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Should you use a Mist filter for your portrait photography? During this portrait photoshoot, I take side by side photos using a Pro-Mist Filter vs not using a filter. I organised this portrait session with Wiktoria while I was travelling through Poznan, Poland in the summer.
I thought I would share my street photography separately in this post instead. I captured all these photos with my Sony A7IV + GM 35mm f1.4.
Finally, the travel blogs are back!! It's been 3 years since I went overseas, my last trip being to Scotland to do photography for a wedding. Now that the Australian borders have opened again, Dan and I decided to head back to Gdansk, Poland to see his family. By the end of our first whirlwind week we were ready to head off on our month-long road trip. First stop - Poznan, Poland!
model martinika @ gaga models
film dan @ i make films
photography julia trotti
Watch the behind the scenes from this photoshoot:
And please subscribe to my YouTube Channel! I have lots more behind the scenes and tutorials getting released every week!
model gia @ gaga models
film dan @ i make films
photography julia trotti
model suzanne @ gaga models
Photographed on the streets of Poznan, Poland.
All photos edited with my new Amalfi Lightroom Preset coming soon!
model suzanne @ gaga models
Photographed on the streets of Poznan, Poland.
All photos edited with my new Amalfi Lightroom Preset coming soon!
model marta @ gaga models
film dan @ i make films
photography julia trotti
Photographed on the streets of Poznan, Poland.
See the behind the scenes of this fashion shoot here:
And see Dan's fashion film from the shoot here:
model zuzanna @ gaga models
film i make films
Photographed on the streets of Poznan, Poland.
Watch the behind the scenes of this shoot here:
And watch Dan's fashion film here:
model zuzanna @ gaga models
Photographed on the streets of Poznan, Poland. See the Behind the Scenes of this shoot HERE:
And the film created by Dan @ I Make Films:
All photos edited with my Wedding Collection Lightroom Presets
Follow me on my instagram accounts:
main account @juliatrotti
personal account @juls.trotti
You can also see all the final photos from this trip in my Gdansk, Krakow and Szczecin blog posts!
This is sadly my last instalment of blog posts from Poland! Karol and Pawel took Dan and I to explore the town of Oliwa near Gdansk. We spent the morning at the zoo, before heading to park and ending the day climbing up a tower of stairs to the Pachołek lookout for 360 degree views of the city. I've put together many blog posts for Poland, but I thought I would end this series by linking you up to some of my favourites!
Gdansk Photo Diary + Travel Guide
Krakow Photo Diary + Travel Guide
Szczecin + Recap of my time in Poland
I've put together many more blog posts from all the cities we visited in Poland, but those are some of my favourites! If you're interested in finding them all, you can have a look at my archives page and scroll down to "Travel".
all photos edited with my Gdansk Lightroom Preset
See my Szczecin Part i blog post to read my travel guide for this city!
It was towards the end of our few months of living in Gdansk, Poland that we hopped on a train to Szczecin to visit and stay with Dan’s aunty and grandma for a week. The train ride took just under 5 hours and just like our train ride to Krakow, I loved endlessly gazing out the window at the deer roaming through the fields and the country houses in the middle of nowhere, smoke rising out of their chimneys at dusk to warm themselves from the cold nights that have already started to fret at the end of summer. We arrived at night and were greeted warmly at the train platform to Dan’s aunty who hadn’t seen Dan for more than 10 years. We spent the rest of the night eating a wonderful home cooked meal, flicking through photos and listening to stories.
Our week in Szczecin was sunny and warm and we spent our days being shown around the city, exploring all of what it had to offer. Szczecin to me seemed to be older than all the other Polish cities I’ve visited. The buildings are bigger, engrained with character and the streets are busy with mostly locals either working or running their daily errands. It felt to me that Szczecin was filled with people who live more of a city life. We made new friends, with Piotr who is Dan’s aunty’s son and runs his own computer store in the city, spent our days road tripping, walking and even visited Berlin for a day!
Anxiety started setting in while we were in Szczecin. We knew that it was soon time to say goodbye to everyone we love and had spent so much time with. It was soon time to call this adventure around the world that took us four months to an end. We had the most amazing time in Szczecin and Poland itself, but deep down there was a nagging feeling that we just didn’t want to go home. After all these months, where we were at that moment already felt like home.
The train ride from Szczecin to Gdansk was one of the longest in my mind, filled with tears and heavy sighs. I mostly remember the sight of the trees blurring out the window at dusk from where we were sitting, then standing, then sitting again in our restlessness. We had a going away party in Gdansk at night with all our family, next door neighbours and more people than I can remember where the vodka flowed freely and we were all huddled under blankets and heavy jumpers to warm ourselves from the cold. The laughter and the chatter was loud that night, but nothing was louder than the deafening anxious pit in my stomach that I knew we were going to leave this all behind once again.
We stayed up all night, slowly one by one people retreated back inside or back home. But we sat outside, talking and enjoying our last few moments until the morning sun started trickling back over the horizon.
“You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place. Like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.”
The beautiful Szczecin Opera House.
Dan and Majka.
Exploring the sights around Wały Chrobrego, just in front of the marina.
Szczecin Old Town.
One of the prettiest and most quirky building I've ever seen!
Catching the train home from Szczecin to Gdansk.
all photos edited with my Gdansk Lightroom Preset.
This is my personal travel guide to Szczecin. If you'd like to read my story about my time spent there, click here to go to Szczecin Part ii!
Chrobrego by the Oder river // Spend a morning or afternoon, or anytime really, walking around the Chrobrego area. Here you can find the Fontanna Wały Chrobrego, some beautiful old buildings covered in vines along Wały Chrobrego Road as well as many restaurants and cafes. Once you finish walking down the huge stone steps and spent some time by the fountain, make your way down the road by the Oder river for another stroll to see the city by the marina.
Jasne Błonia Park // There are many parks in and around Szczecin, but we personally spent a little bit of time walking around Jasne Błonia which is located just off the Szczecin Municipal Office (this green building). Here you can find an avenue of Plane Trees, planted in rows as well as a statue of Pope John Paul II.
Pomeranian Dukes' Castle // This castle in the heart of the city of Szczecin was built in 1428, damaged in World War II and rebuilt again. You can visit this castle at anytime and wander around the grounds. There are a few restaurants and cafes, and I personally had some amazing Pierogi at Na Kuncu Korytarza! You can also pay a small fee of around 5zł to visit the elevated open-air viewpoint.
Cathedral of St. James the Apostle // This is a large church located in the Szczecin old town. Here you can purchase tickets to take two elevators up to the highest level in the bell tower to see 360 bird’s eye views of Szczecin.
Szczecin Concert Hall // Also known as the Szczecin Philharmonic Hall, this is a must-see in the city if you have half an hour to spare to walk by. The Hall’s architecture stands out to anything else that has been built in Szczecin and is just as stunning inside as it is out. This attraction would be even better if you have tickets to a show so you can see the inside of the theatre. Unfortunately while we were there they were undergoing maintenance construction so we missed out by a few days!
Szczecin Old Town // Like any Polish city, visiting the old town is a must-do for me! Compared to cities such as Gdansk and Krakow, Szczecin has the smallest old town to visit, but it’s still a well-spent afternoon to take a walk around. There are plenty of restaurants and cafes to spend your time having lunch or dinner.
Crooked Forest // The Crooked Forest, known as Krzywy Las in Polish, is located about an hours drive away from the city of Szczecin, right on the border with Germany. You can read more in detail about my trip to the Crooked Forest here.
Emerald Lake // Also known as Jezioro Szmaragdowe, the Emerald Lake gets it’s name from the emerald colour of the water, created by a collapsed mine. Here you can spend your time walking on the various hiking trails around the lake, and also receive a free tour of the mines that were built during World War II that are still largely unexplored to this day. Once again, you can find more detailed information on the Emerald Lake and my personal trip there in my blog post about the Crooked Forest here.
Make a day trip to Germany // Szczecin is located right on the Poland to Germany border, meaning at 30zł you can take a two hour train ride to Berlin. Dan and I decided to go to Berlin for one day, so we could have the chance to visit a new city but ultimately come home at the end of the day. We rose early to catch the first 6am train out of Szczecin to arrive in Berlin at 8am, and we were back at the train station at 8pm and home by 10pm. My blog post about Berlin is coming soon!
The Planetarium by the Szczecin marina.
Driving around the suburbs.
Visiting Jasne Błonia park.
Purchasing our train tickets for our day in Berlin.
Visiting Pomeranian Dukes' Castle for one of the best Pierogi lunches in town.
At the top of Cathedral Basilica of St. James the Apostle, getting a bird's eye view of Szczecin.
all photos edited with my new Gdansk Lightroom Preset.
One afternoon while hanging about in our sun-filled home in Szczecin, Poland, Dan’s aunty and grandma took us for a drive to visit the Crooked Forest. The Crooked Forest, known as Krzywy Las in Polish, is located about an hours drive away from the city of Szczecin, right on the border with Germany. We drove through the countryside and I marvelled out the window at the wild sunflowers growing on the roadside as we listened to stories of how the stalks fly south in the winter and return to the very same home they built atop the electricity poles every season.
I’ve heard many theories as to how the Crooked Forest came about while researching online. From aliens, to war tanks, to ideas that there is perhaps a fluctuation of gravitational forces in this particular area. Regardless, I couldn’t wait to visit this place! There are also many concepts that this forest is haunted due to it’s particularities. I personally don’t really believe in places being haunted, however the minute I stepped foot in the Crooked Forest I started feeling slightly anxious which later went away as the day progressed. It could have been just a coincidence but that was part of my experience of being here. The forest itself is so beautiful, I’ve never seen a sight like that before in my life!
There was a board up at the entrance of the forest which mentioned that these trees were planted before World War II by a carpenter to make furniture. The trees were bent for the furniture he wanted but when the war started, he fled and never returned and the trees stretched back towards the sun.
The Crooked Forest itself is very small, so we only spent a short time here taking some pictures before heading onwards on our adventure. We stopped for ice cream (of course) in the town of Gryfino and next at a place where Dan’s aunty used to visit regularly when she was younger called Emerald Lake, Jezioro Szmaragdowe in Polish. At Emerald Lake (the name comes from the emerald colour of the water, created by a collapsed mine) we spent the rest of our day walking on the hiking trails around the lake, taking pictures in the lush green shade of the towering trees. We also went for a free tour of the mines that are home to bats in the winter. The mines we explored were apparently built by the Germans in World War II and had carvings on the walls of Swastikas and soldiers names who used to spend time down there. Most of the tunnels are still largely unexplored to this day, however we do know that they run from Germany all the way into Poland. It was extremely interesting to be present in something that was created so long ago and we still know so little about today.
If you want to check out what else you can do while you're in Poland, you can see my travel guide for Gdansk here and Krakow here!
all photos edited with my Gdansk Lightroom Preset!
It was our last night in Krakow, so Dan and I decided to spend it exploring the Stare Miastro/Main Square. We had dinner and spent dusk skipping through the streets full of people but it really felt like we were the only ones there. Krakow had a magic about it that I wasn’t expecting. It’s one of my favourite European cities that I have visited so far. I have nothing but positive memories and things to say about the beautiful architecture, the things we did and the wonderful people we met. You can check out my Krakow photo diary + travel guide if you want to hear more information about the things we got up to!
Dan and I took the 5 hour train from Gdansk to Krakow, eyes glued to the window watching us zip past the world. When we arrived at sunrise, Dan's family friend Stan was waiting for us at the station and drove us home. We spent the next few days exploring Krakow from morning to night to see everything this beautiful city had to offer.
Find my travel guide to Krakow at the bottom of this blog post!
Exploring the Main Square in Krakow.
Mariacki church.
Market Square building in the middle of Krakow. On the outside of the building you can find restaurants and bars, inside is the start of the markets and just above the markets is an art gallery.
Wandering through the streets just outside of Krakow Main Square.
Visiting Wawel Castle (pronounced Vavel, as w in Polish is actually a v!)
Inside Wawel Castle.
Walking around the grounds of Wawel.
At the top of the Bell Tower.
Back in the city, where we did some souvenier shopping.
Trying Polish street food, obwarzanek. It was a bit too "bread-y" for my liking!
Inside Mariacki church.
Visiting the art museum above the Market Square.
Inside the salt mines.
Gazing over at the mountains in Zakopane.
Visiting a 15th century castle in the countryside of Krakow.
If you come to Kraków in the summer, like many European cities, be prepared to be an early riser to beat the crowds and lines at the main attractions. At the time of me writing this, Kraków is the second most popular European City for tourism.
How to get there // We took the Pendolino train from Gdansk to Kraków which is the new train line in Poland. The ride takes 5 and a half hours but I found it went past pretty quickly with my eyes glued to the window watching the forests, spotting deers and admiring all the little country cottages in the middle of nowhere. If you are catching a train in Poland I would recommend to purchase your tickets as soon as possible. The earliest you can book train tickets is a month in advance, and every day that goes past they get more and more expensive.
Flights to and from main cities in Poland are also an easy way to get around. You can find tickets just as cheap as train tickets and you'll get there in half the time. We decided to stick to train rides on this trip as we were growing tiredsome having already spent 50+ hours on planes over the past few weeks. Plus I also wanted to see what the Polish countryside looks like!
What to do
Old City Square // We probably spent most of our time here in the city square. It's the perfect place for a meal and a drink as the entire main square is lined with restaurants and bars. We did a bit of souvenir shopping here too, wandering and making our way through all the streets and alleys connected to the main square. Here you also have the main markets and above the markets a lovely little art gallery. You can find the entrance to the gallery via the outside of the Market Square building.
Mariacki church // I think this church is a must see if you're in the Kraków old town. It costs 10zł to purchase entry tickets and 10zł for a photo pass. This money goes towards renovating the church, so I didn't mind to pay the fee. It's absolutely stunning inside so I couldn't recommend it more. On certain days you can also pay to climb to the top of the bell tower (which we didn't do) where I assume you'd have an amazing view of the city.
Wawel Castle // You could easily spend an entire day at Wawel Castle. I would recommend to get to the castle as early as possible as tickets for attractions are limited to a certain amount of people per day. We unfortunately missed out on seeing the armoury, we were almost to the front of the line and watched helplessly as the number of tickets available went from 20 to 10 to 5 and to 0 before we could purchase them. In saying that, there are still many more attractions to see. We went to the Royal Crypts, Church, Bell Tower, Oriental Art museum, the second Bell Tower and the Dragon's Den. If you go to the Dragon's Den, I would recommend to leave it to last as the tunnels lead you out of the castle and you exit to the street on the other side of the entrance to Wawel!
Salt mines // The Wieliczka Salt Mines are located in a suburb called Wieliczka and is about a 20 minute drive from the Kraków city centre. We arrived fairly early and still had to wait in a huge line to purchase tickets - I wasn't lying when I said there are a lot of tourists in Kraków! Once your purchase tickets, you line up yet again to get inside the mines with a tour group. You can only visit the mines with a tour group, you cannot unfortunately wander off on your own as I usually like to do. There are tours running every half an hour for about 7 different languages. The groups are pretty big so even though this line seems daunting to wait in, it eventually goes by pretty quickly. Upon entering you will receive a headset to listen to your tour guide and you need to walk down about 800 steps in a wooden narrow staircase to get to the mines. Overall it was a really interesting experience and I would recommend to visit at least once! Dan and I went with a family friend who is a local and he mentioned that in summer the tours of the mines are shorter to cater for the amount of people coming in, so if you can I would say it's better to go during the off season so you can have a slightly longer and more in depth tour!
Zakopane mountains // Once again an early morning rise is definitely needed if you visit Zakopane mountains! The main attraction here is the mountain top where you can dangle your feet on the edge of a cliff, half of you in Poland and half of you in Slovakia. Unless you purchase your tickets online, our local friend recommends to leave at 4 or 5 in the morning to arrive at the mountains by 6am to beat what can be a 5 or 6 hour wait in line for tickets to ride the Kasprowy Wierch Cable Car to the top. Alternatively, you can also choose to hike to the top of the mountain which takes approximately 3.5 hours up the mountain and 2.5 hours down. Dan and I tried fitting in too many things in our short time in Kraków so unfortunately we didn't get to do this, we thought it would be nice to save our trip to the top of the mountain for when it's snowing in the years to come anyway. Instead we headed up the chairlifts in Kościelisko where you have the most amazing views and photo opportunities of the mountains themselves.
After that we headed off to do a little more sight seeing. Some things that are a nearby drive from the mountains:
15th century castle // Niedzica Castle is an old, 15th century castle by the lake which is a mini museum inside. I loved looking at everything, though it seems more catered for younger kids rather than adults.
The dam // Right by the Niedzica Castle, you can walk across the Lake Czorsztynskie Dam that you can see Slovakia from.
Kościuszko mound // Back towards the city of Kraków, you can pay 10zł per person to go up a man made mountain/hill to get a great view of Kraków from above. I love going to lookouts to see a city from a different perspective. It's fun trying to point out and figure out all the places you went to from a different view. This doesn't take long to do, we probably spent about 10 minutes walking to the top.
I also have some exciting news because I've started sharing more fashion shoot behind the scenes videos + Lightroom & Photoshop Tutorials on my YouTube Channel! Be sure to subscribe as I upload 2 new videos every week x
all photos edited with my new Gdansk Lightroom Preset.
There was one thing on my bucket list that I had to see while I was in Poland and that was the sand dunes at Slowinski National Park. We had a very busy couple of months in Poland and weekends came and went with other plans and coming to the end of our trip we still hadn't had the chance to visit the sand dunes. On our second last day in Europe before we were set to board our way-too-many-hours-on-a-plane flight back to Australia, Dan’s uncle took a day off work. It was early in the morning while we were just waking up without many plans for the rest of the day, when he comes to us and says in Polish “I need to show you Łeba (Slowinski), let’s go”.
We set off on the two hour drive West away from Gdansk, five of us cramped in a tiny Skoda that couldn’t keep up with the highway speeds and an aircon that barely worked during the summer heat - but it was all part of the European roadtrip charm. We drove through pine forests, passed fields of flowers in the countryside and gazed at the country houses with piles of wooden logs already preparing for the cold winter ahead while in the middle of summer. We saw deer grazing in the fields and stalks that build their nests at the top of electricity poles.
It had only rained a couple of times during our entire long stay in Poland, and ironically as soon as we parked our car at the National Park entrance, the dark clouds looming in the distance finally gave way and it started pouring. We were too eager to get out of the car after the long drive and to start exploring, that we started our adventure through the rain.
Once we arrived at the park, we had to pay a small entrance fee and then purchase tickets for the ferry to take us to the beginning of the forest walkway to the sand dunes. After the first ferry ride, we stopped at the entrance of the walkway to have a bite to eat with some Polish beers before starting the forest trail.
The forest trail is incredible for an Australian like me. You are surrounded by towering pine trees, the floor and the tree trucks are covered in a layer of green moss and everything looked and felt so fresh and lush. Dan’s uncle picked some sort of berry from the forest floor for us to try and I was taken by all the tiny creatures that would suddenly appear everywhere around you if you only just paid attention. Fire red squirrels, tiny frogs with the loudest voices, giant beetles and giant slugs.
We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring where the forest meets the sand and taking a quick dip in the freezing Baltic sea before driving back home at dusk.
Once we arrived at the park, we had to pay a small entrance fee and then purchase tickets for the ferry to take us to the beginning of the forest walkway to the dunes.
We had the ferry all to ourselves, the ride only took about 20 minutes. You can also purchase another ferry ticket to take you straight to the sand dunes which would take around 40 minutes but we decided to walk.
A quick lunch break before starting the forest trail.
If there's something that always catches my attention is how effortlessly beautiful the forests in Poland and Europe are.
Dan's uncle picking some sort of berry from the forest for us to try.. lucky they weren't poisonous.
We arrived at the sand dunes and I couldn't contain my excitement. Unfortunately due to the rain earlier that day a lot of the sand's pattern had been washed away, but it still looked amazing.
We went exploring where the forest meets the sand.
Isaiah about to run and roll down the dunes.
There were so many interesting creatures we found on the forest floor, giant slugs, tiny little frogs that made loud noises, beetles.
Dan's uncle snapping some photos of Dan and I walking back to the car through the carpark.
Dan driving us back home.
all photos edited with my new Gdansk Lightroom Preset!
Today was one of those rare moments while in Europe that Dan and I had a completely free day to do whatever we wanted. We decided to go for a walk in the local forest by our home in Gdansk, Poland. We spent the rest of the afternoon hiking, taking pictures, walking over logs that have been placed to cross rivers and coming across wild animals like horses and even some pigs which we heard rustling in the forest!
I shrieked with excitement when we came across a beautiful field of wildflowers, the white blossoms beaming in the short bursts of sunlight through the clouds. Next time I come to Poland, I vowed that I NEED to do a fashion shoot in some of these wonderful locations, so different to what home has to offer. Dan and I also daydreamed about how amazing it would be to have a home in one of these forest-surrounded suburbs in the countryside of Poland. Maybe one day.
all photos edited with my new Gdansk Lightroom Preset.
With heavy hearts, Dan and I left Yosemite National Park and drove back to San Francisco with our eyes set on new adventures that were coming our way very soon. We boarded our flight in San Francisco and left the US behind, landing in Frankfurt for a connecting flight to Gdansk.
The first and last time I visited Gdansk, Dan and I had only a few fleeting days to spend there after a work trip. This time we were coming back with a few months to spend exploring and with his family. We couldn’t be more excited about it. When we land in Gdansk and walk out of the arrivals gate, it was the loveliest feeling seeing an old familiar face and a sense of deja vu receiving another big bear hug from Dan’s uncle. He drove us home, making a stop at the local bakery first to buy some blueberry filled pastries. I remember so vividly that drive from the airport to home, my eyes were glued to the car window watching all the spanning fields of wildflowers as we drove past, a permanent smile on my face regardless of the jet lag I felt.
Three years ago, it was the first time I visited Poland and I wrote “we were in poland for three days, and i couldn't thank dan's family enough for making it the most memorable three days ever. dan and i are longing to go to poland again soon, it would be so lovely to be able to spend a longer amount of time with his wonderful family exploring, hanging out and taking pictures.” and we finally got to do just that. These two and a half months we spent in Gdansk and traveling around Europe were one of the most memorable. I will never forget all the new friends I made, all the time I got to spent with family, all the places I explored and all the little moments in between.
Here’s a collection of images and stories from our two and a half months in Poland. If you scroll down to the bottom of the blog post, I have put together my personal travel guide for Gdansk, Poland. If you are every planning on traveling here I hope you find it helpful! I have so many more pictures to share with you from all our travels around Europe which are coming soon!
I also have some exciting news because I've started sharing more fashion shoot behind the scenes videos + Lightroom & Photoshop Tutorials on my YouTube Channel! Be sure to subscribe as I upload 2 new videos every week x
Picking cherries from the garden to eat everyday.
Dan's aunty working in the garden. All of the meals we ate at home, most of the ingredients come from here.
The family cat Kicha & the dog, Enyo.
Visiting Westerplatte, the location of the first battle in the invasion of Poland, marking the start of World War II.
Exploring the local forests.
Driving through Gdansk at night.
Spending the weekend on Dan's cousin's yacht, where we sailed from Gdansk to Hel.
Watching the sunset on one of the beaches in Hel.
Exploring the local forest.
Visiting the Gdansk zoo.
A whole isle in the supermarket filled with vodka. We definitely don't have this much variety and quantity in Australia!
Visiting Malbork Castle, where it was so hot that day we were hit by a storm in the afternoon and spent the rest of day walking around in the rain.
Pawel watching the rain.
Dan's 96 year old grandma knitting me crochet patterns which I now have hanging in my room.
Our day spent in Oliwa Park.
Visiting the sand dunes at Slowinski National Park.
Photos from our last day in Gdansk. We wanted to go back to the city one more time, the day before we flew back to Australia to say goodbye. It was bittersweet seeing the Gdansk Eye being pulled down since it was the last day of summer.
Isaiah, Dan & Karol. The adventure squad (missing Pawel).
The extremely hard task of packing, knowing we were flying back in a few hours.
Driving across the country with Karol and Pawel to Woodstock festival.
The view from the Gdansk Eye.
Here you can find my personal Gdansk travel guide!
What to do
Gdnask old town // If you’re travelling to Poland and decide to venture out of the main cities of Warsaw and Krakow to see something different, Gdansk is a beautiful city by the Baltic Sea. Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot are the three cities that make up the tri city area. For us, Gdansk was home for two months so we got to explore all the restaurants and bars that make up the main road in the old city. We were in Gdansk during the summer months, where Main street and Long street are busy morning to night with market stalls and the Gdansk Eye was in motion, giving you 360 views of the entire city - which we highly recommend doing at sunset!
Gdynia // Gydnia is the next city in the North of Poland, also by the water and popular for its night life amongst locals. Just like Gdansk, there are countless places to shop and eat as well as markets in the summer which are fun to walk through. One of my most memorable moments in Gdynia was exploring the Orłowski cliffs and visiting the nearby Orłowie pier. To find the cliffs, you walk up Zaciszna, a steep road and past an abandoned building into a beautiful forest which we managed to get to just in time for sunset. From here you continue walking along the path until you get the edge of the cliff for an amazing view from which you can see Gdansk.
Sopot // Sopot is a marina-inspired town, once again nestled by the sea. In the middle of the beach stretch, you can find and make your way along the longest wooden pier in Europe at over half a kilometre long. It costs 25zł to get onto the pier and the views are beautiful especially if you go at sunset/dusk.
Oliwa // Oliwa is a quaint town near the Gdnask city centre with plenty to do. Here you can find the Gdansk Zoo which is nestled in the forest and makes for a lovely day of walking around. A short walk from the zoo, you can also find a lookout spot called Pachołek where you can walk up a few flights of stairs to get to the top of a tower higher than the treetops to see a 360 view of your surroundings. Park Oliwski is another must go to place. If you explore the park grounds, you will come across a green house, mini waterfalls, lakes and so many beautiful areas to wander around and take pictures in. A couple of other places you can visit while in this town are the Oliwa church and spending your time wandering the streets in the town and surrounding suburbs.
There are also a few places further out of Gdansk that I included photos of in this blog post that I wanted to mention:
Hel // Be prepared to incidentally make a lot of hell puns when you're on your way to and while you're in Hel! We took a yacht ride into Hel, Dan's cousin owns a sail boat and took us out onto the water. It took us about 5 hours to get there but we had a great time listening to music, talking, having a drink and just looking out into the ocean. It only took us 3 hours to get back to Gdansk as we were traveling with the wind, letting us ride faster. You can also get to Hel via car, it would take about 2 hours to drive there from Gdansk. Hel is quite a touristy town, so be prepared for everything to be a lot more expensive here that in other parts of Poland. Everything has a nautical and pirate theme and it's a gorgeous town. We spent most of our time at the beach. I would recommend to go for a swim at the north side of the beach, where the sand is white and the ocean calm. And as the day comes to an end to go for a walk around the edge of Hel so you are walking at the furthest point in Poland to see the sun setting into the Baltic Sea from the south side.
Malbork Castle // You can make a day trip from Gdansk to visit Malbork Castle, a medieval castle built in the 1400s. It takes just over an hour to make your way to Malbork from the Gdansk city centre either by car or train. Entry into the castle is 40zł per person in the summer. Once you enter the castle, you are free to roam the grounds with markets and a few places to eat in the outside sections and a museum within most of the rooms inside the castle.
Słowinski National Park // This was by far one of the highlights of my trip to Poland. I’ve always wanted to see the forest meet the sand dunes and I finally got the chance to on the second last day before we were heading home. Słowinski National Park, known to the locals as Łeba, is just over a 2 hour drive from Gdansk through forests and fields. When you arrive to the National Park, you need to pay an entry fee of about 5zł per person. From here, you can either walk around 8km to the beach or you can opt to pay to take the ferry, hire a bike or take the electric car straight to the beach. We chose to take the ferry halfway there and walk the rest of the way through the amazing forest to the beach. On our way back it was quickly getting dark so we decided to take the electric car as it was the fastest option. Once you arrive at the beach, you are free to explore as much as you like! The way the forest starts to intertwine with the sand dunes is definitely an incredible sight.
Getting around
Getting around the tri-cities is extremely easy whether you are driving or taking public transport. When we were taking day trips to further away locations such as Malbork Castle or Slowinksi National Park, we decided to drive there for the convenience of having our own car. However public transport is usually just as quick. In fact, on Google maps it mentions it will take an hour and ten minutes to drive from Gdansk to Malbork, however taking the train would only be a 47 minute long trip.
To get around the old city in Gdansk, we normally walked everywhere as most things are a short distance away from each other. If we needed to travel a little bit further or travel between the tri-cities, working out which bus or tram to take was super easy, inexpensive and a new tram or bus usually arrives within a few minutes of each other.
all photos edited with my new Gdansk Lightroom Preset.
