Shots from our evening cruise in Gdansk, Poland

After our quick meal at Montownia we headed over to the meeting spot for our "Sunset Cruise on a Historic Polish Boat". Getting there could have been easier if they shared more than just an address as the meeting point. We were given "Dokowa 1, 80-863 Gdańsk, Poland". It was only a 5 minute walk from Montownia. But street numbers are not really a thing I could discern in the old shipyard (if they exist). Turned out the meeting point was essentially the Yard Cafe, which has a pretty large and visible sign. Sharing that detail could have been helpful.

We learned on the 'cruise' that the Galar boats were used by traders in the 18th century. Kind of a heavy-duty raft that could carry whatever you needed to carry up the Vistula river to sell in the bigger markets of Poland. These vessels are a modern version designed for exactly the type of light recreation we had scheduled for the evening.

You can fit something like 12-15 people on the boat. We got our seats up front, grabbed a couple of their courtesy fleece blankets, and settled in for the experience. While I genuinely enjoyed the ride, I have to say my expectations were not managed by the tite of the tour: "Sunset Cruise". Not really. The first 5 minutes maybe of the cruise occur around sunset, which you glimpse from a pretty good distance off on the horizon behind the cranes and various other elements of the industrial shipyard landscape. Not particulary romantic or awe-inspiring. A catamaran ride in the Santorini caldera this was not.

After a little loop in the area up near the launch point accompanied by story time about both the area's history and its contemporary evolution (e.g., turns out the resources and people adept at shipbuilding are also rather useful in the manufacturing of windmill turbines), we ambled down toward the city center. Below are a variety of shots I snapped on the way. New condos, historic buildings, waterside restaurants, etc. Nice little ride if you don't come in hoping for a 'wow' sunset viewing. The crew consisted of one captain driving and the guide, well, guiding. They shared some interesting tidbits, both historical and contemporary (e.g., the fact that locals refer to one of the islands as 'booking.com' since it's all holiday apartments). Some of it came off a bit scripted and forced. But definitely worth the modest price they charge for the time.

Quick Review: Montownia Food Hall (Gdansk, Poland)

So Montownia Food Hall has only been around since 2023 but if you're checking YouTube, blogs, etc., about what to do in Gdansk this place pops up. I've had mixed experience with food halls. Over the past 10-15 years they seem to be popping up everywhere. I remember Mercado Roma was a sensation when it opened in 2014. There was even a satellite location in a semi-random spot on Miguel Ángel Quevedo in Coyoacán for a few years before that inevitably closed. My sense is these places can feel templated, food-hall-by-numbers type of experiences where you're paying a premium for the trend / buzz factor. I guess that's true for a lot of restaurants, though, isn't it? Anyway, I wasn't planning to go out of my way to visit Montownia. And its location is a bit out of the way, up near the shipyard. But as it happened we had an evening boat tour leaving from the shipyard around 8:30. The Montownia Food Hall was on the way from our Airbnb to the boat tour's meeting point. So stars aligned and we decided to check it out.

First thing you notice is that it's part of a sharp, new development that includes condos, light retail, even a loft-style hotel.

The location has an interesting history which I encourage you to read. In addition to the restaurants there are also art installations contributing to the overall atmosphere. I'm a sucker for posters, so this room caught my eye.

We did the customary lap around to see what's what and decide what to order.

Landed on Dim Sum Ramen (yes, our commitment to eating Asian food across Poland continued), where we got a basket of dim sum that were delicious. We paired that with an order of spicy Korean fried chicken from Chix. Also delicous. While waiting for our food I moseyed over to Tap Bar to peruse the selection. Nice try before you buy philosophy they had there. And the barkeep put me into a tasty IPA. (Wish I remember exactly what it was. Craft beer in Poland was consistently good.)

Net: glad we went, would recommend. If you're going to be up in this part of the city visiting the sights you could do far worse than popping in here for a meal and a beverage.

Quick visit to Sopot, Poland

Sopot was a delight. Every time I leave a new place I say I wish I could have spent more time there. And while it is generally true, I mean it more about some places than others. In retrospect I truly wish we had planned for at least 2 nights to visit and enjoy Sopot more completely. It was a really pleasant resort / vacation town with a great energy level. Comfortable balance of maintaining its 19th century charm and offering contemporary restaurants and shops to browse. Now, we were there on a Monday in late May. Your mileage may vary if you head there on a Saturday in July or August. But based on what we saw, if you're yearning for some vintage vacation vibes, Sopot is definitely worth spending some time in to slow down and enjoy a few days of what vacation used to be like.

We arrived by train from Gdynia, which takes maybe 10 minutes.

From the train station it is an easy and quick walk to Bohaterow Monte Cassino, the pedestrian street that leads you gently down hill toward the Skwer Kuracyjny. We made life a bit more complicated for ourselves somehow landing on a side street rather than the main feeder to Monte Cassino. But that was fine. Just a bit more exploring off path. Eventually we made it and snapped a few shots as we got situated.

We continued to what is supposed to be one of the main attractions, the pier. They charge an 'entrance' fee to go on the pier. That didn't seem particularly necessary or worth the nominal charge. I wanted to see more of the town. So we snapped the obligatory photos from the area outside of the entrance and kept it moving.

The square before the pier was lovely and brilliant this day (May 26). Probably seemed even more so to us after a number of cloudy / rainy days.

We spotted a scooter point and seized the opportunity, naturally. We are scooter people now.

And it was the scooters that allowed us to cover much more ground in Sopot than we could have done on foot. That light blue skinny loop running along the water south of the pier is what we scooted. Plus that little bit north, too.

We mostly stuck to the path running parallel to the water. It lies behind the dune line, so your view of the water in intermittent as you pass little cut outs that might be every few hundred meters or so. But we were drawn in a couple of times, like the little area below. It's just inland from Bar Przystan and according to Google Maps the area looks to be a bunch of little holiday apartments and 2-star hotels / inns. Super charming and an amazing location.

And here is an example of one of the little cut outs that open up to the beach. Felt like every one of them had its own local bar / fish restaurant, like Bar 33, which from what I saw, looked like a stellar spot to enjoy a few beers at sunset. Next time.

While the beach on the north side of the pier directly in front of neighboring 5-star resorts of the Sheraton and Sofitel is supposedly The Scene, count me in the camp of preferring to hang down here on the south side of town. Some Cape Cod / Rehoboth Beach vibes.

We would have been happy to scoot up and down the paths all afternoon. Two things, though, kept the experience from being all that it could have been. First, they have some gps-triggered speed governor on them. Pathway max speed is like 15km per hour or something. Feels a bit slower than it needs to be. But safety first, etc. Second is that you can't pause the Bolt ride unless you're near an approved parking spot. And there didn't seem to be any near those cool beachside bars we were passing. We tried stopping at least three times. No luck. So that was kind of a bummer. Guess we could have just left the scooter leaning against a fence with the meter running and taken the chance that no one would rip it off. But that seemed just a little too stupid to risk. So ultimately we went all the way back to where we picked them up to drop them back off. At which point we indulged in another classic Sopot tradition: casual strolling with a soft-serve ice cream in your mitts.

This next place depicted here is Browar Miejsky. Another joint that would 100% be on my hit list if I were able to return and spend 2-3 nights in Sopot.

Pleased with our couple-hour visit in Sopot it was time to grab the next heading back toward Gdansk.