Day 1 Poland
What an uncomfortable night! I could feel the boat swaying the entire time and the cabin was really hot throughout the night. I did not get much sleep despite the bed actually being pretty comfortable.
So - another day another country!
I woke up at about 5-something-am with some dude on the ship's PA announcing we would arrive at Swinoujscie in an hour. So we took turns in the bathroom, packed our stuff and got ready to depart. I wasn't really sure what the process for disembarking was so I just went to reception where we were dumped last night and sure enough everyone else started gathering there as well. Eventually a security guard gathered everyone up and took us down a few sets of stairs then set us walking down a verrrrrry long walkway to Poland!
Since we arrived so early it was still dark and there weren't any buses or anything so I just started walking towards the ferry stop. Wasn't too cold and it was nice to be walking around outside after being in the cabin all night.
In a town as small as Swinoujscie there wasn't much open particularly at 7am. So I basically just walked around for a few hours with my backpack. I walked through a couple of parks, through most of the town and past a bunch of workmen setting up for some kind of party later in the day.
It looks like a nice enough little town but it's not big. Probably pretty popular with German tourists since it's right on the border. I stopped for a coffee somewhere with wifi (OK ... It was McDonald's ... I feel the shame!) so I could figure out where I needed to be to catch my train.
That figured out I was going to go check out a couple of the tourist attractions in town but decided I didn't really want to walk all the way to them after all the wandering I'd been doing so I just went to the train station and kicked back for a while.
A little place across the station opened for lunch so I went in and grabbed my first polish beer and pierogi. The beer was OK (suitably lagerish) and the pierogi were pretty nice. They took long enough that I was starting to worry about missing my train but when they came out I realised the old lady was making them from scratch after I ordered them. Love freshly prepared food!
Eventually jump on the train and we start heading towards my first real stop in Poland ... Poznan!
It was about a 4 hour trip to Poznan but the train was pretty comfortable. There was an old Polish grandma in my seat when I got on the train and despite me showing her my ticket she was not inclined to move so I just picked another spare seat. I ended up having to change a few times throughout the journey as other people hopped on and eventually I had to push the old lady into her own seat and take mine.
The scenery was OK on the way to Poznan. Lots of forests, fields and towns with a mix of buildings in good condition and needing repairs. A lot like Russia in some respects but the buildings were a lot more solid.
Arrived in Poznan, got myself a SIM card at the train station then headed off towards my hostel.
On the way to the hostel I stumbled across a giant street party with heaps of food vendors and some music going on. Turns out it is Polish Independence Day! That's the party they were setting up for in Swinoujscie though apparently in Poznan they celebrate St Martien's day more than Polish Independence Day.
Whatever. There was a party with heaps of awesome Polish food to try! And my hostel is just around the corner. Score! Somethings things work out for the best!
On my way through the crowd I picked up a delicious looking croissant. I learned later this was a St Martin Croissant which is one of Poznan's big local things. The recipe is protected as a local treasure or something and you need some sort of license to produce and sell them. Weird. Anyway - it's a croissant with 81 layers of pastry and some sort of almond filling among other things and it was delicious. And very filling.
So I munched away on my croissant and found my hostel, which true to form in Europe was stupid to find. Through a gate, behind an unmarked door and up a flight of stairs. But when I got there it was really nice as hostels go. Fairly sterile but it was clean and spacious and the beds didn't squeak!
Dumped my shit then headed back out to partake in the partay.
We all know what a street party is like so suffice it to say I walked around, ate a bunch of food and drank a bunch of mulled wine and mulled beer (a first for me - not my preference but OK) and listened to some pretty good music.
They local museum was also open for free but the place was absolutely smashed with people so I didn't try to go in. I did however follow a bunch of people in for what turned out to be a free concert from some band I'm sure Polish people might know. A bunch of old guys singing in Polish. They were pretty good but after a while I had to pee and the queue to get back in was so huge I didn't bother.
Wandered around a little longer, watched a few street performers then headed back to the hostel to crash.
What a great start to Poland!
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