Believe it or not, in spite of the frustration of trying to
find my hotel, I was elated to be on an adventure!
The street I had walked down the night before was Długi Targ (D-woogi
Targ), otherwise known as The Royal Way. It starts at the Green Gate, a
stunning structure inspired by the Antwerp City Hall.
The term ‘gate’ is hardly appropriate seeing as it is a
fully built structure that, in its heyday, functioned as the formal residence of Poland’s kings. It was built
in 1568 and, today, serves as a museum.
In fact, there are plenty of museums along Długi Targ and Ulica Długa (Long Street) but
the weather was so glorious I did not want to be indoors! Besides, I am only
here for a little more than two days; gotta see as much as I can!
On the opposite end, Royal Way is capped by the Golden Gate,
built in Dutch Mannerism style.
The original structure did not survive World War II but was
replicated in the late 1950s. Notably, all German influence had been
removed/ignored in the reconstruction – of the gate and of the city; only later
was a single inscription in German replaced.
You might know that Gdansk ‘belonged’ to Germany for a
substantial period of time. In those years, it was called Danzig. I get the
impression, time and again, that German occupation of Poland was not
necessarily welcome or wanted.
Walking the Royal Way last night, I was awed in spite of my
frustration. It was plenty well lit up and decently populated; a number of
people were strolling along. Now I have my chance to see it all in the daylight
and it did not disappoint.
What did disappoint was my breakfast selection.
In a bakery where several others were enjoying their meal,
what I had ordered looked nowhere near as appetizing as the fruit-topped
waffles others were enjoying. Nevertheless, fortified with a bit of food, it
was time to go walking!
While most of the tourist attractions (and pubs and
restaurants) were on this main boulevard, there were side streets to explore.
Gdansk has enough churches to put any town in the American
south or southwest to shame – 10 of them in Old Town alone!
One of the more remarkable ones, St Marie’s Basilica, built
during the 15th century, is the second-largest brick church in the
world.
It was close to this church that I found the Barbary lion
sculptures the night before. If I had gone to the other side, maybe I would
have found sculptures of lambs?
It may sound a bit strange but, seeing as I had walked the
Royal Way the night before, I opted to travel the side streets and the rest of
Old Town.
The Big Mill! That sounded intriguing... Ooh, what’s that
magnificent structure? Turns out, it was the armory. And the marketplace...
There is so much to see and appreciate here! I did not allot
myself enough time to take it all in.
One sight I wanted to see was the Gaol Tower.
Located across from the Golden Gate, it was meant to house
prisoners outside of the city walls while awaiting dispensation from His
Majesty. There was a long line out the door of tourists keen to take in the
torture chamber... or maybe they just wanted to buy some amber.
Gdansk is the amber capitalof Europe and the Gaol Tower
houses an amber museum.
I wasn’t on a boardwalk but, after walking all morning, I
wished my feet were fireproof! My skimpy breakfast long digested and my feet in
agony, I figured it was time for lunch.
I can’t understand why the restaurant I picked was so empty!
It was a charming place, a tad on the formal side with its white linen table
cloths and candles, but the service was good and the food was reasonably priced
and quite excellent.
Selection was difficult: should I have the spinach-stuffed
chicken or the traditional cabbage rolls?
As good as the chicken sounded, tradition won out. Those
cabbage rolls didn’t taste so different from the ones I remember eating in
Germany... that could be because Gdansk was German for about 500 years!
That lunch break was just the rest my feet needed; now it’s
time to prowl some more!
I continued to wander, vaguely following the ancient city
walls which took me around all that I had ambled through so far.
In my wanderings, I made sure to score some food for dinner
and buy some shampoo to make up for the absent toiletries in my room.
And then, totally exhausted but completely satisfied, I
headed ‘home’.
Day 2
Yesterday, on foot, we saw a lot of touristy things –
granted, only superficially, namely staying outside for the most part.
Today, we ride public transportation!
Gdansk is a big city with a lot of remarkable features, not
all of which are located in Old Town. For example, the shipyards where the
Solidarity Uprising took place. (Take tram #8 to get there!).
You may also venture into Oliwa to see the cathedral or
catch sight of another, less famous city gate.
Westerplatte, the site where the first battle of World War
II took place is only about 20 minutes away by bus (#606, board at the train station).
Standing by the monument, you can look out to see the Nowy Port
lighthouse.
As a bonus, that bus will take you past those historic
(and now defunct) shipyards where the Solidarity movement began.
If getting to the lighthouse
is your goal, take tram #3 and get off at Latania Morska station.
One monument I genuinely wanted to tour but didn’t get the
chance to is the Wisłoujscie
Fortress, a 700 year old round structure that was the city’s first
line of defense, situated as it is at the mouth of the Vistula river.
I think I will have to come back to Gdansk during the summer
months, when all of these attractions are open. For now, it is time to head
back to my temporary quarters, have some dinner and hit the hay.
Tomorrow, we’ll be Szczecin-bound!
Polish Trains v. China Trains
Only one beggar assailed me at the train station, as opposed
to the flock of mendicants I was subjected to in China.
Again in Gdansk: no security whatsoever to get into the
train station or on the platforms. (I rather like that!)
This station is undergoing renovations. There was a canopy
overhead but no electronic displays indicating the train number or destination.
My train was due out of track #2 but both sides of the
platform were labeled #2! I cursed myself for not paying enough attention when
the train pulled in 2 days ago; I might have thus known which side of the
platform to stand on.
There were announcements; all in Polish. Traveling in China
was made easier by all announcements made in both Mandarin and in English...
My train was due out at 12:05; right on schedule a train
glided into the station. There was no train number on the locomotive or on the
cars. However, there was a laminated sign on one of the car doors that said
‘Szczecin’.
I asked a conductor leaning out the window if that was the
train bound for Szczecin. He muttered something guttural and vaguely gestured
to the other side of the platform.
The announcements overhead, barely audible, out of antique
speakers and above the noise. I managed to understand “Szczecin” and “15”.
Would the train be 15 minutes late or will it come at 12:15? Or 1500 – 3pm?
AND WHICH TRAIN???
All of the other people on the platform were getting a bit
antsy, too. A few of them lit cigarettes in spite of all of the ‘no smoking’
signs plastered everywhere. Nobody did anything about it; in China they would
have been reprimanded.
Of course, all’s well that ends well. When the train finally
pulled in, I put all of my experience on Chinese trains to work in getting
aboard as quickly as possible and finding my assigned seat.
This train was much more populated than the one to Gdansk so
I had to arrange myself in such a way that the woman next to me, who constantly
twitched, would stop hitting my deformed (and sometimes still painful) left
arm.
Other than that, it was a restful journey home.
Footnotes:
Gdansk is still plastered with posters of the mayor who was
recently slain. Seeing them everywhere made the visit somewhat mournful.
Graffiti: while I am all for self-expression, the graffiti
in Gdansk made me consider the boundaries of that philosophy. It’s not pretty
or artistic and doesn’t seem to contain any message; it appears to be just
wanton vandalism!
True, there is graffiti in Szczecin, too. But it doesn’t
seem as prolific as in Gdansk.
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