Big castles and big ships

Wednesday early afternoon we arrived at castle Malbork and decided to go see it then. It is an impressive and imposing complex built out of red bricks. By area the largest castle in the world this was once the head quarters of the warrior monks of the Teutonic Order. It was started around 1274 and finished by 1300. There are lots of images of Holy Mary inside the castle which is why it was also called Marienburg or Castle of Mary. The following photos don't do it justice, it is really quite large!

We went inside and got headphones which worked really quite well as they were GPS tracked so that it would tell you what you were looking at when you were standing near some important detail. There were also gardens between the inner and outer walls and we got a good idea of what life must have been like back in the 1300s.

The next morning we drove off along small back country roads through small villages with pretty houses and neat gardens. We arrived outside Gdansk (Danzig) about an hour later and settled into an overflowing camp site by the beach. With the weather being reasonably cool so that the dogs wouldn't get too hot, we left them in the truck and walked to get the tram into town. Gdansk has a beautiful old town with lots of churches, tall storage buildings by the water and narrow town houses. It reminded Max about Amsterdam.

Thursday was a general rest and repair day - rest for Athena who didn't seem to feel well, and crafting for us. Katie finished the first mosquito screen, and Max started installing the LED lights we had bought but hadn't managed to install before the trip. Rory helped by barking at any strangers who wanted to keep us from working by asking questions about our truck.