That time we went to Hel
Reminiscing about our first Labor Day weekend in Europe
Hello ~ I’m Scott and welcome to your 5-minute vacation for Sept. 10th. I share these snippets of our travels in the hope that my photos and stories will allow you to go on a vicarious vacation and “get away from it all,” if only for a moment. I appreciate you inviting me into your inbox today.
Here’s the previous 5-Minute Vacation if you missed it.
I wonder if Weird Al Yankovic knows about this.
Today’s Travel Word
Natsukashii: A happy recollection of an event or memory in the past (from iamaileen.com)
Last weekend was our seventh and last Labor Day weekend1 in Europe (at least for this chapter of our lives), prompting us to reminisce about our first Labor Day weekend in Europe. That holiday weekend six years ago, we went to Hel. Though I shared that story in 2018 with the postcards “Roadtrip to Hel” and “Roadtrip from Hel,” please indulge me with a little “natsukashii.”
How did we find Hel?
Rosemary came home one day (way back in 2016) and said that she had been offered a job in Słupsk, Poland. To which I said, “Congratulations, honey! But where is Słupsk? And, how do you pronounce it?” (It’s pronounced swoopsk.)
Google maps showed us that Słupsk is in northern Poland about about 12 miles south of the Baltic Sea and 78 miles west of Gdańsk. Surveying the route between the two, we discovered that one of the towns in the region is “Hel.”
Simultaneously, we both said, “We have to go there.”
The road to Hel.
The road to Hel is indeed paved. It’s a well-maintained, two-lane highway bounded on either side by large trees in the country and by buildings in a town. We drove east from Słupsk for about an hour and a half, turned left just before the Bay of Puck and continued to the end of a 34 km-long peninsula that juts out into that selfsame bay. The trip took 2½-hours.
What is there to do in Hel?
Tourist websites advertise attractions such as a Fokarium (an aquarium with only seals), some museums and a lighthouse. A bike path runs just about the length of the peninsula connecting the many sandy beaches. We visited in the shoulder season, but I would guess that during the summer, the entire peninsula, not just Hel, is very popular for cycling, windsurfing and hanging out on the beach. It’s reportedly one of the best windsurfing locations in Europe.
Rosemary and Ries explore the beach around Hel.
Sounds fun. What did you do in Hel?
It was chilly and raining off and on, so we didn’t even consider getting in the water. Instead, we toured the town and walked along the boardwalk by the beach before delving into the woods in search of the lighthouse.
Is this the path to the lighthouse? We did eventually find it.
Other than the name, what is Hel known for?
Some Poles consider Hel to be the symbolic beginning of Poland.
More recently, during the invasion of Poland that began World War II, Hel was the last place in Poland to surrender. Roughly six years later in 1945, Hel was the last part of Poland to be liberated.
Where did you stay in Hel?
We booked a place for one night in downtown Hel, close to the beaches. Unfortunately, the room we got wasn’t like the room we saw on their website, but since it was only for one night ~ and it was pretty cheap ~ we went with it. The ground floor was one room (kitchen and eating nook) of about 10ft x 15ft. A very steep set of stairs led to the second floor which was about twice as long with three separate beds (not bedrooms) and the bathroom.
The entire ground floor of our rental apartment.
Was it hot in Hel?
No. In fact, it was cool, rainy and quite windy.
So, it’s possible to be hotter than Hel?
Yes, absolutely. You don’t have to be Paul Stanley to be hotter than Hel.
Viva Hel!
Walking to a liquor store to buy a bottle of the local beer “Viva Hel,” it began to pour. We took that as an omen, turned around, got in the car and got outa there like a bat out of … well, you know.
Some thoughts six years later ~
Although the weather and our accommodations were less than we’d hoped, we’re still glad we went. It’s fun to be able to say, “Yes, I’ve been to Hel and back. It wasn’t as hot as I expected.”
It’s unfortunate that the weather was so poor because it gave us an inaccurate impression of what autumn in Poland is like. In reality, autumn in Poland is beautiful. The Poles call the season “Golden Autumn” with good reason. The lush greens of the summer give way to the brilliant reds, oranges and yellows of the changing leaves.
Golden Autumn in Słupsk. If you get a chance to visit Poland, go in the late summer or early fall, July through October. That’s when Poland is absolutely beautiful.
Our first vacation trip in Poland was also our first vacation with our miniature schnauzer, Riesling. We learned a lot. For instance, even though she was barely 20 lbs., she and her accoutrements took up the entire back seat. How was that possible? She had her collapsible crate to sleep in, a bag for the blankets and pad that went inside, and a bag for her food and bowls. And of course, she had to have a place to sit during the trip. We’ve always said that our little dogs are a big part of our lives and I guess this is proof of that.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for indulging my natsukashii. Next time, I’ll share what I did for my summer vacation.
Until then, ~
Tschüss!
If you are new to my photography, you can see more at scottgilbertson.com.
For my non-American friends: Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September. It honors and recognizes the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States. (source: Wikipedia)
Fun post Scott.
Still laughing! I love the way you mix word metaphors with visual ones to draw pictures in my brain. "The road to Hel is paved"