Monthly Archives: July 2008
Sopot, Poland
Sopot is a cool little seaside town near Gdansk. It has been described as the Ibiza of Eastern Europe – by my guidebook at least. And it is somewhat. But I always imagined that Ibiza would be wilder. Granted, you can stay out all night long partying (as I did), but in general it seems much more family oriented.
If Gdansk is a tourist town, Sopot is an amusement park. Everything seems to be plastic and made to be looked at. Side kiosks sell souvineers and lite snacks. Overpriced restaurants feed those willing to trade more money for a place to sit. There are manicured open areas and if you’re wanting a hike, you can pay a few zloty and walk along the world’s longest wooden pier. But it is a very small town with only a few sights and not nearly as historic as Gdansk.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my time there, but it didn’t live up to its billing. I do recommend taking a day or so if you’re in Gdansk to see the area. If you decide to stay the night, I highly recommend the University Dorms (part of the Trojmiasto system) in the summer. Though the receptionists don’t speak great English, you can muddle through and get a room. They are cheap, clean and recently updated. There are no rooms larger than 2 (that I saw) and each room of 2 shares a bathroom with another room of 2. It was a great break from the dorm style accomodations and just the thing to clean up after watching the sun rise on the beach bar.
Which is what I did. After I got a shower and did some laundry, I went out for dinner and a drink or two. After that I headed to the Copacabanna bar, built in a tent structure right on the beach. It was pretty cool. I guess I got there early because there were only a handful of people sitting, drinking, and dancing. But after a couple of hours the place started to fill up with all the beautiful people in expensive clothes. As beautiful as I was after a shower, I still didn’t have the expensive clothes. The upstairs area I learned was for “veep veep private party stay out” after one trip to the toilet. Despite the fact that I’d been up there all night long, I was barred. Apparently the party started without me. So I did my best Right Said Fred on out of there. No way I’m disco dancing.
I went to another club just down the beach. The door was locked though people were inside partying – more face control. Luckily I was behind a couple of people who it turned out were locals and frequented the bar. Using my awesome Social Engineering skills and just walked in behind them like I belonged there. I grabbed a beer and started talking to the guys I’d followed. They were a couple of Polish brothers; one was an artist, the other a photojournalist. They spoke great English so we just sat there and chatted into the night drinking Sambuca by lighting it on fire, putting out the flame, drinking it, then sucking the gas through a straw 3 times. It makes you very lightheaded.
Next door there was a theater with a small impromptu party going on with some of their artist friends. They were all complaining about the sad state of the world the way I imagine the famous American expats in Paris and Prague would do around the middle of the century. I tried to liven up the mood by grabbing the guitar from the stage and playing as well as I could given my state of sobriety. I was able to put a few chords together and then asked somebody to sing to the chords. It lightened the mood for a moment but then they told me the guy was singing about the sad state of the world.
As the sun came up, I wandered out to the beach, snapped a few shots, and then walked about a mile back to the University Dorms. I’d had a good but exhausting night and morning and needed to get 3-4 good hours of sleep for the 6 hour train ride to Warsaw to meet a friend. Checkout came early and I stumbled back into town to grab some breakfast and coffee.
Overseas Trip Extended
I got an email the other day from my boss asking me if I wouldn’t mind heading to Ireland next week instead of Atlanta. After a few phone calls and spending some money to change plans and make new ones, everything is set. Next week I’ll be working in Ireland. I’m flying over to Dublin tomorrow to get cleaned up (I haven’t shaved in about a month or had a haircut in 2-3 months) and buy some work clothes before Monday.
On Friday I head back to the US….and go straight to Las Vegas for a week of Blackhat and DefCon. These are two of the premiere hacker conventions in the world. I couldn’t be happier!
European Bus Lines
Overnight European bus lines really suck. Imagine an airplane flight with nothing to do, frequent bumps and stops, no food service and with not as nice a toilet. 9 hours of road and trying to sleep in the most awkward positions imaginable left me tired and sore. And I didn’t have anybody sitting next to me so it was slightly better for me than for the others. Trains are the way to go if they go your way.
Gdansk, Poland
Gdansk is an old city on the Baltic Sea in the north of Poland. Established by the Hanseatic people (who also built most of the Baltic states) in the tenth century, the city was formerly known as Danzig – not to be confused with the rock band. It was already several hundreds of years old when the Teutonic Knights turned it into a major port in 1308. Destroyed by the Germans in World War II, it was painstakingly rebuilt by the Polish who are rightly very proud of the city. It is still maintained well today. The attention to detail shows in the incredible architecture of the old city.
There are some really huge and impressive buildings here that transport you back to when they were originally constructed. The largest brick church in the world is one of those – it dates from the 14th century. These old buildings really stand out in the old town as they look so different from anything we have in the US and even in many other European cities which lost their Medieval buildings.
Two neighboring cities, Sopot and Gdynia are also quite old and picturesque. Sopot has been described as the Ibiza of Poland – for American readers, Ibiza is a Spanish island (in)famous for its nightclubs, ravers, wealthy European tourists and non-stop party culture. With tourists flocking to the seaside town in the summer months, the Tri-Cities (Trimiasto) area has become quite affluent.
Most of the tourists here are Polish, but there are also several groups of foreigners to avoid tripping on. Gdansk is a stop for some Princess Cruises so there are quite a few tourists roaming around who don’t know and aren’t terribly interested in speaking the language. I’m often mistaken for one of them. When I speak and order exclusively in Polish (it’s not that impressive, the words are written on the menus) I get English in reply. I suppose that’s to be expected, I am probably butchering the subtleties of the pronunciation.
There is an immensely tall tower in the church and I made the decision that I would climb to the top of it. It only cost 2zl to enter and 4zl to climb. Some sadist bothered to number the steps, which number over 300. Apparently the Polish tour guide has such helpful commentary as “at this point you’ll wish you’d quit smoking” and “here you’ll wish you’d gone to the crypt rather than the tower.” Yikes! The walk is quite strenuous, but even my overeating underexercised body was able to struggle through it. At the top you’re treated to a gorgeous view of the entire city and surroundings. Or I imagine you would be if there weren’t dozens of heads packed like sardines into a small observation deck. But I found that the worst part was the walk down the winding spiral staircase barely 3 feet wide. The gentle upward breeze carried the smell of hundreds of European tourists who have done strenuous exercise in an enclosed area in Summer.
meanderingwoods 