How a Storm on a Three-Masted Ship Nearly Carried Us to Scandinavia and Ended Up with Smoked Fish from Biedronka. The Gdynia Port transported us back in time.
Nightmare or Dream Come True?
Diary Entry, 3:43 AM, Somewhere in the Depths of the Subconscious:
Veteran Johny clings to the mast, gripping the rope. The wind tosses him like a rag doll, tearing off his Tyrolean hat; his sunglasses are already lost to the waves.
“Where’s north?” he shouts.
“Behind that wave—or the other one?” I yell back through the storm, crashing waves, and lightning. I’m holding onto the helm of the three-masted ship, which creaks like an old cart rolling downhill in the rain.
Waves as tall as apartment buildings crash over the deck. Rain. Fog. The Dar Pomorza, a 110-year-old ship, tosses between lightning bolts and floating Maersk and IKEA containers. Gdańsk’s Neptune must truly be angry with us.
Below deck, the cadets’ lunch—our lunch—has overturned. Jazz from Sopot plays on the radio. And we… we remember that once, as children, we dreamed of becoming sailors. But then we bought scooters. Morning comes. The wet dreams end, and a trip to Gdynia awaits.
Gdynia Port
Reality is a bit drier. In truth, we (too stingy to pay for parking) left the car at some shopping mall, trusting that three hours would be free, as usual. Mistake—only the first hour was free.
The weather is favorable; off to the port we go. Passing the beach, we stop at the harbor. Two ships are moored there, reminiscent of all our childhood dreams of sea adventures.
Many years ago, before I even started school, we decided to build a boat during summer break and sail from the Rudava creek, through the Danube river, to the Black Sea. We spent about a week gathering planks. Once we assembled the boat, we rolled in a barrel of asphalt from somewhere, heated it, and sealed the entire vessel. On D-Day, we ceremoniously launched it into the Rudava. We placed it on the water; it sank to the bottom, and since it was thoroughly asphalted, it might still be there today.
Dar Pomorza
Unlike our attempts, the three-masted Dar Pomorza is enormous, beautiful, elegant, and most importantly, seaworthy. It serves as a training ship for the Polish Naval Academy. It looks like it’s straight out of a pirate movie, except instead of rum and parrots, it has students in uniforms. After an hour of taking photos, I genuinely struggled to pull Johny away from this sail-powered beauty.
ORP Błyskawica
Next to it stood the ORP Błyskawica, a military cruiser H34 with a massive chimney and a history worthy of five documentaries.
“It looks like a ship that can defend a country,” Johny said with respect. And indeed, the Poles have had their share of invaders—Napoleonic armies, Swedes, Germans, Russians—this region could tell many tales.
Both ships are open to visitors. There’s a naval museum here. If you have the time and a taste for the smell of oil, exhaust, and steel, it’s definitely worth a visit.
Gdynia: A City on the Sidelines
We admit—the city didn’t captivate us much. Perhaps we were tired, or maybe we just caught Gdynia at a time when it wasn’t in the mood to show off.
Yes, it has modernist architecture, an emigration museum, squares, and a waterfront. But maybe it lacks a bit of Gdańsk’s patina, history, or Sopot’s charm. Perhaps it needs to be better known. Or maybe just more time.
The Seaside Bike Route: We Must Do It Someday
What Gdynia undeniably offers is the endpoint of one of Europe’s most beautiful cycling routes—running from Gdańsk (Jelitkowo Beach), through Sopot, all the way to Gdynia.
Perfect asphalt, clean air, dunes, the sea beside you, stalls, parks, hot dogs, fish, beaches, pine trees.
“We have to do this on footbikes someday,” Johny declared as we looked at the map.
“But first, we need to figure out how to get them on the train.”
And maybe also how to handle that storm on the three-masted ship that still flickers in our minds from our nocturnal dreams.
Practical Tips
- Dar Pomorza and ORP Błyskawica are open to the public. Tickets can be purchased on-site, with tours available in English.
- Emigration Museum in Gdynia – if you have time and are curious about where everyone went when they didn’t stay here.
- Gdańsk–Sopot–Gdynia Bike Route – ideal for bikes and scooters; we recommend going from south to north, ending with a view of the port.
- There are several good fish restaurants in the port. Due to time constraints, we didn’t have halibut with cabbage and silence, but a smoked fish from Biedronka in the evening. That was a mistake.
