Malbork Castle and the seaside community of Sobot

Tuesday May 16, 2017 Day 6

Wow! Sleep! What a difference even a short night’s sleep makes. Chilly today…only about 12 degrees but clear. We’re off to see a castle!
The castle on the agenda is Malbork Castle, the largest Gothic castle in the world and also thought to be the largest brick building in the world. Sounds interesting. The castle is 1.5 hours south of Gdansk through fields and fields of glowing yellow rapeseed. This area is very flat with the odd farmhouse and occasional small villages. We had our first stork sightings along the way. Nesting platforms have been erected in fields and yards and several were occupied.

Malbork Castle is an imposing sight. It sits on the side of a gentle river and is massive. One expects to see a knight in shining armour coming around the corner. Of course, if you need a set of shining armour, a sword, or shield they are available at the booths outside the gates. The building of the castle started in the 13th century by the Teutonic knights. Over the following 800+ years it has changed hands, been added on to, damaged, rebuilt and renovated many times. At the end of WWII it was seriously damaged. In 1997 it became a World Heritage Site.

Malbork has undergone intensive restoration and conservation. Today it was a very busy place with group after group of school kids as well as tourists learning about the storied life of the castle. It was easy to imagine knights and monks crossing the bridges over the moat, offering the password to get through the gates of the 10 foot thick walls, feasting in the large banquet hall, and praying in the chapel and the servants cooking in the dark underground kitchen or stoking the heating system.

For something completely different we jumped back on the bus and headed to Sobot, a beach community about another hour down the road. Sobot is a resort town on the Baltic Sea. Yes, despite the sun it was polar fleece weather although it appeared that the locals were ok sunbathing on the beautiful long white sand beach After a walk out the pier it was back on the bus and a half hour drive back to Gdansk for a bit of amber shopping in Old Town.

Dinner tonight was traditional Polish…sour rye soup served in a bread bowl, potato pancakes with salmon or not, an assortment of savory pierogi followed by cheese and blueberry pierogi for dessert. All very yummy….off to bed with a very full tummy.