Huge silt pipeline becomes unusual tourist attraction on Sopot beach with locals taking selfies, using it as a bench and a place for ‘wild, crazy dances’

Initially seen as being an eyesore and hinderance to beach-goers when work began in April, the pipe which is being used to extract silt from the seabed has now become a welcome place to rest and a place pose for selfies.
Esopot reader/Facebook

A huge metal pipe on Sopot beach has become an unexpected tourist attraction after visitors adopted it as a makeshift bench.

The several-hundred-metre-long pipe, which is being used to extract silt from the seabed, was introduced to widen the approach to a new floating platform which will serve the sport and sailing services on Sopot’s beach.

Initially seen as being an eyesore and hinderance to beach-goers when work began in April, the pipe has now become a welcome place to rest and a place pose for selfies.

One delighted user posing for a photo of herself eating a waffle while sitting on the pipe said: “The main tourist attraction of Sopot has a number of uses, it is an ideal place to sit, very comfortable and warm.” She added it “even serves as a platform for crazy wild dances.”Joanna_kruzinska/Instagram

“You can eat and drink all kinds of food and drinks in peace there;)

“In the evening, however, it serves as a place to feast around the fire to the rhythms of your favourite music, and even serves as a platform for crazy wild dances.

Beach-goers out for a stroll often take selfies with the pipe.damrokaart/Instagram

“Well, I’m telling you, what an indecently divine invention, if it disappears, I don’t know.”

Now, with the removal of the ‘bench’ in the pipeline, city officials are looking for a replacement with locals suggesting logs could be an eco-friendly solution, offering people somewhere to sit while not introducing unnatural permanent elements to the beach.

Anna Dyksińska from Sopot City Hall told local media: “Completely unintentionally, we have a new tourist attraction in Sopot.

The pipeline was introduced to widen the approach to a new floating platform which will serve the sport and sailing services on Sopot’s beach.Anna Dahlberg/Facebook

“We have seen how eagerly strollers use this ‘unusual bench’.

“We will analyze various possibilities, various forms, for example, of urban furniture that could function as seats.

“If such solutions were to appear, it would be out of season. In high season, we have gastronomic points on the beach, benches and a walking path, for example at the entrance 23.

During the summer months, tourists traditionally sit in deck chairs or lie on the sand.Piotr Wittman/PAP

“We should also remember that in the season on the beach you can rent the iconic wedged beach baskets.

“Meanwhile, we appeal to those using the “atypical bench” to keep their distance and remember that despite the beautiful natural circumstances, the pandemic situation is still very respected.”

The silt removal has been part of a long-term plan for the ‘Development of the water tourism offer in the area of the Żuławy Loop and the Gdańsk Bay’ which has received co-funding from the EU and will see the new 110 metre floating platform appear at the end of Sopot pier offering mooring space for 28 vessels.

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