Day 10: Gdańsk

[Monday, June 17]

[Click on any photo for a bigger view]

Today we had a full day in Gdańsk, a port city on the Vistula River delta near the Baltic Sea. Gdańsk is known for being an industrial city, a former shipbuilding center for the Soviet Bloc, and was a port and trading center of the Medieval Hanseatic League. I know. Boring stuff. Oh, and it was also the site both the start of World War II and, later, of one of the most pivotal political movements in the world in the late 20th century. More on that later.

We had another marvelous buffet breakfast at our hotel, the Radisson Blu. Then we boarded the tour bus for a morning tour around Gdańsk. Our first stop would be a trip to the spot where World War II began. The history of the area around Gdańsk between the World Wars is complicated. Gdańsk itself was not part of Poland or Germany but was called the Free City of Danzig under the protection and oversight of the League of Nations. Poland knew that it's freedom would be untenable for long without a port city on the Baltic. Therefore, beginning in 1921, the Poles built a new port, Gdynia, to the west of Danzig and by 1933 the commerce through Gdynia exceeded that of Danzig. The Poles were aware of Nazi infiltration into its territory near Gdynia and of a Nazi-backed movement of Germans in that area to reunite with Germany. They began to prepare a defense of Gdynia for what they were sure was a coming war. The League of Nations allowed Poland to build a small ammunition depot near Danzig. This was the first target of the Nazis in the invasion of Poland. Poland had secretly reinforced the depot before the war, but knew it would only slow the Germans down. The Battle of Westerplatte lasted eight days, much longer than either the Germans and Poles had anticipated.

Memorial to the Polish Tadeusz Ziolkowski, Captain of Shipping at Gdańsk who was captured and killed by the Germans for his role in Poland's defense in the early stages of WW II

The wharf where World War II began

We then headed for the Gdańsk shipyards, which became part of Poland again after the war. The shipyards were the site of early movements for workers rights in Soviet dominated Poland, and were the birthplace in 1980 of the Solidarność (Solidarity) movement that eventually led to Poland's freedom from the Soviet Union by the end of the decade.

Our local guide in Gdańsk, Anya, was a woman of middle age who was a young girl during the heady times of the Solidarność movement. Anya was obviously passionate about the subject of that movement and gave us many details of its history. The Soviets ruled Central Europe with an iron fist, invading and crushing revolts and uprisings in Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia (1968). Not long after the failed Prague Spring uprising, the workers at the Gdańsk shipyards went on strike to improve their working conditions and pay in 1970. The strike was brutally put down with 44 deaths and over 1000 injuries. The failure of the strike, however, was not the end of the movement for workers rights in Poland. There were subsequent strikes, in particular in 1976. Workers became better organized and wary of the trickery of their government. In 1980, the trade union Solidarność, led by Lech Wałęsa, was formed. Soon afteward, Anna Walentynowicz was fired from the Gdańsk Shipyard, five months before she was due to retire, for participation in the illegal trade union. This management decision enraged the workers of the shipyard, who staged a strike action. This time, the strike was very well-organized and led to government recognition of the union.

Solidarność became a broad network of organizations across the whole country that worked together not only on bread and butter issues, but on broader, anti-authoritarian measures. The union weathered the many storms of the 1980s, including 3 years of martial law in Poland. It united institutions such as the unions, the Catholic Church, and other groups. In the end, the movement brought about semi-free elections in 1989 and was instrumental in final transition from communist rule in 1991.

Anya brought us to a large memorial made of three steel crosses that the Poles forced their government to build to memorialize the massacre during the 1970 strike. The memorial is very tall, and looks like parts of a ship frame. She brought us to the gates of the old shipyard, where we saw a copy of Solidarity's original demands in the 1980 strike. It is noteworthy that the workers could have ended the strike when the most narrow subset of these demands, affecting only the workers, were satisfied, but they continued until the entire, broader set was agreed to.

The Gdańsk shipyards have fallen on hard times due mainly to foreign competition. The workforce is about a tenth of what it used to be. The area is slowly being transformed into a commercial and event site. One attraction on the site is the European Solidarity Center, which we briefly visited. The center is a museum and library devoted to the history of Solidarity, the Polish trade union and civil resistance movement, and other opposition movements in Communist Eastern Europe. It's an imposing building, with a design reminiscent of the ship frames that were part of the lifeblood of Gdańsk. It's very open and airy inside. We were told that Lech Wałęsa, now 80 years old, has an office there and occasionally pops in. We stopped at the gift store and used the restrooms before continuing our tour.

Gdańsk shipyards

Anya, our local guide in Gdańsk

Memorial to those killed in the 1970 shipyard strike

Shipyard gates

The demands of Solidarność

European Solidarity Center

Inside the European Solidarity Center

After stopping at the shipyards, we boarded the bus to go back to the old town center. We then started a short walk before ending our morning tour. Gdańsk was largely destroyed during World War II and the old Main City is, like many old centers of cities in Poland, a reconstruction. It is now, like many of these centers, a major tourist destination. We walked through the old gates of the city, which once included a jail, an execution area, and a place where prisoners could be publicly held in shackles.

We next walked through St. Mary's Church. St. Mary's, built in the 14th century, is one of the largest brick churches in the world. Anya gave some fascinating details about the church's construction. Since Gdańsk sits on very low ground, huge foundations of wood pilings had to be driven into the ground to support the massive weight of the church. The interior of the church is beautiful, with many side chapels dedicated to rich patrons. In the Middle Ages, rich patrons could be buried under the floor inside churches. In some cases, family members were stacked on top of each other. St. Mary's has a very large and beautiful astronomical clock inside of complex design. Built in the mid-15th century, the clock has complex dials that show the time and date, phases of the moon, the position of the Moon and Sun in relation to the zodiac signs, and the calendar of saints days and holy days. Adam and Eve ring the bell on the hour, and at noon a procession appears that features Adam and Eve alongside the Three Kings, the Apostles, and Death.

Old city gate of Gdańsk

Shackles in the old city gate

St. Mary's Church

Inside St. Mary's

Astronomical clock in St. Mary's

Painting of Virgin and Child surrounded by depictions of biblical stories

Main altar with large suspended crucifix

Lots of information on the astronomical clock

The Main City used to be an area for workers' homes and shops, but is now entirely taken up by businesses catering to tourists: hotels, cafes, restaurants, and souvenir shops. And jewelry stores. Gdańsk has always been where you go to get Baltic amber, a semi-precious fossilized tree resin prized since ancient times. Most Baltic amber is between 30 and 50 million years old. It comes in a variety of hues of brown, from creamy light brown to dark reddish brown. The clear amber often contains inclusions, both inorganic and organic, including plant parts and insects. Amber is often found washed ashore on Baltic beaches after a storm, but it is also found in underground deposits which are mined. It is a soft stone that can easily be polished. It can even be burned like incense. Most often it is made into jewelry or decorative pieces. There are dozens of jewelry stores specializing in amber in Gdańsk. Our tour took us into a shop where one of the employees gave a demonstration of polishing amber.

Amber polishing

After our morning tour was over, we were free for the rest of the day. We decided to walk to the canal side of the city gate. Along the canal are more shops and restaurants, as well as another sightseeing attraction, the Żuraw port crane. The crane was built in the 15th century and restored after the damage incurred during World War II. The crane was used to load and unload ships. It's a pretty impressive structure and now houses a maritime museum.

Żuraw port crane

Man-powered wheels used to lift inside the port crane

Poster showing the canal area of Gdańsk, still under reconstruction 15 years after World War II.

We heard of a canal-side bistro that served award-winning bigos, and it was time for lunch. I had a soup made of Baltic salmon, and a small bowl of the bigos. The soup had the perfect balance of herbs. I'm not a big fan of dill, but it can be good if there's a hint of it blended with other spices. This soup was spot on. And the bigos was the best I had in Poland. Vicky had a salad with chicken.

A bistro with a nice view of the canal

Salmon soup and bigos

The bigos deserved the award

After lunch, we rested a bit, then went out to do more sightseeing and shopping in the old Main City. The main drag was a bit too noisy and touristy, but some of the parallel side streets were quieter and had nice shops. We picked up enough amber to almost complete our gift list. Besides the main drag and the parallel side streets, almost every alleyway in the Main City had a shop or bistro tucked away in it. The buildings themselves often had oddball features like decorative downspouts.

Alleyway in Gdańsk

A bit of Scotland in Gdańsk

Elephant downspout

After walking around and shopping, we went to another bistro, the Goldwasser Brasserie, for a light evening meal. This particular place was an outlet for Goldwasser, a strong herbal liqueur with flakes of 23 karat gold in it. It was invented by a Dutchman living in Gdańsk in the 16th century. Gold is one of the few heavy metals that is not poisonous to humans. It passes through the human digestive tract unchanged. In earlier times, gold was thought to have beneficial medical properties. I just enjoyed the taste! I had some Lithuanian herring over potato salad and topped with renet apple mouse, watercress and beet sprouts. Quite tasty!

Lithuanian herring dish

Spot the gold flakes!

I went for a run in every Polish city we stayed in except Gdańsk. This was in part due to our compressed schedule there (we were only in Gdańsk for one full day). I would have liked to get up early to go for a run on Day 11 (as I've mentioned, the sun is up pretty early in Poland this time of year). But due to a series of unfortunate events, I slept in until just before we had to board our bus. The 'series of unfortunate events' mainly consisted of finding out that the bartender at the hotel was quite irresponsible if you tipped him even moderately generously. I had headed down to the bar to talk to a couple of brother Knights of Columbus who were on the tour with me. I ordered a cold shot of Żubrówka, a Polish vodka with a blade of bison grass in the bottle. I'm not a fan of vodka. To me, it has no character and is best used as a neutral base for some cocktails. But Żubrówka is different, It has character, though a character which is an acquired taste. It tastes...grassy, but in a good way. After giving the bartender a nice tip, he insisted I also try some Wódka Żołądkowa Gorzka, or 'bitter stomach vodka', an herb infused liqueur used as a digestif. Then he insisted I have another on the house. Well, OK, if you insist...After a long day of touring and walking, this made sure I got a good night's sleep.