Day 1: Swinoujscie - Miedzyzdroje

Day one on the Baltic trail. This old postcard shows my overall destination: Stolpmünde, which is now part of Poland and called Ustka. My grandma was born there, and I guess she must have kept the postcard and given it to my mother. At the end of World War Two, my granny, my mother and my great-grandmother fled the town to escape the Red Army. After the Germans' atrocities in the east, everyone knew that the Red Army's revenge would be terrible. My granny was only 25, and my mother was about three. My great-grandmother left a little bit later because she wanted to look after her sick mother, Lieschen. Lieschen was later expelled and apparently died on the road.

My granny and my mum hitched a ride on a defunct minesweeper boat to Swinemünde, now Swinoujscie. From there they took the train to Rostock, met up with my grandma's best friend and found shelter with an aristocratic family on a rural estate. However, the family were big Nazis and had lots of Russian and Polish prisoners-of-war working for them on the estate. They treated the POWs pretty badly. So my granny figured that once the Red Army arrived, the first thing they would do would be to hang the entire Nazi family and everyone associated with them. She and her friend decided to leave in the middle of the night with their kids, this time hitching a ride on a lorry.

They went to Rendsburg in West Germany, which to my granny's great joy was liberated by the British. The Brits and Americans were known to be quite friendly occupiers (my mother's first words in English were "give me please a piece of chocolate"). There they reunited with my great-grandma and lived as refugees for four years, until 1949, when they moved into a lovely, tiny flat in Berlin-Tempelhof.

My granny stayed in that flat for the next 50 years. I think she was done moving around. I still remember it - it was decorated with silver candlesticks and teapots which she had rescued from her old home.

So Swinemünde/Swinousjscie seemed like a good place to start my walk to my granny's hometown. I took the train from Berlin, a far more comfortable train ride then theirs had been (their train came under fire). 

Swinousjscie greeted me with a grey sky.

But also, with some beautiful restored buildings:

And hollyhocks.

I quite liked these historically aware bike stands, see below. They show an old photo of the street, from when it was called Lindenstrasse. Apart from these mini reminders, you wouldn't think the town had ever been German. The same goes for the other towns I've passed so far. They're just normal Polish towns now. I guess ultimately places as such - houses, trees, streets - don't have a nationality. It's the people and their language who give a town this or that identity. Well, the Poles have clearly put a lot of love into these places, there are nice gardens everywhere and beautifully restored facades.

After leaving Swinoujscie, I spent about 4 hours walking along the Baltic sea towards Miedzyzdroje. It was a grey, lonely and windswept day but kind of in keeping with the slightly melancholy theme of this walk. Then I arrived in Miedzyzdroje and it turned out to be a giant Soviet-style seaside resort. Kebab stands, karaoke, massage parlours, German menus in the restaurants, tinny pop music blaring out of speakers everywhere. What the hell! Such a shock after the calmness of the empty beach!

One of the main attractions was a WW2 bunker with a shooting range. I couldn't wait to get out of the place.

Next: Day 2, which turned into Day 3. Miedzyzdroje - Wolin, and then, rather surprisingly, Wolin - Kamien Pomorski.