
Happy travels and until next time!