Sopot - a tiny little thing

    Let me first give you a quick description of what really is Sopot and why millions of tourists visit this place every year, even though, as mentioned in the title, it's a tiny little thing.

    Well, Sopot is a part of, so called, Tricity (actually i am not really sure if that is the correct translation into english but i have heard quite a lot of people using this name so i guess i will follow the crowd this time), which in polish would be Trójmiasto. I know, i know, looks weird, but fortunately through the screen i cannot really force you to try to pronounce it, though probably it would be so much fun... for me of course! :P

    Tricity is made of three cities, obviously, which are Gdynia, Sopot and Gdańsk, located on the seaside (Baltic Sea) of Poland in the given order. All together they are called in this funny way because of a very close connection that they have. To be honest they are unseparatable because borders between them are invisible. I wonder why, they didn't make one big city instead though now i guess it makes more sense to me that they actually didn't. Each one of them is different and special in its own way and i think now it would be impossible to change things. 

    While i was filling the postcards i bought on the last day in Sopot, i wrote to my friend that this place to me is a baby of Tricity, because when i checked the infromation about its number of population and size, trying to compare the cities, i got to know that Sopot has just about 37,000 habitants and 17 km2. Gdańsk and Gdynia seem monstruous compared to Sopot, though Gdynia (240,000 habitants and 135 km2) is much smaller than Gdańsk (465,000  habitants and 262 km2). 

    Before i got to Sopot this year, i had a completely different image of it in my head. Few years ago i visited my uncle and we came to Sopot for not even a day, just to see the jetty and take a quick look around. Back then Sopot seemed huge to me. So many people all around, cars, boats, music. I felt a bit overwhelmed with it but i guess then i was way smaller than the city and it just gave me a wrong first impression of itself. Besides, city by night will always look bigger then it really is, no matter how old you are. 

     When me and my sisters first arrived to Sopot, we were very excited, especially that on our way to the hostel we passed all those vintage alleys with ornamental houses, each one in it's own style and color. We already knew we would not be able to leave Sopot without a mini photo session at the most magical spots. To make it funnier, the beauty of the streets blinded us so hard we lost our way and were wandering for about an hour till we actually found our hostel, thanks to the nice lady who managed to notice we were not in the right place.  
     On the next morning, after an 8 hour train ride from our hometown to Sopot, we finally set off to the beach. For most of you it would be nothing special but since we rarely go to the seaside because it just takes a lot of time to get there, we were completely over the moon! The sand was clean, soft and warm and the Baltic sea happened to surprice us with its lucidity and the sky's blue just blew us off our feet. Half of the day we have spent just laying on the cost and enjoying the last sparks of the summer breeze. Luckily not many people were there and so the place was quiet enough so we could take a rest from the exhausting ride and just listen to the humming of the leaves and waves and prepare for sightseeing the city.

  
      What you need to know about the Sopot's jetty is that it's the biggest one made on the Baltic Sea, so it's not only the biggest jetty in Poland but also amongst other european countries that have access to the Baltic Sea. What's more, i think i am safe to say that it's simply the most beautiful jetty you could ever see in this area! I won't bore you with descriptions but instead i will leave you with some photographs that i made, so you can decide on your own! 

     When the night was getting closer, we decided to go back to the hostel and take some warm clothes so we could see the city by night without freezing outside. The streets finally got rid of the excessive turists and we could freely walk on the beach, jetty and the main square of Sopot and since we were getting very hungry, we decided to do something you should not do while visiting the seaside. We went for mexican food! I mean, we love mexican food but we should have taken a fish instead :P Long story short, it was delicious anyways! Let me know down in the comments if you like mexican food or you'd rather have a fish :)
     On the next day we were not able to get out of bed but there was no time to waste. There was still so much to do and see! Well, Sopot is, as said before, a thiny little thing but to enjoy it, you need to take it slow, step by step. 
     We set off to the city to take some photos, buy postcards and some magnets for our friends and family members. It didn't took us long but there was too much to chose from so we decided not to go into every shop with souvenirs but buy everything in one. When we felt satisfied with the loop we finally found some strenght to climb up the viewpoint tower that was located right next to the jetty! I was afraid it would be as challenging as in Cracow but fortunately this time i was with my sisters and we new there's no need to hurry up to the top so we did it in our own pace already knowing it would be worth it! And we weren't wrong about it! It was so worth it!       The rest of the day we have spent on the beach just chilling and enjoying the weather becasue it was starting to get stormy and since it was our last day in Sopot, we really wanted to fully use our time there. Gdańsk was out next destination and i hope to tell you more about it in my next post!

Xoxo,
Anett Cristy Joane