To travel between cities, we took trains. There are numerous intercity trains in Poland. Each train consists of several numbered cars and in each car are assigned seats. Most train cars were situated with several compartments (6-8 seats per compartment, 3-4 seats facing each other). Occasionally, there was an "open car" which has rows of seats, similar to Amtrak. Not quite understanding which car/seat we had purchased, we boarded the train in Gdansk and planned to stop in Malbork on our way to Warsaw. We found the open car and selected two available seats. When the conductor came around to check our tickets, it was clear that we were not in the right seats and presumably that is what he explained to us - in Polish. When we responded with an apology for only speaking English, he waved is hand, punched our tickets and handed them back to us, mumbled something else and walked away. We looked at each other... I guess we're ok here?
Our first train ride was about 1.5 hours to Malbork and other than the initial "where do we sit?" uncertainty, it was quite nice. We saw a lot of work going on to improve the railways for the upcoming Euro 2012 and some really beautiful farmland. Since the stops were not clearly announced, we paid particular attention to the time, knowing when we were supposed to arrive. The trains in Europe are very punctual (I'll share a story later on how apparent this became when we returned home)... Also, the train from Gdansk to Malbork crosses a river shortly before arriving at the station. From the river, you can see the castle, so we knew we were in the right place.
Many of the train stations have lockers which can be rented for storing belongings. Luckily, we arrived at Malbork early in the day, so there was a free locker large enough to fit our stuff. Packing for 30 days in Europe, but knowing that we would be on the move a lot was a trick, but we'll share more on the packing/luggage later.
So, we've arrived at the Malbork Train Station (Dworzec Kolejowy) and with a map in hand, we headed to Malbork Castle. It was about 3/4 mile walk through a very cute town to get to the castle.
Malbork Castle is a UNESCO Heritage Site built in the late Middle Ages as a castle-monastery. Construction began in 1274 and initially served as a fortress for the Teutonic Knights. You can read more of the history here (click on the image to make it larger):
Tours are available, but since we had limited time, we decided to instead walk the perimeter of the castle and take the walking bridge across the river.
After visiting the castle, we walked back to the train station to head to our next destination - Warsaw.
