Sopot pilgrimage, Poland, Music Festival site

October 2014 we visited Poland.
We took 1 day trip from Gdansk to Sopot.

We had a brisk 15-20 walk to the tram from out hotel Radisson Blu. In two stops we were at the central train station in Gdansk. We bought tickets to Sopot a 15 minute train ride.

Sopot was the seaside community on Baltic Sea and and it is a nice seaside resort town.

But, for me as well for other people who grew in the Soviet Union and it’s satellite countries in Eastern Europe, it was a magic place. Growing up, Every year there was a major music festival with all famous Soviet and world singers performed. For example, Alla Pugacheva, Anna German, also American Band Boney M.

But we could never can go there, most people watched it on TV.
Now we are in Poland so I’ve made an effort to go there and see it. It is a beautiful amphitheater in the forest, called now “Lesnaya Opera” (Forest Opera). Now there are no performances (they prepare for Jazz festival). But I was able to go the theater and even climbed on the stage to “perform”. Roaring crowds !!!

There is a entrance fee and some old photos of the stars and previous history of this lovely site. It is set in the woods cradled into the side of a hill and creates a natural amphitheatre. The roof is a stretched material. It is actually very beautiful building in nice forest surrounding. That’s why it is called “Lesnaya” (forest) Opera.

Here is a slideshow with video of performance 🙂