Gdynia, Poland

Hello from Poland! 

Early morning view of Gdynia from my balcony

On our itinerary this port was listed as "Gdansk (Gdynia), Poland". When two cities are listed it is hard to know exactly where you will be landing until you get there. Today we were docked in the industrial port near the city of Gdynia with Gdansk being another hour away from here. 

Ship tours going to Gdansk and beyond

Everyone is off the ship exploring

My plan was to avoid long drives and stay local but the only shuttle we could take went to the mall. Me? In a mall? The last time I was in a mall was when I was a mall walker way back when. I'm not a shopper but I am a people watcher (and being around a new language, a people listener) so I knew I'd be able to salvage the day. If the bus could accommodate a scooter, that is.

Who would have guessed Poland would be the very first port with a special shuttle just for wheelchairs and scooters? Heck, Princess won't let me ride on their accessible transportation but Poland will? Yahoo!

My chariot awaits after my day at the mall

The Centrum Handlowe Riviera (Riviera Shopping Center) is filled with 250 shops and 30 restaurants and cafes. It even had a grocery store inside! Filled with locals, the mall made for great people watching and listening. And even some picture taking.

Finally, no cobblestones!

Takes patience to get a photo with no people in it

Lots of sales today

Looks like the photo is backward, doesn't it?
Nope, the name of the shop is written this way.

As I said when I was processing our back to back visits to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, a mall is a mall is a mall. Just like there, I found some of the same stores and familiar brands in Poland as elsewhere in the world. I even stumbled upon The Body Shop where I think the lady working there thought I was nuts. Still desperately hoping to be able to smell something post-Covid I kept spraying different fragrance testers up and down my arms. Only two registered for me - strawberry and pine - but I'll take it as a sign I'm improving.

I also visited the clean handicapped restroom where I figured since I learned to wash my hands in Norwegian when I was in the Lofoten Islands last month I might as well learn how to wash my hands in Polish, too.

Near the restrooms the mall had free lockers to store coats and bags while you're shopping. The directions were in Polish, English, and Russian. 

When in Rome do as the Romans do, right? Well then when in Poland do as the Polish do and do your grocery shopping. The Auchan store had just about anything you might need. It reminded me of a Walmart Supercenter but with a much larger number of selections. I didn't buy anything but had fun looking at all the choices. 

This entire wall all the way to the end is cheese

Mustards galore

Fish in jars? Oh, yeah.

I can't recall the last time I've seen such red strawberries and tomatoes. The prices of everything were good, less than my husband's paying at home right now, for sure.

Today was more of a local experience rather than a tourist experience. Who is lucky enough to say that about their day in Poland?!

Tomorrow is a much needed sea day with Wednesday being a turnaround day and a new cruise starting in Copenhagen, Denmark. See you then.

Return of tastes and smells post-Covid: 

Tastes - Maple fudge

Smells - Rosemary, lavender, brief whiff of sunscreen on my face, strawberry body spray, pine body spray 

Klaipėda, Lithuania

Hello from Lithuania!

View of Klaipėda from the ship

While our last two ports in Estonia (Tallin) and Latvia (Riga) were the capital cities of their countries, Klaipėda is not the capital of the country. That honor would go to Vilnius almost 200 miles away. Here's an interesting fact about Lithuania: They are hosting an extremely important NATO summit in Vilnius in just a couple days. 

With no Hop On Hop Off bus to take (yay, I think?) and no ship excursions planned for me (yay for sure!) it was a day of traveling on my own. 

Passengers on ship excursions had a longer walk to get to their busses today

I stopped by the little kiosk on the dock to grab a map but do you think I used it? Nope, I followed the crowd along the Dane River.

What a beautiful day for a scooter stroll

Unbeknownst to me their path was ending in stairs. I turned around and retraced some of the walkway and found an incline I could take instead. Once I got near the spot where I could cross the bridge I found everyone had stopped. 

Is he trying to warn everyone?

Loads of bicyclists, cruise ship passengers, and lots and lots of young scouts with yellow scarves. We all had to stop for the Swing Bridge/Chain Bridge. It was originally built across the castle moat in 1855 and still opens and closes today. 

Boats are allowed through 15 minutes each hour.
Pedestrians are allowed 45 minutes.

The bridge is operated by two men who manually rotate the bridge with a metal bar.

Starting the process

Still spinning

Bridge is almost ready for foot traffic

From the bridge I again followed the crowd, hoping to end up at the Theater Square where a market was happening. I saw some pictures online earlier and knew it was going to be a rough cobblestone adventure. Uh, yeah. These weren't little cobblestones, but more like large river rock type of stones.

I called the first batch of cobblestones I crossed the What the Hell?! cobblestones.

The next set of cobblestones I had to cross in the square I called the What the Bloody Hell?! cobblestones.

I also ran into the What the Holy Hell?! cobblestones.

The market square was most definitely not my friend. I had to drag Scooter all along the way and it was not a pretty sight. When I first glimpsed somewhat decent pavement I headed away from the area. Where I ran into the What the &%!#@* Hell! cobblestones.

Guess who did NOT go this way?

A month ago I would have complained about
these cobblestones. Not now.

By going my own way in my own time - on only the cobblestones I could handle - I stumbled upon several interesting sights.

A giant map on the wall. At least I knew
where I was by the red dot near the middle.

Towers of flowers up close

Lunch menu of a restaurant opening at 12 with tuna tartare (?) on the menu.
Otherwise I don't know. 

A sailing ship in the water 

It's a restaurant, too

Fun little paddle boat

I watched someone having no luck trying to catch a fish

Fisherman statue 

Looks like a construction site to me

Bridge with Lithuanian and Ukrainian ribbons tied onto it

Try and follow those turn lanes painted on the road. Oh, my.

Tree of Love is covered in love locks

Interesting combination of architecture

Beautiful mosaic on the wall

Now that's one way to see the city!

I really enjoyed my time along the waterways the most as they were the prettiest of the spaces. Plus the pavement was not too shabby either.

Rain was on its way

I made my way back to the ship still without using the map but I was determined to figure out where I spent the day. I used the pictures (including the dozens I deleted) to help trace my route. 

Just a gal and her scooter in Lithuania

Tomorrow we'll be in our last country of this cruise. Poland, here we come! 

Keeping track of my progress on tastes and smells: 1. Maple fudge tasted sweet. 2. Rosemary tasted like something other than toilet water. 3. Lavender sachet smelled like lavender. 4. I caught a brief whiff of the smell of sunscreen when I was putting it on my face.