Keep going...

First, things turn out differently, second than you think. The continuation of our tour on the Iron Curtain Trail / EuroVelo 13 was planned for 2020. Then the pandemic came... and everything was different. Now, in 2022, we can continue, but not from Klaipeda but from Gdansk. In between is the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad - and currently no one can or wants to go there.

Nevertheless, we have been cycling a lot in the past two years, have done very nice tours in Switzerland and Germany. Some are described in the blog.

Arrival - Thursday, June 2 to Saturday, June 5

This time we were not as excited about the preparations as we were before the tour through Finland and the Baltic States, as this time we are going through countries and climatic zones that are familiar to us. Moreover, we already have experience in packing. However, in the end, Dominique has 19 kg and I have 22 kg of luggage.

Full of anticipation, on Thursday morning we pack our bikes and take the ICE to Berlin. There we visit Laura, Jannik, and granddaughter Romy in the Friedrichshagen district. On Saturday, we continue with regional trains to Szczecin and then with the IC to Gdansk. It was already difficult in advance to find the right trains and now we are worried that the journey with fully packed bikes could be difficult on Pentecost Saturday with 9-euro tickets. The concern is completely justified. Fortunately, we plan a buffer time, because the first train towards Stralsund is completely full. Ten minutes later, it looks similar in the additional train, but we manage to squeeze in shortly before departure. In Angermünde in the Uckermark, we change trains, because we would not make the planned connection in Pasewalk anymore. From Angermünde, there is a small regional train to Szczecin, which is also full, but we find easier space there than in the first train. We could not book the IC to Gdansk through DB, but only directly through the Polish Railways. After two emails with a credit card, it went smoothly, but the low price of 16 € for two people and two bicycles with a reservation system made me somewhat skeptical. But everything was fine, and we arrived in Gdansk as planned around 8 pm. From now on, we will (almost) only travel by bike.

Sunday, June 5 - Stay in Gdansk

Gdansk, the old Hanseatic city on the Motlawa River, is an impressive city with the huge St. Mary's Church in the center. Right next to it, the Long Lane leads from the Green Gate over the Long Market with the Artus Court, the City Hall of Rechtstadt, and the Neptune Fountain to the High and Golden Gate. Everywhere in the alleys, you can admire the patrician houses with their magnificent facades and decorative gables. On the Motlawa River is the famous Crane, one of the landmarks of the city.

In the morning, we take a walk along the water and visit the Museum of World War II. For us on the Iron Curtain Trail, it is a must-see, as it vividly describes the greatest catastrophe in human history, which led to the decades-long division of Europe. We thought we had overcome this, but now an aggressor is seeking war again, causing great human suffering and destruction. The museum clearly explains how the war came about and what it meant. For example, the Germans took 5.7 million prisoners of war, of whom they let at least 3 million planned starve to death. Putin should be locked up in this museum for a few days to see what war does, but he would probably not understand anything.

In the evening, we visit the site of the former Lenin Shipyard with the famous "Gate 2", where the members of the Solidarnosc union gathered and fought for free trade unions. In the square, there is a monument to the fallen shipyard workers and the ECS (European Solidarity Center) inaugurated in 2014, which, with its rusty-colored facade panels, resembles a ship's hull. It is also intended to do justice to the important contribution of Solidarnosc to European unity and to show solidarity for Eastern European countries such as Belarus or Ukraine on their way to freedom and democracy.