I did a lot of stupid but somewhat nice things during my life so far. One of these is exchanging my bahn.bonus points from Deutsche Bahn against a weekend of car rental once a year. It all started with me wanting to see the Mont St. Michel close to Pontorson, France. That is why I went there in 2012 by car from Köln, Germany with a pit stop in Bruges, Belgium.
In 2013 I drove from Freiburg, Germany to Pont du Gard, Avignon and Marseille in France. And in 2014? I decided to visit the birthplace of my grandmother in Olsztyn (Allenstein), Poland. A wonderful place in Warmia (Ermland) in the region of Warmińsko-Mazurskie (Ermland-Masuren). As this place is close to the Russian town of Kaliningrad (Königsberg) I had to go diagonally throughout Poland with a high milage.
I started in Berlin, Germany and took the main transit route E30 (the road of freedom) which crosses river Odra close to Frankfurt/Oder, Germany. It then passes Poznań (Posen) where I had to switch to a smaller road going around Inowrocław to Toruń (Thorn) close to Bydgoszcz (Bromberg). Toruń is a partner town of my hometown and therefore I stayed overnight at Hotel Bulwar, close to river Wisła. What a wonderful night!
The next day I continued northbound and was happy to access motorway 1 (“Amber one”) close to Toruń. The roads aren’t as good as you would wish in this region, but A1 is a private financed and really good motorway. It brought me to Gdańsk close to the Baltic, a town I immediately fell in love with. Staying at the Villa Pica Paca made this fairy-tale-like city only some meters away. But before getting there, I had a small stop at Malbork, visiting Malbork Castle, the domicile of the knights of the German Order.
On my way back I had to leave A1 aside and take small roads again. I went via Elbląg (Elbing) to Olsztyn (Allenstein), the town I came to Poland for. I didn’t expect too much, but seeing this town in autumn was quite nice. And I’ve filled another checkbox on my todo list. Afterwards, I travelled throughout the lake region of Warmia (which is so beautiful you can’t imagine) back via Ostróda, Brodnica, Toruń, Poznań and Frankfurt/Oder to Berlin. One of the hardest trips by car in my life. But totally worth it!
Loading map...
