European Railroad Discussion > Poland, part 2. Arriving in Swinoujscie

The ferry sailing was pleasant and sunny.  Not warm, not chilly.  We arrived in Swinoujscie at dusk, there were at least 3 other ferries docked there.  

1) Quiet and sunny on the top deck.  Might have been breezy, too.  

2) Foot selfie.  Just me, the Mazovia and the Baltic Sea

3) Good food at the cafeteria, and a table with a view.  European food is generally fresher than US food.  And has fewer artificial ingredients.  It just plain tastes better.  Even cheap cafeteria food... 

This was a big plate of buckwheat, some boiled vegetables, and some kind of fish.  

(Also, I remember I was shooting with a Canon DSLR on this segment.  I haven't uploaded the photos to me computer yet, but there might be some fun photos of passing freighters and such that I'll add later on).  



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/20 01:49 by gobbl3gook.

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4) Arriving in Swinoujscie at dusk.  

5) Unity Line ferry.  There were 3 or 4 of these massive ferries here.  There is a lot of truck traffic on ferries, probably because of tarrifs to go from country to country.  So all of the Sweden-Eastern Europe traffic sails from ports in Poland, rather than Germany, I'm guessing.  

6) Disembarking.  After this there was a short free ferry across the Swin River, then I stayed at a hostel for 2 nights, before continuing south by train.  

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Bonus photos -- 

7) German airshow.  Swinoujscie is on the German border.  And my roommate at the hostel said he was in town for a historic aircraft show.  That one of the only operable Messerschmidt 109s would be flying.  He advised me to go in the morning, as the weather forecast was not as good in the afternoon.  I always like to see the unexpected when I travel, and enjoy getting tips of one-off events from other special-interest travellers like mself.  (My special interests -- trains, bicycle infrastructure, cemeteries, chocolate, pipe organs, urban gardens, trams, big wooden houses and hotels, small museums, bicycling on farm roads...  And probably many others)  

I headed out in late morning, it was a 15 km bicycle ride into Germany to the airfield.  Steady drizzle when I arrived, and everything was back in the hangar.  

Still, an interesting display, and handsome aircraft.  Heringsdorf Airport.  Ahlbeck, Germany

8) The Germans know how to build bike paths.  This was like riding on a Billiards Table.  Perfectly flat, perfectly smooth.  Yet still good adhestion (not slippery).  

9) Ahlbeck, Germany is the easternmost Baltic Sea town in Germany.  It's a resort town (as I imagine most of them are).  It was cold and rainy, I stopped here for dinner.  Chose to bratwurst from an outdoor vendor instead of go into a fancy cafe in my wet bicycling clothes.  Should ahve gone to a cafe and warmed up, though!  

Lots of very pretty 1900 - 1910 era resort hotels.  In good condition.  Maybe 50 of these.  

Next stage: southbound train to Poznan.  

Comments, questions?  

Ted in OR

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Re trucks and tariffs. There won't be any tariffs to travel between Sweden and the EU, or indeed Estonia, Finland etc. That's the whole point of the EU - frictionless trade. But it may simply be cheaper, especially from Finland, to travel directly to Poland than cross the Gulf of Finland then drive all the way to Western Poland. Similarly Sweden to Central Europe traffic may simply be quicker via the ferry than the long way round via Denmark. 

Thanks much for your images and commentary. This part of Europe does no get much coverage here on TO, or elsewhere. Like you, I enjoy travel off the beaten path, and so I especially appreciate posts like these. Poland is on my agenda, so I am looking forward to your future posts.

Very interesting potos and story. My fathers family came from Northeastern Germany in a town called Marlow in Mecklenburg.
When I was able to go over and visit Gemany and Marlow I was entertained by a nearby railway called the Mecklenburgishe Badabahn "the Mollie".
It was a very well maintained and operated narrow guage running in schedule with the DB. It's a nice short ride ending up near the coast and it's steam.
hopefully it isstill in operation.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Thank you for the posts and informative descriptions of your ferry travels in the Baltic. I spent part of a day in Wismar, Germany several years ago when I was staying in Hamburg, and I have wanted to see more of that part of Europe, especially Poland's coast. I look forward to more posts about your trip (maybe we'll see pictures of some of the intermodal trains that cross Poland on their way to China).  

Like this series a lot.  What is now Northwestern Poland has changed hands many times over the past 400 years.  Lots of Imperial power struggles.