In search for dunes...not!

A week! Just one week left and we're starting our long awaited holidays. I love flying and can't wait to experience it again. Two flights this year - one to our holiday destination and one back. Next year we're planning at least four flights, but we'll see if we manage to do that. I know it's not a lot for frequent travellers, but I'm not one of those. Aspiring, wanting to be one, maybe one day, but not yet.

Last year I won a weekend in Łeba in a radio contest. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't too good then (to call it in a delicate way), even though it was the first weekend of June, so we couldn't see all that we wanted to. And Łeba is not famous for its DinoPark, believe it or not, that we did manage to see. No. That's a relatively new thing there. Łeba is first and foremost famous for its dunes. Huge ones. But as it was really windy last year, we decided not to risk having way too much sand in our eyes and postponed seeing those dunes till... Yeah, till later.

On Saturday, over a week ago, we decided to make use of the nice and sunny weather and visited Łeba again. It was so pleasant yet so different from our first visit there. After all, last year we went there still before the summer season and many places where closed, while the whole town seemed a bit deserted. This year, though, it was full of life, even though already in low season. It reminded me a bit of Hel  back when we were still living there. Only a bit, as Hel is much smaller, so after the summer season it's even more deserted. Although I loved living there. But I was a kid then...

Anyway...

We went for a walk on the beach, then in the harbour, ate delicious fresh fish (I did) and Artur enjoyed himself on the playground while we sat on a bench for a bit of a rest. And then...

We headed back home. We didn't feel like going to the dunes and thought that it's going to be a good excuse to get back to Łeba next year. Third time's a charm, right? ;)

Tydzień! Został już tylko tydzień do naszych długo wyczekiwanych wakacji. Uwielbiam latać i już się nie mogę doczekać kolejnego lotu. Dwa loty w tym roku - jeden na wakacje i jeden z powrotem. Na przyszły rok planujemy przynajmniej cztery loty, ale zobaczymy czy nam się to uda. Wiem, że to niedużo dla częstych podróżników, ale ja takowym nie jestem. Chciałabym, może pewnego dnia, ale jeszcze nie teraz.

W zeszłym roku wygrałam w radiowym konkursie weekend w Łebie. Niestety, pogoda nie była najlepsza (delikatnie rzecz ujmując), mimo że był to pierwszy weekend czerwca, więc nie mogliśmy zobaczyć wszystkiego, co chcieliśmy. A Łeba nie słynie z DinoParku, wierzcie lub nie, który akurat udało nam się zobaczyć. Nie. To względnie nowy nabytek tego miejsca. Łeba jest przede wszystkim znana z wydm Wielkich wydm. Ale jako że w zeszłym roku bardzo mocno wiało, zdecydowaliśmy się nie ryzykować dostania się zbyt dużej ilości piachu do naszych oczu i przełożyliśmy oglądanie wydm... no tak, na później.

W sobotę, ponad tydzień temu, postanowiliśmy wykorzystać ładną pogodę i udaliśmy się znów do Łeby. Było miło, choć zupełnie inaczej niż za pierwszym razem. W końcu w zeszłym roku pojechaliśmy do Łeby jeszcze przed początkiem sezonu letniego, więc sporo miejsc było pozamykanych, a całe miasto sprawiało wrażenie wymarłego. W tym roku, dla odmiany, było pełne życia, mimo tego, że byliśmy tam już w niskim sezonie. Nieco przypominało mi Hel z czasów, gdy jeszcze tam mieszkaliśmy. Nieco, gdyż Hel jest mniejszy i poza sezonem sprawia wrażenie jeszcze bardziej wyludniałego. Chociaż uwielbiałam tam mieszkać. Ale wtedy byłam dzieckiem...

W każdym razie...

Poszliśmy na spacer po plaży, potem po porcie, zjedliśmy pyszną świeżą rybkę (ja zjadłam), a Artur wybawił się na placu zabaw podczas gdy my odpoczywaliśmy na pobliskiej ławeczce. A potem...

Wróciliśmy do domu. Nie chciało nam się iść na wydmy i stwierdziliśmy, że będzie to dobrą wymówką, żeby wrócić do Łeby w przyszłym roku. Do trzech razy sztuka, prawda? ;)

Sea Park - Sarbsk

Sea Park in Sarbsk is one of the places we got to visit thanks to my winning a weekend in Leba. We didn’t know what to expect, what to get ready for. We had no idea what it’s gonna look like.

We went there first in June on our way back from Leba. Unfortunately, the place was still closed (they didn’t make it with the grand opening). And even though they told us that there’s been info on their webpage on postponing the opening, I’m pretty sure there wasn’t. Not before we set off to Leba (which was Friday afternoon and we visited the place on Sunday). Of course we were totally disappointed (and angry, ekhem), but we decided to visit the place some other time (when we’re absolutely sure it’s been opened). After all, it’s just a one-hour drive.

That second trip to Sarbsk that we made in mid-July turned out to be a big success. The weather was stunning – really warm and sunny – and the place was pretty nice. Still under construction at parts (eg. the miniature section), not all living animals were there yet either, but it amazed us with some other things. The prehistoric aquarium was a blast (3D projections, but felt like a real aquarium), the figures of sea creatures were well made and the playground was colourful and diversified, even though not that big. The “seal show” (that’s the training that’s preparing the seals for medical treatments, examinations and similar, same as in Hel) was poor, though. But having seen the “Hel show” (where they got their first seal when I was still living there, so something like 20 years ago) makes me a bit biased and not objective at all. These seals were young, still getting acquainted with their human friends. The people were trying their best, but sometimes that’s all you can do. The seals didn’t want to cooperate at all. What I noticed was that there are only two shows a day in Hel and several in Sarbsk. Maybe that’s the reason? Or maybe it’s necessary with young seals? I have no idea, I’m not an expert, not trying to be. These were just my observations. Plus Hel is a scientific station (under the supervision of Polish Academy of Sciences – PAN), while Sarbsk is a commercial one. Does that make any difference? For sure in price. But there’s more than just seals in Sarbsk so that explains a lot.

I’ll probably have to go there once again to figure out whether with time anything’s changed, improved. And to see the animals that weren’t still there. Wanna join me/us next year? ;)

 Can you see that little frog in the picture? ;)

 Polish lighthouses

He wanted to take that one with him...

Indian village, mini zoo and a playground - Leba part 4

See also part 1, part 2 and part 3.

The path in the forest led us to an Indian village. It was still under construction when we were there, so we were definitely one of the first people that could see it. But we could still enter it and walk around. There were some wigwams there that we could enter. In one of them there was a boy dressed as a sagamore who painted something on Artur’s cheek.

The last part of the park was dedicated to live animals. Rabbits, raccoon, horses, donkeys, deers, highland cattle, llama and even a kangaroo.

Finally we reached a place that Artur wanted to get to right at the beginning, when he saw it when we entered the park. The playground. It was huge in space. All on beach sand. Something like a castle. And something like a bridge. Some swings and slides. And lots of fun. And, yet again, a train for kids. Paid extra. There were also some machines to play, but we weren’t interested in that so I didn’t check what exactly that was. We couldn’t take Artur home, though, and we wanted to go and grab something to eat. We could eat something in the park itself, but one of the prizes in the radio contest was dinner in on of the restaurants in Leba. So we wanted to go and check that out. Only a promise of going to another playground after dinner helped me get my kid outta there. Not easy, not easy ;)

 

 See the background? They were still painting the rocks ;)

 There's a kangaroo in this picture. In case you we wondering...