My Aussie friend and I had two days of sightseeing
in Gdansk. One concentrating on the Hanseatic past of Poland and the other
learning the modern history of Poland with Gdansk as focal point of the
political changes. To create a more complete picture of Poland and what she is
all about we still were missing many points. I was aware that I will not be
able to show my friend all I consider important, good, interesting and
characteristic to complete the picture. I had to put aside Polish literature,
music, art, nature, our complicated history over the centuries. There was no
time for that and we would have to explore as well other towns than the Tricity.
Sopot and Gdynia are the remaining two towns
forming the Tricity. I had to chose one of the two as my friend had to continue
her European trip further and leave Poland the next day. My choice was Sopot.
Lately I came across a comparison Sopot –
Polish Monte Carlo. Hmm... I think that comparisons like Stockholm - Paris of
the North or similar make it rather difficult for the pretenders to a higher
standard. They simply do not measure up! The same is with Sopot but I thought that
this comparison may help in understanding the flavour of the place. Of course this is not Monte
Carlo but it is an elegant town, with elegant society people walking down the
main street and promenade – Monte Casino which is affectionately called Monty
(in polish Monciak). And it has a casino situated next to the sea shore like in Monte Carlo. So much for
similarities.
the Monty |
Crooked House |
The town is ranked as #1 town in Poland with
population only 38,000. During the holiday season, July – August, the
population significantly increases. This is Polish ultimate place for summer holidays. Walking
down the Monty one sees VIPs passing by, beautiful people and aspiring
personalities of the future. Quite fun. It has always been that way, even in
the communistic times. Not that I ever saw the Polish Prime Minister walking
down Monty even if he lives in Sopot so I hope I might one day. He may remember Palme's demise.
While Sopot's architecture today is a mixture of modern and 19th century buildings it
was mentioned in historical documents as a village in the 13th
century. From the 16th century it started to operate as a spa. So much for history of Sopot today.
We started our Sopot walk from the top of the Monty passing the Crooked House, and many coffee places. We stopped for a while in at E.Wedel coffee place where we indulged in the speciality – drinking chocolate. It was not the most healthy or slimming stop but Wedel is considered the best Polish national candy brand so it was a must to have experience even if in fact it is Cadbury-E.Wedel now. Times change.
We started our Sopot walk from the top of the Monty passing the Crooked House, and many coffee places. We stopped for a while in at E.Wedel coffee place where we indulged in the speciality – drinking chocolate. It was not the most healthy or slimming stop but Wedel is considered the best Polish national candy brand so it was a must to have experience even if in fact it is Cadbury-E.Wedel now. Times change.
We continued along rather empty promenade, the
season has not started yet, to the longest wooden pier in Europe – 650m. I
remember few years ago I dragged my other Aussie friends to show them the pier
and the reaction was not that of admiration but rather annoyance – we have
piers in Australia you know! True, I did not realise that I was overly Tricity
patriotic and my friends were already tired of sightseeing. This time I was more lucky and we walked to
the end of the pier admiring Grand Hotel which presents itself best from from the end of the pier called Molo.
That what it looks like, the beach is 20 meters to the right. Difficult to believe looking at the picture |