Do it in the Tri-City! Alternative guide - part two
Sobieszewo Island / fot.Damian Kramski / Agencja Gazeta
Gdańsk Sobieszewo
Although Sobieszewo Island is only a dozen or so kilometres from the centre of Gdańsk (and Sobieszewo itself is within the city limits), anyone going there enters another world. Out of season, the island's villages, where you can rest from the bustle of the big city, are small and sleepy. And then in season they turn into typical sea-side locations, but there's still no problem finding a quiet spot for yourself somewhere.
The attraction on Sobieszewo Island is the beach: broad, without basic facilities but, for all that, almost deserted. Certainly not like the Tri-City, where it's sometimes difficult to find a few square metres of sand to call your own. It is separated from the main road, holiday homes and shops by a stretch of forest, a wonderful place for a quiet walk.
The Ptasi Raj (Bird Paradise) nature reserve occupies the Western part of the island. It's almost 200 hectares in size, of which a large percentage is taken up by two sea-side lakes, Karaś and Ptasi Raj. The latter is divided from the mouth of the Wisła Śmiała by a narrow, 19th century, stone causeway which takes you right to the beach. The nature reserve is home to more than 300 plant and over 200 bird species, including the little tern, ringed plover, little crake, bearded reedling and bluethroat.
Another curiosity on Sobieszewo Island is the "Forsterówka" (Orle, Lazurowa 4), the home of SS Obergruppenführer Albert Forster, the leading NSDAP figure in the Free City of Danzig and during the war, the Gauleiter for the whole of Danzig-West Prussia. The residence, a hunter's lodge constructed of larch, was built in 1933 and there is an air-raid shelter nearby.