Solidarity

For the second time in Poland I've learned that arriving at a late hour does not allow you to form a clear impression of the city.   Our quick walk along the riverfront last night left us less than awed by Gdansk.  

That impression changed immediately this morning.  Gdansk is apparently the least Polish of all Polish cities.  In its 1,000 year history it has been an independent city state for 700 years.   It has been a major trading and shipping centre and joined the Hanseatic League of traders, which included such cities as Hamburg, Torun, Tallinn and Brugges, which it reminds me of.   This resemblance is no accident as many Flemish and Dutch traders moved here.  Because of its trade it has mostly been a wealthy and prosperous city.  This is reflected in the beautiful houses along its Royal Way. 

There are just so many beautiful old houses it would be impossible to show them all. 

So far Gdansk hasn't appeared very high in the tourist radar but you can't help feel that this is going to change very soon.   Getting started early we managed to avoid any crowd and enjoyed strolling the streets and gawking and pointing at all the amazing sights.  The Royal Way is incredibly picturesque.   

If you were wondering when we would start talking about churches, that would be now.  St. Mary's Church is the largest brick church in the world - over 400 feet long and 200 feet wide.   

It was apparently covered from floor to ceiling in frescoes, but in the 16th century the Lutherans whitewashed the whole thing.  They have started to restore a few samples of the frescoes.  A couple of the interesting features are an amazing astrological clock and a modern chapel dedicated to the victims of the 2010 plane crash which wiped out most of Poland's government.   

Along our walk we hit two more churches.   The first was St Catherine's Church (Katy) and behind it St Bridget's which is the home church of Lech Wałęsa.

The amazing thing about Gdansk is that it survived the Nazi invasion in 1939 intact but when the Russians "liberated" it in 1945 they felt it was the first German city they had conquered so they obliterated it in revenge.  The one exception was St. Nicholas Church only because St. Nicholas is the patron saint of Russia.

Speaking of Lech Wałęnsa we headed to the sight of some of the most important events in modern history.  Gadansk shipyard .... Gate #2.  This is the shipyard where Lech Wałęnsa led the ship workers on a strike which opened a crack in the Iron Curtain which eventually brought down Communism in Eastern Europe.  The spark that started the uprising happened a decade before when 44 (apparently quite a few more) were killed by police opening fire on a peaceful demonstration.  This spot is marked by a moving memorial, designed and built entirely by the shipyard workers. 

The shipyard no longer exists. In its place is the large European Solidarity Centre. 

On our way home we met a young girl walking her two dogs.  One of them a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.  Who knew?