Our last morning in Gdańsk was a bit cloudy. It wasn't too windy, but we could feel it. We planned to see every single corner of the city center. Also we wanted to hit the mall, but we didn't buy much food since we were leaving for Hamburg. We had a morning flight. We had bought our tickets from Ryanair. Actually, it might have been easier if we were returning by train. But with the plane, we had to restrict everything. We bought Soplica, a local liqueur for our friends here. It was actually sold at Duty free too. Some varieties of this liqueur can also be found in markets in Germany.
We left the house neither too early nor too late on the last day. We had seen almost everywhere. All that was left were the details and enjoying the sun a bit. You know how rare the sun is up north in winter. The streets felt weirdly empty that day. Probably because it was Saturday. After the clouds dispersed, the reflection of the blue sky on the pavement stones by the shore was simply wonderful. When we got between the houses the wind didn't affect us much. We wandered around comfortably.
We walked among the buildings for a while. The most fashionable chain stores and hotels like Radisson and Marriott, were lined up on the lower floors. The street was very beautiful. The day before we had gone up to the roof of the basilica. People were still standing there, meaning they hadn't closed the terrace. I thought they would close the observation deck due to the strong wind. If it were Germany, they would have closed it long ago for safety reasons. Although the wind wasn't very strong yet, they were saying it would gradually increase.
More stalls and shops were open that day. As I walked small, intimate cafes caught my eye. One was called Drukarnia, which means printing house. I don't know exactly what it was. All the amber shops were finally open. whereas in previous days only two or three were open. The street was very peaceful, but to be honest, that atmosphere doesn't quite come through in the photos. The atmosphere is great when watching with the naked eye. Then the wind started hitting us right in the face. We noticed the shops on that street were pretty expensive. Amber costs a fortune there. A tiny heart figure was 300 zloty, about 75-80 euros. They wanted 320 zloty for a tiny bird figure. Even a glass of mulled wine Glühwein here is 6 euros. Hard to believe but this price was even more expensive than the Christmas markets in Germany. In Germany you can get a lovely wine for between 3-5 euros.
Even the magnet prices alone were 35 zloty, almost 10 euros. Incredible. I don't remember where else I saw such expensive magnets. I'm sure they are cheaper even in Switzerland. I understand the handmade ones. For example, I had seen a man carving them from stone right before our eyes. But these weren't like that. We returned to the shore, to that promenade. The ship we had seen before was moored there again, waiting for customers to spend their money. There were some ancient stones on the way, I think left over from old Prussian culture. It was a bit hard to understand what they were at first glance.
We reached the main point where the Old town ends. Then we headed towards that famous pedestrian bridge, the one connecting the islands. Perhaps the buildings around here are not actually new constructions. They might have just covered the exteriors with these modern materials and converted them into hotels or luxury residences. The ground was stil wet, probably due to moisture from the night fog. It's very normal to have fog at night when the sea is so close. I guess trams used to pass through here. The tracks were still there. The tram tracks totally reminded me of Taksim street, which we saw a few years ago. Honestly trams in crowded spots are kind of annoying. You have to watch out so you don't get hit. We walked as far as the tower and the old town was finished. It was a really compact place. Krakow is bigger, but this place has a cooler atmosphere.
Speaking of food, there are many places here offering traditional Polish cuisine. We went back to the pizza place on our last day. It was great and the price was right. Gdańsk is a great place to visit. One could even come during Christmas time. We paid about 75 euros to stay right in the center. Our only issue was the beds. Actually the reviews were very good. It had received about 9 points, but the beds didn't turn out as comfortable as we expected. We've gotten used to sleeping without pillows. We were putting towels under our heads and we managed somehow. Regarding the food issue Gdańsk didn't seem as delicious to me as Krakow. There wer many more options in Krakow and prices seemed a bit lower.
The people here are generally locals. We didn't encounter an overwhelming, suffocating crowd of tourists. Despite it being Saturday, one could walk easily in the streets. Our flight was at eleven the next day. A taxi to the airport was about 20 euros and took 30 minutes. So, public transport isn't really worth the hassle. Taxis in Poland are pretty cheap. We mostly used Bolt. I tried Uber once, but I haven't opened it much since that day because it scared me a bit regarding the price.
In the afternoon a storm warning arrived. The wind was supposed to be very strong throughout the night and the next day. I was really wondering how our veteran Ryanair plane would handle this wind and those vibrations. Anyway we were able to take off and land safely. Our new route was Hamburg. It was windy there too. Since it's 700 kilometers from Gdańsk, roughly the same weather was waiting for us. We saw a deal and grabbed 20 euro tickets to Hamburg. That's it for now. I will share our memories from our Hamburg trip later. Thanks for reading. See you soon.