Mój czwarty wyjazd do Gdańska (z szybką wizytą w Bydgoszczy i Toruniu)

I decided that since it had been a while (2023) since I was last in Poland I should try and find a way back there. I started in earnest looking at flights to Poland and decided I would go wherever the flights were cheapest. It turns out this was Gdansk. This worked out quite well because I never got around to seeing Westerplatte the last few times I was there.

You can read about these trips here, here and here.

I was excited about this trip as I love Poland. It is my favourite country in Europe. I started to look at the map and see where else I could visit whilst I was here. I would have 2 full days and I had already seen quite a lot of Gdansk on the last few trips.

I couldn’t decide where I wanted to go so I figured I would look again once I was in Gdansk.

The day came to leave for the airport. Thankfully it wasn’t too much of an early start. No early-hours coach and a train at an OK time. The flight was due to leave at 12:10 and I would get to the airport about 2.5 hours before the flight. This gives me enough time to get some food and relax a little bit.

Security was a little chaotic this time as quite a few schoolchildren were travelling. They must have been fairly new to travelling as they took ages. One of the workers asked if I was with the school group and I told him no. I told him I was too sane for that.

I headed to the gate and just sat and waited until it was time to board. Given my luck, it was at the furthest gate away from the departure lounge.

It came time to board and I was happy to be on the plane as I was closer to landing in Gdansk. The flight was uneventful thankfully – especially after some of the latest horror stories about flying.

We landed in Gdansk and I was at passport control pretty quick. This is where it got a little slower. The border guard seemed to take great pleasure in looking through every page of my passport. I have 6 pages with a Post-it on it as I need 6 blank pages for the India/Nepal/Vietnam trip. The guard asked how she was supposed to look at the pages with them on. I said she could take them off if she put them back. She didn’t seem so happy with that. Oh well.

I got through and headed for the train to Orunia. I would usually get the bus to the main station and then a bus to the hostel. It was nice to get a train right to the station close to the hostel.

Gdansk

Bydgoszcz

Torun

Day 1: Gdansk
I got to the hostel and checked in and dropped my stuff off and then headed out and I decided to head back towards the station and carry on down the road behind the station. I saw it last year but I didn’t go that way. I decided this time I would go that way and see what was there. There looked to be some cool places to chill and just watch the rail traffic. I couldn’t really see any and by this time I had decided that tomorrow I wanted to head to Bydgoszcz. I tried to book tickets but it was so difficult. The website wouldn’t let me log in and I was getting frustrated.

I decided to carry on walking around this area and then I decided to head back to Orunia station and sit there and try and book some tickets and also sit and watch the trains. I’ve done this the last couple of times I have been here. It is my happy place and I love watching trains.

I managed to book tickets to Bydgoszcz. I decided since first-class tickets were fairly cheap (£12 for a 90-minute journey) I would go first class. You could never get tickets that cheap here in the UK.

I stayed at the station for about 90 minutes and just took videos of the trains. You can see those below.

Load more

I decided that since my train was at 08:20 I would try and get somewhat of an early night. Early nights aren’t really a thing at hostels though. I did manage to get some decent sleep though. I was shattered by the time I got back to the hostel.
Total steps: 13,245

Total miles: 6.31

Total kilometers: 10.15

Below are some pics from today
Day 2: Bydgoszcz/Torun

Today was the day to head to Bydgoszcz and I got the bus around 07:20 to the main station in Gdansk. It also gave me time to get some food and drinks for the trip (not that I needed much as the journey was 90 minutes).

As I got out of bed to go shower, the woman in the bed above me lifted her head, looked me dead in the eye and asked me to close the window. It scared me a little. It’s not what I was expecting!

It was so hot this early in the morning and it wasn’t to my liking. It was like 22 degrees at 09:00. Yuck. I got off the train in Bydgoszcz and decided to jump on the tram to the old town. I missed the stop I needed and got off the next one. It was good I did as I hadn’t been to this part of the city. I went and found a church and then went to get some souvenirs and some cold drinks. It was so hot. They had some water sprinklers in the city and they were welcomed. I decided to be like the locals and walk through them. They were so welcome. The cold water was nice on my legs.

I then headed to the cathedral. I hadn’t been here the last time I was in Bydgoszcz (2019). You can read about that trip here.

I decided that since Bydgoszcz was small I would go to a city close by. The closest city was Torun. I looked at the times and I had missed a train by about 20 minutes and it was 90 minutes until the next one. I booked the tickets and when I looked to add it to the calendar I realised I had booked the return ticket for the next day. Luckily if you change the date but keep the route the same they don’t charge any fees. I managed to change it to the train I needed today.

I decided to hop on the tram and go to the end of the line and then back to the station. It seemed to take ages to get back and I was worried I was gonna miss the train. Luckily I had 20 minutes before the train left.

Bydgoszcz Tram Rides

Type Start Time Route Number Start End KML File Link

09:59 5 Dworzec Główny Rondo Jagiellonów

11:04 5 Opera Gieryna

11:42 5 Gieryna Dworzec Główny

I got on the train and sat and enjoyed the ride to Torun. It was nice to be in the air-conditioned carriage. I decided that I would get the bus from the station to the area of the old town. It was so hot here too.

As I was walking to the old town I saw they had sprinklers here and I obliged myself with the cold water. It was very welcome.

I walked through the gate into the old town and it was really impressive. It was so pretty. It is somewhere I will definitely go back to as I didn’t have a lot of time here.

I went to get some souvenirs and the girl serving me was talking to me about her time living in the UK. It was nice to chat in the cool. I left there and walked around the main square here. I went into a couple of the churches before heading back to the tower. I decided that I wanted to go up the tower to get some views of the city. The city skyline is really cool here. When I was at the top of the tower the bells around the old town started ringing at the top of the hour. It was cool to hear them.

There were 171 steps from the ground up to the top of the tower. I asked the lady at the counter if there was a lift and she said no. We both looked at each other and shrugged. I was worried about climbing the stairs with my backpack.

The stairs were pretty narrow and steep at points. I still made it to the top though. It’s definitely worth it for the views.

Once I was at the bottom I decided that I wanted to head to the river and cross it and go to the panoramic viewpoint. I was going to get the bus back to the station and then walk from there.

I headed to the bus stop but my legs decided they wanted to walk over the bridge and then along the path near the river. I’m glad they did. The views were amazing. I got some good shots of the city from this side of the river.

Once I had got my pics I decided to head to the station and get something quick to eat and drink. I also wanted to get somewhere in the shade and the cool before the train.

The train ended up being about 15 minutes late. I got on the train and got to the compartment and it was nice and cool. I got talking to one of the other passengers. It was a nice chat and we chatted the whole way back to Gdansk. I found out she and her husband were going to Gdynia for a concert.

I finally got back to the hostel at about 23:30. I was so tired. I was happy to get to bed and to sleep. I needed to be up early tomorrow for a bus to Westerplatte at a reasonable time.
Total steps: 17,316

Total miles: 8.09

Total kilometers: 13.02

Below are some pics from today

Bydgoszcz

Torun

Start Time	Route Number	Start	End
09:59	5	Dworzec Główny	Rondo Jagiellonów
11:04	5	Opera	Gieryna
11:42	5	Gieryna	Dworzec Główny

Day 3: Gdansk/Westerplatte

Today was my last full day here and I decided that it was the day I would do Westerplatte. I wanted to go whilst the weather was still good. There was some rain forecast for later in the afternoon and I wanted to use that time to just ride around on the trams.

I got to the bus stop for the bus to Westerplatte and it seemed like the rest of the city was following suit. Luckily I managed to get a seat.

We got to Westerplatte and I got off and decided I would just walk around and see what was here. Westerplatte was a hugely important place during the Second World War. This is where the nazis targeted. They bombed the buildings that were here to stop the Poles from protecting the city. The Poles tried their best to stop the nazis from entering the city. Gdansk is where the Second World War started.

They have preserved this part of the city really well and have built a really good memorial to the fallen here. It is somewhere that you should visit if you are in the city.

I left here and then jumped back on the bus to the city and then got something to eat and drink and then jumped on the tram and spent a couple of hours just riding around on them. It was nice. It was also nice to sit under the window and feel the breeze.

On the first tram ride, I got a text from the Polish meteorological office and it warned of the impending dangerous storm. It said to seek shelter and that the storm was forecasted for the evening and tomorrow – this worried me a little as I was due to fly home then and back to work. I messaged my team leader to make him aware that there may be an issue getting home. I carried on riding around on the trams.

Gdansk Tram Rides

Start Time	Route Number	Start	End
12:54	3	Brama Wyżynna	Łostowice Świętokrzyska
13:32	6	Łostowice Świętokrzyska	Dworzec Główny
13:53	10	Dworzec Główny	Brętowo
14:31	10	Brętowo	Plac Solidarności
15:36	8	Plac Solidarności	Jelitkowo
16:22	4	Jelitkowo	Lawendowe Wzgórze
17:26	11	Lawendowe Wzgórze	Brama Wyżynna

I got back to one of the shopping centres of Gdansk and the wind started to pick up. I decided that I would just head to the hostel before the rain started. It was too late for that though. The rain started when I was on the bus. I got off the bus and stood under the bus shelter (along with others) hoping the heavy rain would stop. No such luck. I decided to head to the Zabka as I wanted a hot dog. Within about 30 seconds of being out from under the shelter, I was soaked through. Once I was this soaked I didn’t care anymore. I decided to get some pictures and videos of the rain. You can see those below. I still got my hot dog though.

As I was walking back to the hostel, the thunder was loud and the lightning was pretty cool to see.

Once I was back at the hostel I had to put on dirty clothes because of how soaked I was. There was nowhere to dry the clothes that were soaked so I decided I would just leave them.

I packed up my stuff and then decided to get an early-ish night. I checked the app to see if my flight was still scheduled and it was and I was happy that it was.

Total steps: 13,165

Total miles: 6.18

Total kilometers: 9.95

Below are some pics from today

I got up at about 05:00 and showered and packed the rest of my things and then headed to the bus stop. I saw there was a Zabka by the main station that opened at 06:00 and I wanted a cold drink and some chocolate. I got this and then headed to the bus stop. I had about 15 minutes until the bus so I just sat there until it arrived. You have to barge your way on here as that is what the locals do. If you are polite you will never get on the bus or tram.

I got on and got a good seat and just chilled until the airport.

I got to the airport and decided just to go straight through since the gate was already displayed. Man, I forgot how expensive Polish airports are in comparison to most in Europe. It cost £3.5 for a bottle of water. A Twix was a similar price. It cost me £6 for a breakfast wrap from the McDonald’s here.

I got to passport control and they checked my passport for about 15 minutes. They seemed to think one of the stamps wasn’t real because it looked like it was feint on the page. It wasn’t feint, it was just the ink from one of the stamps on the opposite page.

The rain had started when I was waiting to board. They made us wait to board until we could go from the gate straight onto the plane because of the rain.

There was a middle seat free and it was nice to have a space between me and the window seat. The flight was a little bumpy on the climb because of the weather. I’m sure my TL was happy that I messaged him and told him I was on the plane. I was on night shift alone and it meant they wouldn’t need to find cover.

The landing was pretty bumpy too. I thought we were going to have to do a go-around – thankfully not. I got off the plane and got to immigration. It was straight through and it was nice to not have to wait – though I had the time if I had to.

I went and sat on the platform until the train for home. I was so glad to be home – even if I was going back to work.

I am now going to try and plan my next trip to Poland before the year is out. I’m thinking Gdansk might have to be a yearly trip!

Total steps: 43,726

Total miles: 20.58

Total kilometers: 33.12

You can view all of my Gdansk pics here
You can view all of my Bydgoszcz pics here
You can view all of my Torun pics here
You can view all of my Westerplatte pics here

chris | Saturday July 13th 2024 | Travel| Bydgoszcz, Europe, Gdansk, Poland, Torun, Travel, Westerplatte | 0 Comments

Mój czwarty wyjazd do Gdańska (z szybką wizytą w Bydgoszczy i Toruniu)

Gdansk

Bydgoszcz

Torun

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