Gdańsk had been in the planning stage for 7 or 8 years – not necessarily Gdańsk, but somewhere in Poland with my friend Maksymilian – a Polish native, and 2 other school friends. I had previously been to Poland on a trip to Kraków with my family, but this time was different – we had a translator this time.
The flight over offered remarkable views of the beaches around Pomerania, before showing the city before landing.
Upon touchdown we collected some złoty from the ATM and had a quick drink before descending on downtown Gdańsk. Our taxi dropped us off at our hostel (La Guitarra) which was a rock n roll themed hostel with rooms named after various different musicians – ours was named in honour of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour. We quickly dropped our bags off before heading out for some exploring and food, stopping at the nearby Labeernyth craft beer bar for a quick pit stop before embarking further into the city.
With us being right on the brink of the Baltic Sea, I opted for a lot of seafood (despite the fish being imported due to a fishing ban during the summer months). I was confident they’d be good at cooking it at least. That night we ate at a spot named Jack’s bar, and were served by a man named Magic (or so he told us) who had lived in Ballymena for years – his parents still doing so, voicing concerns about his parents ability to remain post-Brexit. It was bittersweet being reminded of the interconnectedness of the world, but also seeing concerns and the negative effects of our modern politics on people’s everyday lives.
Our first day was very relaxed. It pretty much consisted of a few drinks, grabbing food, and checking out the długa (the long street – a street in the old town filled with restaurants and bars). In a few hours we would be returning to długa to partake in a pub crawl starting at Neptune’s fountain. 
We walked back to the hostel, grabbed a few drinks and then returned to the fountain for our pub crawl. The pub crawl took us around 3 bars and then to a nightclub, and offered us the chance to speak to some fellow tourists and the local guides leading the crawl. There nothing particularly out of the ordinary on the pub crawl, except the chance to try some Polish beer (my favourite of which was a wheat beer called Ksiażece).
The next morning (or more accurately, early afternoon) we arose and got dressed – as this was the day we visited the other 2 cities of the Tri-City area; Gdynia and Sopot.
We were joined in our trip to Gdynia by a friend we made on the pub crawl the night before; Nova, an Australian girl living in London. We had planned on hitting the beach in Gdynia, and on the day we went the temperature was 35°C – this made the train journey to Gdynia an extremely sweaty affair. When we got the beach (after a detour to a shopping centre to get shorts for some of the boys) we opted for a bar in the shade rather than immediately hitting the sand.
The beach was lovely (although the sand was scorching hot). We took turns sitting on the beach watching over our stuff – though the sand was burning my feet so I went straight for the water.
Nova had departed back to Gdańsk to meet up with a friend for dinner, whilst we relaxed on the beach for another while. When the sun started to set, we showered the excess sand off and grabbed food before getting an Uber to Sopot, the third of the Tri-City cities.
Sopot is a spa-Town popular with Polish tourists from across the city, and has the longest wooden pier in Europe. We stopped for a pint in the popular Spatif bar, which was dead sadly due to it being a Sunday. Afterwards we went up the pier to check out the boats docked there. The bars along the pier were closed, but we were still able to walk along.
After spending about half an hour walking up and down the pier we went to a cocktail bar for the most extravagant cocktail I’ve ever had. If you ever visit Sopot, Cocktail Bar Max & Dom Whiskey is worth hitting up.
A few more cocktails were consumed and then we returned to Gdańsk.
On the Monday we got up early and caught an Uber to Stutthof concentration camp. To get a guided tour it would cost £60 per person, whilst an Uber cost £20 each in total, saving us a fortune – whilst the camp was self guided.
Stutthof was the first concentration camp built outside of German borders.
The camp was a very solemn experience, as it should be – but no matter how much you know about a place like this, actually visiting puts it into perspective. 65,000 people were murdered here, many of whom were worked to death in the factories manufacturing parts for fighter planes for Deutsche Austrüstungwerke GmbH (DAW). I walked along a pathway through a small wooded area to view the factories – and whilst taking a picture I felt a tickle on my ankles, I looked down and saw dozens on ants crawling up my legs – I calmed myself down a bit after brushing all the ants off me and returned along the guided path around the camp.
When we returned to Gdansk we thought we’d lift the mood a little. That night we visited a cool nerd bar (bit of an oxymoron) called Game Over, which was decked out with vintage game consoles (Mario Kart on Nintendo 64 is HARD), and it had many pop culture themed cocktails.
After 2am when Game Over closed we went to the club across the street; Tkacka, where we stayed until closing time.
4 happy tourists revelling and 2 photobombers
When we left the club, it was bright outside and I managed to get a photograph of a couple on their wedding day walking down the Main Street.
Our hostel offered breakfast with our stay, and this was the only morning we were up early enough to take advantage of the free breakfast (or should I say awake when the breakfast was being served, as we hadn’t slept yet). After some conversation with a Russian guest of the Hostel about Marilyn Manson rumours, we returned to our room to sleep.
Our last day in Gdańsk was very chill. A few drinks, perogi and a boat ride along the river summed up our day. We returned to Game Over that night to pass some time before getting about 45 mins sleep before leaving for the airport.
Gdańsk is gorgeous, and cheap, and definitely worth a visit to.
