After my approach I got to Malbork Castle around 8:45am. It opens at 9. I was the first one waiting outside the ticket office and I was feeling good. For about 5 minutes. Then maybe two classrooms worth of elementary school students showed up. Couple teachers / chaperones milling about. This ticket situation could get sticky at the open. I decide to pull out my phone and see if I can't snag a ticket online. Indeed, I could. Feeling good again. Just about 9am so I stroll up the hill toward the entry to the castle compound. Maybe a couple / few hundred meters. I find the kind folks manning the entrance, show them my ticket. Negged. What? You need the headphones for the self-guided tour. Obligatory? Obligatory. I need to go back? Yes, I need to go back. Ugh. Schlep back to the ticket office and am staring at 40 little kids plus the Spanish seniors group who showed up after I left. All of them now around the entrance. Fortunately some nice woman saw me straining my neck trying to figure out where to get the headphones. She explained I can sail past everyone waiting to get tickets and head over to an ancillary section of the entry zone to get my headphones. Nice. Back up to the castle.
Within the first few minutes it was clear why the headphones are obligatory. No way to just meander around this place and have any clue where you are. It's massive. And the whole thing is not open, so you do need to follow a sequence and figure out how to navigate it. Prior to this Poland trip I had never used the self-guided headphones for any sight. But we used them at Wawel Castle in Krakow, and they were handy again here in Malbork. I'm now a fan.
On the way up you start by seeing this image illustrating just how damaged the castle was during WWII.
Then you round a corner and ultimately find the entrance.
I snapped 50+ pics during my tour of the castle. Won't include them all here. Just some of my favorites. Starting with a crowd pleaser in most castles, the weapons.
Some cool scenery shots ...
The kitchen ...
Miscellaneous interior shots ...
An impressive stained glass exhibit ...
And lastly a little wander round the back shot before leaving ...
I raced through my visit a bit, not wanting to miss my train back to Gdansk. I maybe pushed it too quickly and found myself with extra time and a phone battery lower than I'd like. So I camped out at McDonald's with a coffee and breakfast sandwich. As far as McDonald's goes, this was pretty pleasant.
Risked my battery for a couple shots of the lovely train station, then was on my way back to Gdansk.
Want more Malbork Castle details? I found this video useful before my visit. Not a fan of the corny YouTube still shot pose. But the actual content was decent. She is a Ukraine transplant and has a number of good Poland videos on her channel.
No comments:
Post a Comment