Welcome to Hel

our humble homebase

Daddy, why the windbreaker? There’s no wind. —-But there are fellow Poles.

After five minutes on the beach, we were already on a ciocia-basis with our closest neighbor. She requested joining her parawan with our beach blanket to create a more private zone which she defended tooth and nail. Our kids began playing in the sand, and they were lost to us for most of the day.

cold, clear water

a jellyfish delicately returned to the water

one of many sandcastles

We let our kids run, jump, swim, sunbathe on the sand, pretty much do whatever they wanted. From some of our closest neighbors I observed a different philosophy of beachgoing. The philosophy of taking kids to beach and not letting them swim. There are two schools of thought apparently- one, it is too hot to swim – the other, it is too cold. The same ideology applies to eating ice cream as well. The next part of this philosophy involves taking frequent breaks with mother sitting on a beach towel, not the sand, never sit on the sand according to this philosophy. Additionally don’t walk in the sand because you’ll have sand in your shoes. This said to a child already on the beach. Said child stops walking, frozen in the conundrum presented to him by his mother. How can you take a kid to the beach and not let the kid swim I wondered as one mother tortured her child while all other kids were having fun. “Why did you even bring me here?” asks one 10 year old girl. I wanted to ask the same.

What’s a trip to the beach without getting buried in the sand?

an evening on the beach and Rosie’s solution to cold water

port side of Hel

sea side of Hel

that frisbee was an excellent source of fun for all of 3 zl

our attempt at a selfie

Lighthouse in Hel from afar

from a bit closer

evenings on the beach were my favorite – kisses from Tatuś

we dropped a lot of money on go-carts

the fokarium with seals

the beautiful beach

We stayed in a private apartment. It was located close to the Cypel and gave us easy access to the beach from both the port side of Hel and the sea side of Hel. The apartment was adorable in a kitchy kind of way. Enjoy.

I had to sleep under this and…

…under this.

a little nautical theme

with a pinch of religion

and a smidgen of art

and a sprinkle of kistch

basically awesome, that’s the owner in his younger years

We also visited some military stuff, bunkers and whatnot. I gave myself a good scare when I shined my flashlight in the prisoner’s hole in a door in one of the bunkers and met the eyes of another tourist that I did not realize was already in there. A lot of the bunkers, etc. have been used as toilets by other tourists so visit at your own risk.

All of Hel is a kind of kitschy, touristy place. If you are expecting elegance, go somewhere else. If you are expecting families with kids, ice cream, fish, french fries, beach volleyball, windsurfing, kitesurfing, disco polo bars, military museums, fishing museums, boat rides, lighthouses, seals – then Hel is a good place for you. One thing we didn’t find and we were looking for were t-shirts from Hel. We saw a lot of t-shirts such as – I don’t need you, I have internet – Eat cupcakes for breakfast – This is my hangover t-shirt – but not even one Hel shirt. People in Hel must have a sense of humor, I mean the bus to Hel is #666. Do Polish people not buy t-shirts when they on vacation?

We’re back home, and we miss it already. Now it’s time to clean up all the sand we brought with us.

Ahoy!