Sobot - Gdynia

Woke to an overcast sky this morning and the temperature has dropped as well. 

Oliwa Cathedral organ is the show piece of the church. So when we read that there was going to be a recital at 10 am this morning we decided to hang around and attend, which we surely did. The organ is known for it's fine tones and mechanised angels that blow trumpets and ring bells as the organ is playing. The concert was well attended and the appreciated by the large audience. A much better performance than the recital we attended in Warsaw. 

The famous organ of the Oliwa Cathedral. 

 

The last two days has been a bit hectic and so today we set a less ambitious agenda - shopping!

We did however, call in at Sopot, a very touristy and summer holiday destination for the Poles. We felt a bit sorry for the holiday makers as the weather was turning a little sour - cool, misty rain and generally not very pleasant for beach going. We did, though, check out the Baltic sandy beach before retreating back to the van. 

The hooded beach goer tells the story of the day. 

The Baltic sandy beach and kiosk - decidedly empty. 

Some hardy souls making the best of it. 

Ours are better than theres!

Later we visited Gdynia, the home of the Polish tall ship that visited Tassie during the Bi-centennial celebrations back in 1988. At Gdynia there were hundreds of holiday makers being driven indoors by the misty rain - many hardy souls kept battling the elements though!

Polish tall ship in Gdynia. 

Some were out .....

.... and the lody (ice cream) kiosk still doing a good trade. 

You must have a big wheel too!

We later drove into the village of Bozepole Wielkie for our overnight stop. 

Extras:

Tower blocks as far as the eye can see! Ex - Soviet style but have been enhance with a little colour.

And saw this in a catelogue - must buy some!

Gdansk

Another busy day! We were away early to beat the city traffic in Gdansk, located a convenient parking spot and then took to the pavements for the next few hours. 

Not quite knowing what to expect we were pleasantly surprised. Gdansk has always had the image of a large ship building city with its only claim to fame coming through the Solidarity movement. But on approaching the old town our understandings took a rapid reshaping! 

The first look at Gdansk. 

Wonderful stepped facades - typical of the Hanseatic League towns. 

The city has worked hard at returning its  heart to a place that encourages people to want to enter. This old Hanseatic League town has all the architectural features of these Baltic trading towns. The high stepped facades not only ring the market square but also side streets around the town.

And some with some very ornate finishing. 

The very distinguishable Gdansk Crane - the largest medieval port crane in Europe. 

A lot of work is evident to improve on this reconstruction. War damaged areas are still evident.  As is the trade in Amber!

Mariacka Street was unusual as it had maintained ornamental and functional gargoyles to disperse the water from the terraces of the houses. 

It also had oodles of Amber shops once again. 

And other delights!

Mariacka Street. 

Having had a long look around the city we drove out to the old Gdansk shipyards to the European Solidarity Centre. Here we were presented with  the story of the events leading to the 1980 strikes, the emergence of Solidarity under the leadership of Lech Walesa and how this led to the dismantling of the communist system in Eastern Europe. Again a very intelligent and well presented museum - even though the audio guide wasn't quite as logical as one would wish.  

Entrance to the old Gdansk shipyards - now entrance to the Freedim Museum. 

Political advertising for the first free elections in Poland. 

A Lech Wakesa moment in the museum. 

View out over the old shipyards where the challenge to the communist reign was fermented. 

Later in the afternoon we came across Oliwa Cathedral, a few kilometres from Gdansk, which was hosting part of the World Youth Day. This amazing cathedral has this very unique organ and a recital was taking place during our visit. 

Interesting facade - twin githic towers sheltering a baroque portion wedged in between. 

We chatted with the organisers and then decided to stay near here for the night. 

Another delightful day in Poland! It continues to endear itself to us. 

Magnificent Malbork

A most impressive site! We had heard that this castle was worth a visit - and being nearly castled-out at this stage the decision could have gone the other way! But we are so glad we came to Malbork. Any visit to Poland, if possible, ought to include Malbork.

Late afternoon but the largest gothic castle in the world is still looking magnificent. 

We arrived early and negotiated with the parking people for a good price for a day's parking ( the first parking place to want to do this!). 

Access to the castle was by a foot bridge over the Nogat River which provided a great view of the castle on the river side. 

Wandered around to the ticket office and bought our tickets and an English audio guide - and what a wonderful presentation. This took us around the whole site in just over four hours - but the time seemed to go so fast - much thanks to the audio presentation. 

What makes this castle so interesting is that it encapsulates most aspects of Polish history. The fortunes of the nation of Poland are integral to the fluctuating fortunes of Malborg Castle. 

The castle is considered to be a masterpiece of defensive and residential architecture. It is also the largest brick structure in the world build by human hands. It was one of many castles that were  a part of a system of strongholds of the Teutonic Knights, becoming the seat of the Grand-Master of the Order of Knights. It later became the residence of the kings of Poland. Later passing into the hands of the Prussians, back to the Poles and then in later years the Germans, the Russians and now back with the Poles. 

The castle came through WWII almost unscathed until 1945 when the Soviets caused great destruction to the eastern section of the castle. It has painstakingly been restored to it's near original state - and fortunately the last of these restorations were opened  just this year.

The eastern section in 1945 and 2016. 

The castle is also a very special museum too. It has great collections of a variety of items. The Amber Museum tells the story of amber and how it became the basis  of the wealth and trading power of the Teutonic Knights.

The arsenal has an elaborate collection of weaponary from the Middle Ages. 

The museum also holds a great collection of religious sculptures, both marble and wooden. 

And it goes on......

It has been interesting to see the merchant stalls around the castle - many of the items would be band in Australia- bows and arrows, sling shots, wooden swords and wooden knives etc. 

Our plan is to visit Gdansk early tomorrow so late this afternoon we drove  onto the village of  Cedrick Wielkie for our overnight stop. 

What a great day!

Some more pics from today:

The Great Refectory was in the middle ages the largest reception room of the Malbork fortress. This room is supported by three pillars and was built around 1340s. An absolute masterpiece!

A sculpture on the wall indicating where the medieval toilets were.

This marble statue of Jesus is considered to be one of the great treasures of Malbork.

Local bricks - made by hand!

A curious headstone in the Knights cemetery!

An ingenious heating  system appears around the castle!

Statues of four Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights. 

And another view as we approached by road this morning.

Kwidzyn

Kwidzyn today is an industrial town with a leftover castle and cathedral from the days of the powerful Teutonic Knights. It is located in what was once the bend in the Liwa River but today the course of the river is quite a distance away. It was here that the Knights established their first stronghold in the 1230s before moving the fortress to Malbork forty years later.  

The castle is interesting as it was built partially over the river, but today it is stuck in a landlocked position. When we went to visit the cathedral, again, made from this region's traditional red bricks, it was shut to all visitors! Interesting for a place encouraging tourism. 

The castle stretching out into where the Liwa once flowed. 

The Cathedral and Bishop's Chapterhouse, undamaged from war. 

Hilton trying to get in on the photos!

We took things a little slower today. Spent time replenishing supplies before we drove on to Sztumska Wieś for our overnight stop. Here we were entertained by a nest of storks dancing and prancing around their pole top nest for hours!

Chelmno - Swiecie

Heading north again today, meeting up with the Vistula near Chelmno. This old city was connected to the Teutonic Knights, a Germanic religious-military order who emerges from the Crusades, controlled  these parts in the 13th and 14th century - and left their mark for hundreds of years to come. 

Chelmno's spectacular white Polish Renaissance town hall. 

The Teutonic Knights built their power through controlling the rich grain trade along the Vistula, and later other areas around the Baltic. 

The Teutonic Knights made Chelmno their first headquarters in Europe. Invited in by the King of Poland they established a base here and began to build their power. Chelmno has remained undamaged by recent wars and retains much of its original look from the Middle Ages. Today it is interesting but obviously needs a little TLC for it to reach the standards of Torun. There were some interesting buildings, in particular the White town hall, considered to be a fine example of Polish Renaissance architecture. 

Around the wall of the town were some beautiful garden displays. 

Most of the architecture has changed with the use of the red brick being distinctive of the Knights favoured building material. The bricks were all made locally. 

Later in the day we moved onto Swiecie, a small historic town with a central square that showed signs of an era of wealth that came with being part of the Vistula trade route. Ornate merchant townhouses dotted the main square but with modern retail alterations their gloss has been eroded. 

Examined closely these fine old merchant houses need some work for they were once great homes. 

Swiecie's market square. 

Another facade needing to be returned to former glory. 

We drove on a few kilometres to a quiet village of  Wielkie Kormosk for our overnight stop.