Gdansk (formerly Danzig)

After a depressing day at the Wolfschanze we wanted something touristy. So we took the old, tree-lined roads towards Gdansk. Danzig is an old Hansa town, and the former German Capital of Pommern, a former German State. Gdansk was in the forefront of the Solidarity movement in the early 1990’s and the beginning of the end of the Soviet System. Gdansk was also where WW2 began, when Germany invaded Poland to reclaim what was taken away after WW1. As you can tell a lot of history happened here. We arrived late in the afternoon and we found a dorm room at a hostel but passed up on it after we learned we had to sleep with 5 strangers. Another hostel was on a boat, docked in the harbor but there was no place for our bikes to be securely parked. So, what to do? We had to bite the bullet and spend a lot of money on a 4 star hotel. Great place, great breakfast, good parking, fantastic location near the old town but we pay for it all. Gdansk is the Amber Capital of Poland. Yes, you can buy all the amber you want in every price you can afford. The prettiest street has nothing but amber for sale. There is one shop next to the other. What is the best kind, who sells the best, the cheapest? It is a hard task for novices like us. We did manage to secure our allotment of this commodity, and I am sure we bought some great gifts for our loved ones. The city itself is amazingly restored in the original architecture after being destroyed by British and Russian bombs during WW2. It has a wonderful character and a good mix of old and new. We live in the old town right now and are typical tourists. We are having coffee, beer and delicious Polish food. Gdansk is a worthwhile place to visit, the history is amazing.

Wolfsschanze

We left Lithuania in a heavy downpour after spending a night in a fancy, 3 star hotel, in a small town we found on the road. We were so wet, so worn out from rain that the price of 190 LTL seemed ok. Yes they have internet, we are told, but then it did not work well. It is Saturday night and a techno disco guy plays his music right under our room until 1 am. Sleeping without earplugs is a bit difficult but I fell asleep on a narrow bed after some time none the less. The next day, rain! Do we wait it out by booking one more day at this hotel or do we just grin and ride on?
We rode on, into Poland. After the morning passed, we found the sky getting lighter and smiling at us. The rain finally stopped. We got to the town of Gizycko (Loetzen in German) and stopped for the night. Tired and still a bit wet from the morning’s downpour, we were happy to be in a western kind of country. Technically Poland is Slavic, an Eastern County but the area we are in was formerly the German East Prussia, a very German looking area. All the towns, all the roads, to my brain, make sense and I see Germanic setups and housing all over the place. I feel at home here. I guess it is no wonder I like the Mazuren area of Poland.
Gizycko is near the town of Ketrzyn (Rastenburg) and near the Wolfsschanze, the War Headquarters for Hitler during WW2. It is an assortment of bunkers, deep in the woods, carefully chosen to be hidden from air surveillance and not generally known to anyone. The Nazis even grew moss on each bunker to make it less visible. Officially the barracks (heavy bunkers, really) were a chemical producing facility. Guarded to the teeth and only 130 people had access to Zone 1 (the inner area) although 2000 people worked in the 8 km. area known as Wolfschanze during the war. Von Stauffenberg made his attack on Hitler’s life here and the guide we hired explained the details of Von Stauffenberg’s execution along with 5,000 others after his failed attempt. The fortifications were formidable. Dangerous swamps to the North, heavily mined, barbed wired fences and layers and layers of security. Hitler had his SS troops and Special Forces nearby just to protect this place. The German’s themselves blew the complex up in early 1945 in an operation they had planned and called ‘Inselsprung” (leaving the Island).
Within 20 seconds they blew the whole complex up, every building was blown to bits 3 days before the Russian Army arrived to take it over. All that can be seen today is the rubble of these bunkers yet the place gives you the creeps, none the less. It is still hard to imagine that every move of the WW2 battles was called from here. That decisions of momentous outcome came from this place is still shocking. Every war department had their own bunker. Monstrous setups of building, covered in moss, deep in the woods, with air conditioning, heating systems, air supply, technical support, etc. The whole complex was built in 4 years. A tremendous output of labor, planned well enough that even today, would it not be destroyed by the builders, would be impressive enough to be off limits to little people like me. The Wolfsschanze (Wolf’s Lair) is a “to be missed” place. We were here; saw it and that is it. Not a tourist place I would recommend, yet it is part of today’s Poland, a formerly German area, and history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfsschanze.
Carol disagrees with me and feels people, especially young people need to be reminded of the events of WW2 and that even some of Hitler’s own generals disagreed with him enough to try to kill him. She also finds it curious that the Americans knew of the location of the Wolf’s Lair in 1943 yet only one attempt was made to bomb the area.

Amber Coast

The story goes that Jurate, the Queen of the Baltics built a whole castle made out of amber. The gods were so displeased by her display of wealth that they flooded her whole county with what is now the Baltic Sea. Even today, below the waves, her castle crumbles and amber washes ashore. We learned that real amber is about 50 Million Years old and floats in salt water. In addition, it will burn easily if it is held to flame. We read that amber washes ashore regularly and all you have to do is pick it up. Yes, Carol and I walked the shore and looked, taking our time but we did not find even a little piece.
Then we learned that the spit of land, the Curonian Spit in Lithuania, would be a good place to look. Off we go and entered Lithuania’s National Park only to run into heavy rain. No way can we walk the beaches. It poured and with the wind, the rain came sideways. The Curonian Spit borders Kaliningrad (Konigsberg), and there is no entrance into Russia without a proper Visa. Back we went to the main land of Lithuania in pouring rain. We did not get any amber the easy way. I felt like this is like fishing, it is way easier to buy the fish at the market than to catch it as an amateur.
With all my gear on, I was wet to the bones. Carol, in her new suit, fared better, she was perfectly dry. I think I am due a new riding suit. In addition, my front tire has almost no tread and I need a new tire badly but we need to get to Germany or at least Poland, for that. With all the rain I feared that I would hydroplane, especially since the tire tracks on the roads are deeply worn into the asphalt. There are literally two rivers running side by side on the road. I was forced to ride the middle strip but here I had the fear of finding slick spots. Unlikely in this heavy rain but with oil oozing trucks on the roads, one never knows.
This is not the 3rd world, but close to it in some spots. Things do not always work and there is a different reality here. We found wonderful hotels only to be told they could not provide proper security for our bikes. The hotel helped us find better locations for our bikes. Security for bikes is a must. The ‘new’ hotels they found for us were ok for the bikes but were a bit on the dumpy side. So we really looked around to find a proper hotel for us and the bikes. Showers have no doors, they are out of toilet paper, the steps on the stairs are uneven, tiles in the bathroom are loose, etc. We manage with those small things, yet in my German mind, I do not understand why these things happen.
The amber coast is there and yes, there is amber to be found, one just has to look and walk the beaches. We used the excuse of the rain to bail out and will buy some amber in a store. Amber is such a specialty in itself; too, I never knew the many colors amber has and that it is at least 40 million years old. Green amber is also found along the Baltic Sea although it is quite rare. We rode away from Lithuania in heavy rain, without amber, without seeing a store to buy amber. We did visit the shores where the amber is found but we were not lucky. We are off now towards Poland.