Kat in the North

As my mini Tour De Pologne was coming to an end, I finally reached the Baltic Coast. Being Polish and never visiting the coast is a bit like being British and never seeing Cornwall 😉 This was my first time ever beside the Polish seaside. I’m not much of a sand, sea and sun person, I prefer a good hike to lazy sunbathing and I don’t even swim, so when it comes to choosing a destination it’s almost always mountains for me. However, my itinerary and Poland’s geography led me to the north of the country, and therefore to the sea. I’d heard lots of opinions and reviews about the coast (“cold, dirty sea”, “more expensive that Croatia”, “overcrowded” and my favourite “German prices, British weather”). It is true that during a relatively short summer season it can get insanely busy and my impressions from mid-May wouldn’t necessarily reflect the state of things in, say, August.

My journey involved catching a train from Toruń to Gdańsk, then an infrequent but reliable bus to a small seaside village Stegna. The village and the beach were separated by a forest, and from my Airbnb it took some 25 min to reach the sea. There were lots of guesthouses nearer the beach – in fact the entire village was nothing but a collection of small, family run hotels – plus holiday homes and other types of accommodation hidden in the forest itself. I loved the walk and the smell of larch trees and I didn’t mind walking there and back twice daily! If I were to compare it to anywhere in the UK, I’d say Formby and Freshfield National Trust Reserve. Just the nature, no dreadful high rise Benidorm style hotels…It was not a completely wild beach though: there were a couple of restaurants, public toilets and I assumed a life guard looked after the place in high season. Stegna had a good selection of eateries with typical Polish food, and of course fish was always on the menu.

First of all, the beach itself. It was vast, quite wide, and it stretched forever in either direction. It was possible to walk along the coast for hours, although heading east at we would eventually reach a no go zone at the Russian border in Kaliningrad. Fine, white sand was everywhere I looked and while the low or high tide was noticeable, the sea would not retreat for miles like it does in the UK. It was always there.

My first sunset was incredible…and so was the next one, and the one after that 🙂 A lucky weather window, it seemed. Temperature wise, not too bad either: I was able to wear shorts and take my jumper off from time to time. I dipped my toes in the sea; in fact I walked 2 hours barefoot along the shore to the next village and back.

What I loved best was the abundance of sand – just look at my buried feet – and the roaring sound the sea waves made. As soon as I walked away from the main beach entrance, I was almost all alone. It would not have been possible in the summer. Polish sea resorts never quite lost their popularity in the advent of low cost flights and cheap all inclusive holidays abroad. While it’s certainly tempting to spend the same-ish kind of money on holiday in Turkey, Egipt or Croatia and have guaranteed sunshine, people still flock to the Baltic coast in their masses. This is Stegna in the summer (photo source here) – I would never, ever want to go there during school holidays!!!

After a few delightful, quiet days in Stegna – including a day trip to a popular resort Krynica Morska – it was time to arrive in Gdańsk. I’ll write a separate post about this wonderful city, but here I’ll mention another very well known and loved seaside destination, that is Sopot. It’s a part of so-called Tri-City and can be easily reached from Gdańsk by a commuter train.

Unlike no frills, down to earth Stegna, Sopot, already an established and renowned spa town in the 19th century, is kind of posh 🙂 The over 0.5 km long fantastic pier costs a silly £2 to enter and I was there for nearly an hour. It was massive and unlike the otherwise nice pier in Llandudno in North Wales, it had no tacky amusements and nasty junk food. What it had was an elegant seafood restaurant overlooking a pretty marina. From the pier end I could see the beach in the distance. Again, it was a lovely, proper sandy beach. Despite cold wind people were sunbathing, playing volleyball, swimming even. I thought about the pier in Southport closed down due to health & safety concerns and in need of a £13 million refurbishment. Maybe if it had been properly maintained over the last few decades it would still be in a decent condition?

Sopot’s beach is first class. Each entrance was numbered and easy to locate. Waffles with whipped cream – a classic treat – were sold virtually everywhere 🙂 There were numerous fish & chips restaurants along the way, meals costing from £10 upwards (food only). I opted for sushi I bought in a mini supermarket and brought with me to the beach 🙂

Having spent a couple of hours watching the world go by I returned to the town centre for the last walk in a lovely local park. I then headed back to the beach, found some fishing boats, took a dozen selfies and reluctantly made my way to the railway station. On the train back to Gdańsk I was lost in thoughts. Sopot was lively, clean, safe, bustling and packed with Polish, Ukrainian, German and even British visitors. The beach was pristine, well organized, spacious. Sopot’s immaculate Grand Hotel actually looked grand; in fact there was not a single tired, dated, rundown, neglected building in sight. That’s how it’s done: offer quality surroundings, modern infrastructure, sensible transport links and good value for money and people will come and part with their cash willingly. Investors know it, the local government know it too. It’s no rocket science.

Next time, I’ll take you to Gdańsk where I stayed at my friend’s holiday apartment for three nights before flying back to Liverpool. Stay tuned.