Gdańsk - Westerplatte

My morning 9.5km walk took me to a lovely scenic wetlands park.

And then back through town, following, in part, the Camino route. Early morning views, before festival booths are set up and the crowds throng through the old town areas.

In the afternoon, we sailed to Westerplatte on the Black Pearl “pirataky” ship.

There was commentary in multiple languages describing the shipyards and docks we passed on the was to the place where the first shots of WWII were fired in late 1939. Westerplatte, a former health spa, was a key military stronghold in a Polish city still considered to rightfully belong to Germany (Gdańsk is known as Danzig in Germany). The ship also had a full kitchen serving meals and snacks and a full bar. The prices were reasonable given the tourist location.

It was a beautiful warm summer day and we spent about two hours wandering around Westerplatte, seeing the bombed remnants of the guardhouses and ammunition storage as well as the memorial and dedication by the Polish Pope.

Dinner at Swojski Smak included traditional Polish fare and more than 150 flavours of Vodka. While I stuck with beer, Steve ordered the “sweet flight”, which included 6 very sweet choices - purple plum, strawberry, cherry, mirabelle plum, hazelnut, and apricot. I tried a little sip of each, but otherwise left the sugary liqueur-like vodka to Steve.

A very good day and perfect weather. On to Warsaw tomorrow.