Posted on 07/16/2006 12:39:11 PM PDT by lizol
Heaven and Hel
Is Hel nicer than Magaluf? Can Odessa outparty Ibiza? As eastern Europeans flock to the Med, Tim Bryan goes beachcombing in the opposite direction
Saturday July 15, 2006 The Guardian
They are signs of the times. Across eastern Europe, the travel agents offer cheap self-catering holidays from Mallorca to Corfu. Rich Russians and Ukrainians are now sojourning on the Med, Czechs and Poles sunbathing in Greece or Cyprus, and the Baltic peoples head anywhere south, and hot. But where did they used to go? And is there anyone left in these former workers' playgrounds? More pertinently, can they be so bad that a self-catering studio in Magaluf or Benidorm is holiday heaven in comparison?
A backpacking odyssey, round the east European resorts on the Baltic, south to the Black Sea, aimed to find out. The start, however, did not bode well - I was going to Hel.
Hel, Poland
The sign may proclaim "Wotocny a Helu" (Welcome to Hel), but this 25-mile-long, fine white sandy beach backed by pine forests cloaking the Bay of Gdansk is more like heaven, with good hotels, cheap beer, fresh fish and clear blue skies in July and August. Hel is a gem, still luring in Poles and east Germans in summer and at weekends.
I'm here on a Monday in late May, and despite the 10,000 locals, the peninsula seems empty. It's bright and sunny, about 24C, but no one is on the glorious powder-fine beach, quite the best I've ever seen. It runs uninterrupted from the bustling tourist town of Wladyslawowo at the spit's western gateway to the quaint Kashubian village of Hel at land's end, full of timber-framed Toblerone-shaped cottages, once home to fishermen but now mainly pubs, ice-cream parlours, and fish restaurants,
(Excerpt) Read more at travel.guardian.co.uk ...
Ping
you know, when you look at the vastness of the earth...it amazes me that people actually think that there is anything -- anything -- man can do to upset it in the least.
Detonating our biggest bombs might make a scratch in the finish like a Grand Canyon. But she wouldn't even feel it.
Very pretty. Is the water warm enough for swimming?
Totally awesome photos!!! Thanks for sharing them. The sunsets are incredible!! The beach reminds me of the beautiful western shores of Lake Michigan.
Depends - on the weather, sea streams.
Usually it's around 20 Celsius degree. But this year - I've heard - it's colder and it's hardly a pleasure to go to water. Even though the weather has been really hot for a couple of weeks.
I was there last year with Agnieszka (my wife) and a couple of friends. Lovely place.
We're about to buy 5 acres (about 2 hectares) of land not for from there: only a 30 minute drive and we can be in Hel! ;-)
sorta had a crush on a Polish girl once...
Great idea.
Hel Peninsula (and it's surroundings, like Wladyslawowo, Karwia, Jastrzebia Gora) is actually my favorite vacation area, when I decide to go to the Baltic Sea.
This year I decided to go to the Red Sea and Israel (going on Tuesday) because weather forecasts for this summer were horrible.
Bloody liars!!!
Seems to be one of the worst decisions of my life, especially at this time. But I made it in April.
I'm going to have really HOT vacations :-/
If this was in the US, it would have been bought up and full of millionaires decades ago.
In summer usually yes, on the side of the bay is always a bit hoter.
Depends on the sea current - water is sometimes cold, but I've been to Hel a week ago and there was a lot of people on the beaches!
Nice pictures!
I don't know much about the situation in other western European states, but here in Germany holiday destinations in Eastern Europe get more and more popular. While Ibiza is great when you are twenty-something and single, renting a cabin at, say, Lake Balaton, makes at lot more sense for families. And it's much more affordable, too.
Wow! These pictures are awesome. Thanks for sharing.
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