Malbork Castle, amazing UNESCO site in Poland

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Today was a day of movement, which is always exciting. Masayo and I went from Gdańsk to Malbork, Poland, a one-hour train ride. And we were leaving the Baltic Sea coast for the last time; we’ll be diving into the heard of Central and Southern Europe after Malbork.

And I had a range of blood sugars that tended much higher than I’d like – but I think I figured out the reason and it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the day. It was quite a captivating trip back into European history, diabetes be damned.

My blood sugar at 8:00 am was 137. Very excellent after my large confusing dinner last night. We had cereal, bread, cheese and meat from the Happy Seven Hostel breakfast buffet (I think we were the first to eat this morning) and checked out.

At the train station, Gdańsk Główny, we bought our tickets for the local train to Malbork, which was about 10 minutes late. It was fun sharing the train with morning commuters. Them going to work and us on a thrilling adventure to unknown places! I envied us 😛

Arriving in Malbork on time, somehow, we set out to walk to our room, in a guesthouse called Vis A Viz Zamku that I’d found on booking.com as usual.

It’s about 1.5 km from Malbork station to our place and the walk goes over the stately but manageably-sized Nogat River. We have a nice view of Malbork Castle right from our room. I usually try to find a place closer to the station to avoid walking so much but I thought the view would be worth it.

Malbork Castle

Although it was only 11:30 am, the guy at the guesthouse let us check in. Our room did indeed have a view over the river to the castle; it was nice and in a quiet area, with no shops or anything in the area.

At noon we set out to go see the castle — it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and we were excited. A wooden pedestrian bridge led over the Nogat; halfway along it I checked my finger and was 208. Oops, a little high.

We first found a restaurant on the edge of the castle grounds, through a small hidden door at the bottom of a great wall. We peeked inside and I couldn’t tell if it was open. We walked up some steps inside into a large, low-lit, dining room, then through a big door to another. It was like walking through the chilly chambers of some vast estate in Shakespearean times. There were no people, but then I noticed a waitress standing waiting. Open! We chose a small table with a window and interesting decorations.

I ordered scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and a coffee. It came with several slices of bread. I thought it would be a good complement to breakfast, and good fuel for the afternoon. I took my Humalog at the table as usual, right through my Bluff Works pants. (Not recommended by the way, but hey, it’s easier.)

Then we went to the ticket office; the tickets were 19 złoty (about $6) and came with a little iPhone audio guide thing.

Malbork Castle is huge, and really impressive. It’s the largest brick castle in the world, though it was significantly damaged during World War II. Restorations have been extensive and are ongoing.

Today was a little cold, and there weren’t many people at the castle. It was nice to basically have it all to ourselves – traveling in the off-season doesn’t always work out but when it does it’s totally worth it.

We spent about three hours inside the castle, seeing the various rooms and displays, walking across the drawbridge, and learning about the lives of the people who lived there hundreds of years ago.

Towards the end of the tour, during which I’d felt a little funny and weak, I checked and was 99. Good reading but somehow it didn’t feel right. I let it be for the time being and we returned the audio players to the office and walked back across the river to the room. I was rather exhausted.

There I checked again and was surprised to see I’d dropped to 64. No wonder I felt off. Maybe one or two too many units of Humalog for that eggs and bread lunch? I ate some chocolate and had some juice, then laid down to listen to the Beatles and relax.

At 7:00 pm I checked again, was was again surprised: 229. I didn’t think the chocolate and juice would have brought me that far up. But whatever; it was time for dinner.

The only restaurant we could find was a striking one, situated on a large boat next to the pedestrian bridge over the Nogat River. It was called Restauracja Ufisaka, and there was a gangplank you had to walk over to get inside.

There was a table with ten younger people inside; they were dressed up and seemed to be celebrating a birthday or something. They had hooked up their laptop to the restaurant’s sound system and were playing dance-pop music. They were having fun but kept looking nervously at us, the only other customers. I got the impression they wanted the place to themselves.

Anyway we ordered. I got a large plate of fish with cheese, and it turned out to also include several giant pieces of broccoli and cauliflower. Great — not high in carbs, just protein and vegetables. I had sparkling water with it, of course.

I didn’t take any insulin at first, because I still felt a little funny — unsure of my BG, though I knew it to be in the 200s. At the end of the meal (I couldn’t finish half the vegetables, there were just too many, and Masayo didn’t finish her potatoes either) I took five units of Humalog. That should be more than enough, I thought.

After dinner we walked to some back streets where I had seen several hotels on a map. We were hoping we could find a small grocery or something open to get water for the room, and dessert. Amazingly, we did find one business open in the dark streets — a mid-sized supermarket called Biedronka. I got a doughnut (though the case it was in had little bugs flying around inside) while Masayo got packaged cookies. We added some some bottled water and I found a Snickers bar to replace the low BG snack I’d had earlier.

Back in the room I checked and was floored by my BG — 301! Why so high? Why did I feel so bad? It was mild nausea. But I wanted to eat the dessert so I took a big shot and ate my doughnut (and a few cookies). I drank water and we watched some videos on my laptop. I started to feel better.

I think my liver released some carbs it was storing today — maybe I just haven’t eaten enough food lately, or was on shaky ground diabetically while walking around the castle for three hours (it was pretty exhausting). I think that the lowness (208 to 99 to 64 plus the exercise) had a domino effect on my BG and that I will be trending higher than normal for a few hours. Humalog is less effective in these situations, because I am battling mystery carbs.

But I was feeling better and went to sleep hoping the badness had passed. The castle had been excellent, and Masayo and I were glad we spent a day here. Tomorrow we are planning on taking a train for nine and a half long hours way down to Kraków. Lots to see down there! It will probably take more than the single night we spent in Malbork.

Have you ever stayed in a place with almost no amenities around it?

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