Malbork Castle

Going to Malbork

On the way here yesterday, I had spotted from the train, huge awesome brick castle.  I looked it up and decided that it would be feasible to visit, if I consider myself to have seen enough of Gdansk.

After an awesome night sleep, I woke at 0645 and was out at 0715 to see and photograph places in the morning light.  Yesterday evening, many of the old buildings were in the shade.

Back an hour later, I tucked into my breakfast and decided that I would indeed go to that castle at Malbork.  The train schedule seemed pretty frequent and I thought I would finish my random wanders to my heart’s content, then get on the 30 min train ride when I was ready.

Getting to the station around 0920, I struck some minor problems.  One train was an EIP train which was really expensive even though it wasn’t any faster than a regular intercity train (both take about 30 mins).  The intercity was full.

So, I had to wait for a regional multi-stop train with about double the travel time.  I got to Malbork and walked to the castle, getting there a little after 1100.

Malbork Castle

There was a large queue for the ticket counters and also the kiosks.  I quickly purchased the ticket online instead; not sure why others didn’t!

The ticket game with an audioguide or a tour in Polish, so it was a easy choice for me.  Normally, I don’t like audioguides as they go into too much detail and become quite a bore.  However, this one was awesome.  It’s also the higher-tech one which detects your location and works without having to press any buttons at all.

I entered the castle grounds at around 1130.  The recommended duration for the guided tour was 3h30 but I completed it in 2h30.  But perhaps their duration included time for exploring the grounds, which I did for an extra 30 mins and was ready to leave around 1430.

The main points I got out from the tour:

• It started as a 13^th Century crusader castle until purchased by the Polish king in :1457.
• It is the largest brick castle in the world. Including the broader grounds, it takes up 21 hectares.
• The castle now takes the shape of a rectangular figure eight, with 2 courtyards. But it consists of three castles, High, Middle and Lower (oldest to newest).
• As the castle expanded, the older core served the original purpose and the broader area provided ancillary services. So, the High castle was the domain of the religious life, the Middle for the government and the Lower castle for industry and daily operations.

There were a few temporary exhibits in the castle at the time of visit.  One was about amber, which I didn’t realise was a fossilised resin.  So, it’s a vegetable rather than a mineral. And the other was Persian weapons.

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Rest of the day

Leaving around 1430, I went to the McDonald’s outside the castle for a snack to find that the prices were very inflated compared to another branch that I had checked before.  I purchased a cheeseburger and rested for a while before heading to the railway station for my 1600 train back.

During the wait, I tried to change to an earlier train but found that it was full.  So, it was good that I had booked this morning based on a guess of when I would be ready.

I had a street food dinner at some stalls near a carpark.  It was exactly what I wanted.  Polish food!  Bigos, followed by potato pancakes for dessert.

I was back in my room around 1745 after my big day.  I felt obliged to head out for final wander of Gdansk around 1900 but I didn’t last long. The weather had clouded over and it had become quite cold.  It’s a reminder that we are quite north in latitude as it goes from hot in the sun to cold in the shade very drastically.

Like last night, I was ready to crash again.  It was my second consecutive day of 22,000 steps!