I had only ever ventured to Spain, to Italy, and a few places in France too. The typical places that an English person ventures to and Spain in particular as I found the likes of Barcelona to be beautiful as well as Valencia and the Ayora Valley. However over a year had elapsed since my last visit abroad and I was looking for something a little different.
So I went to sky scanner and scoured for the latest flights and of course, what were some of the cheaper flights and stumbled upon Gdansk...a return ticket for 25.00, wow! I knew from reading a little about Gdansk that it was one of those undersung cities, but I wondered how much the hotel would be. Well, I found myself a hotel which was about 2km out from the centre of Gdansk and it cost me the princely sum of 17.00 GBP a night including an all you can eat breakfast.
Once I arrived at Gdansk airport a bus takes you from the airport to the centrum for about 90p and I jumped off outside the main train station (Glowny)
I can't take credit for that photo although I took many, the sun was shining brightly though and I decided to have a traditonal polish meal (Mcdonalds) yes I know but.....at least I ordered it in Polish although my Polish at that time left a lot to be desired.
After that i headed to my hotel just to drop my luggage off and headed out again, particularly I was fascinated by the old city. Which had been rebuilt from the designs of the blueprints from the 18th century after the destruction caused by the bombings and what a beautiful old city it is
A great meal can be purchased for 6.00 GBP but in truth at times I was too distracted by exploring the sights than I was about food which is somewhat unusual for me.
At night it looked fantastic too
There are of course nice restaurants, nice cafes, the more English oriented places as well as the traditional Polish. The Polish in that area of the country love their fish especially but I stuck with the traditional likes of spaghetti bologneise ahem.
What really struck me about the place was not just the exquisitite nature of the churches, and the other architecture but how calm and peaceful it all felt too walking around you really felt that. This was aided too by the fact that there aren't half as many cars in most areas of the centre as there are typically. It's largely buses and trams and of course trains. The latter will take you to Sopot and Gdynia (the tricity) the tickets are very cheap and Sopot is only a short journey away.
For those that don't know Sopot has miles of beautiful beach and is a lovely place in it's own right too.
With some rather quirky buildings too
In truth I should have spent much longer here but when the weather is good, which it was, for a cheap holiday, which offers a little of everything this place is perfect and I will be returning to Gdansk as well as seeing more of Poland.