The end of marking coursework is always a time to celebrate and this year we decided to do it in style. We booked a “cheap” trip to Gdansk on Wizz Air – a budget Hungarian airline – and a hotel in the old town. Why Gdansk? Because we could fly there directly from Aberdeen for next to nothing and it purportedly has one of the best Christmas markets in Europe. Add the 37th anniversary of our first date and it was a done deal.
We arrived early Saturday evening after an uneventful and on-time flight. Like all budget airlines, this was no frills and no space but for a two hour flight, it was fine. It was quite cold with a light snow falling when we landed and after checking into the hotel, we wandered the few blocks to the Długi Targ to find something to eat. The entire vibe was pretty magical: lights everywhere, snowflakes falling, people out and about enjoying themselves. We had a lovely meal – sitting outside for part of it! – and then wandered around near the hotel for a bit. Then off to bed for the weary travelers.
The next day was “walk around outside” day. The weather forecast was for sunshine with increasing wind on Sunday and a pretty miserable and rainy monday. So we laced up our boots and set off to walk around the city. It is a very pretty place, partly by design. Gdansk (or then Danzig) was a critical sight in WWII and was heavily bombed in 1945, destroying around 90% of the old city. Some parts were rebuilt in the prewar style of the 16-17th century. So we wandered around for about 25K steps. Part of that was a visit to the Christmas market. It is huge! Lots of mulled wine (yum!) and food stalls and tchotchkes and crafts and amber. LOTS of amber. There is even a museum for it here. Apparently Gdansk is the centre for Baltic amber.
So we shopped and sipped and ate for most of the day, including a visit to a gluten free bakery. More yum! Eventually it was time for a real meal so we headed out to Goldwasser, a fancy place on the river. We had an amazing dinner, complete with some very good Polish wine (who knew?) and dessert that involved champagne and 23K gold leaf. More wandering to help digest all 3 courses and then off to bed.
Given the weather forecast, we decided that Monday should be museum day. There is a WWII museum in Gdansk that we were really looking forward to visiting. Except that we didn’t realize it is closed on Mondays. So is the Maritime museum that we wanted to visit. (NOTE: this is where my desire to plan things beats Frank’s sponteneity whims. Harumph!) Luckily the Gdansk Museums were not only open on a Monday but are also free! So we visited 5 branches of the city museum and learned about architecture, Polish royalty, the role of trades in early European government, how amber is formed and mined, and the fight for the Gdansk post office that was part of the spark starting WWII. All in all, an excellent learning experience. We managed more gluten free baked goods as well before heading back to the hotel to play in the hot tub and sauna. Ahhhhhhh.
I now truly despise weather forecasters because the rain never materialised and we could have made Monday the main walking and market day instead. It was much less crowded and we did end up buying some presents for folks and enjoying more gluhwein before dinner. The restaurant of choice for this eveneing was Chleb i Wino which had the strangest vibe. The decor was pretty over the top (purple neon lights in the ceiling!), dry ice was used to create smoke in wine buckets and appetiser plates, and a bubble gun created amazing looking cocktails. So weird and fun. A little more walking after dinner and it was time to call it an evening. And so ended our second full day in Gdansk.
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