Sopot

On Thursday, a couple of my Polish workmates convinced me I should go check out Sopot after work. Sopot is a little tourist town on the coast of the Baltic Sea, a little west of Gdansk. It was hard for me to reconcile that there is ever a time when people would go to the beach here, but they assure me that it's a very popular spot in the summer!

I had to take a train up to Sopot, but luckily my colleagues had given me really clear instructions on how to find the train, buy tickets, and where to go once I arrived. It was still a bit of an adventure though!

The best button in the world!

The train itself was...interesting. I think there were delays (I couldn't tell from sure from the announcements, but it was my best guess from the signs.) So when the train finally arrived, we were crowded in like I've never been before. I thought the 5:30 train in Sydney was bad, but it has nothing on this train. It was full on bodies against bodies, and everyone had to pile out at following stops to allow the people from the middle of the carriages to get out. Not my favorite part of the trip!

Luckily, I just had six stops to go from my station: Gdansk Wrzeszcz. And luckily I never had to pronounce my station name!

Once I arrived in Sopot, I could see why everyone called it a tourist town. There were lots of little shops and restaurants (about half of them closed up), and there was a nice wide boulevard for strolling. It was really cute!

I found this famous little building!

And I walked out to the longest wooden pier in Europe. The fog was really rolling in, so I couldn't get a great feel for how far the pier extended into the sea. But the fog added its own cool element of mystery: how much farther does this thing go?

There's the Baltic!

I did finally make it to the end, where there was a cool building with a little restaurant in it. I imagine this is quite the place to be in the summer, but it was not so busy in the foggy 8 degrees!

Near the pier was, of course, the beach, and some nice hotels and shopping.

I
 meandered a bit through the main area and once I was as cold as I could stand, I headed back for my train and the warmth of the apartment in Gdansk! It's clear to me that to fully appreciate Sopot, I will need to come back on a summertime visit! =)

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