Poland … Gdansk and Warsaw at least.
We arrived in Gdansk on the overnight train from Berlin. This was by far our best overnight train experience - we enjoyed a cabin with duvets, sink and plenty of space to stow our bags.
We found our picturesque hostel (see photo). Despite appearances we received a warm welcome and the offer of coffee and breakfast, which we grabbed with both hands.
Refuelled, we headed into the centre of town. We found a beautiful old town surrounded by some less attractive buildings. The city had been virtually destroyed during the war, though the central old town has been rebuilt more or less to the original design. This has left a very compact but pretty central part to the city.
To the north of the centre stand the historic docks and monuments which saw the rise of the Solidarity Movement and, from that, the beginnings of the fall of Communism in Europe. As in Berlin it was moving to see such recent historically significant sites.
We spent the next day travelling to Warsaw, though we were not the only ones to be going that way as our train was packed. Squeezing 8 people into a 6 person compartment does not make for a pleasant 6 hours.
We were not sure what to expect from the Polish capital but we found a really unique place that we didn't allow nearly enough time to see. We are definitely going to have to come back. We embarked on two walking tours which took us around the old town, the new(ish) town (built 15th century) and the royal area.
After we had visited a few of the sites a continuing theme developed whereby the very old looking buildings had been totally destroyed in the war and had since been rebuilt. In fact, the whole of the old town has now been so well rebuilt that it is designated a UNESCO world heritage site. Warsaw did though look very different to other places we had been though as around the centre there were many communist towers still standing, this made it a really interesting place to wonder round.
From the hostel we were given a great map which had been prepared by locals which listed interested sites/restaurants/bars/historical info that is not on the traditional tourist trail (except for other tourists who get given the map). One piece of invaluable information which it gave us was that toilets typically just have either a triangle or a circle on them to denote which were are gents or ladies, this certainly helped us to avoid embarrassment.
It also had the Warsaw university library as a site to visit and described the phenomenon of 'buwing' (pronounced 'brooving') which is hanging out at the library for reasons other than reading. This sounds strange but when there are cafes, bars and gardens it makes a bit more sense. This library has a garden on its roof which was great to walk round and gave good views over the city.
After our painful train journey we decided to treat ourselves and fly to Riga in Latvia, missing out Lithuania which had been in our original plans.
Next time…due to popular demand we will be providing a duct tape update (there is no need to send emergency supplies)