G'day Gdansk

Travelling on Polish roads can be either frustrating or relatively easy. The trip north from Warsaw to Gdansk was one of the more frustrating ones. Poland is currently building freeways all over the country but the one that connects Warsaw to Gdansk is a freeway in progress. Lots of new sections that provide little spurts in an otherwise long bumper to bumper journey through towns and around freeway construction zones. Huge semi trailers and cars vie for space on the roads and the speed limit is most often not followed until a speed camera comes along. 70 kph sections have cars going 120 or more kph with pedestrian crossing marked only by the sign of a figure walking. We passed an 80 year old couple waiting to cross a heavily congested road with no lights to make cars stop. Who could possibly see them standing there when cars are speeding down the road in excess of the speed limit? The couple are probably still standing there waiting to cross!

Gdansk is near the Baltic Sea and is a seaport. It has a harbour, dockyards and channels that wind through the city. It's old town section is very picturesque with Renaissance and Baroque buildings, cobblestone streets and waterways. There are river cruises, or you can hire a canoe, character boats that looks like a taxi, police, fire chiefs car, red sports car or a white swan, or jet skis. The main waterway is filled with pleasure craft with cruise boats constantly beeping kayakers or hire boats to clear the path.

The Main Street of the old town is a pedestrian mall with restaurants and souvenir shops. In 1945 it looked completely different. Most of the buildings in the street had only their facades still standing after the Nazi bombings. While some buildings are authentic, the others have been rebuilt to appear exactly as they looked before.

The Main Street of the old town is called Dluga. It stretches from the Golden Gate which protects its entrance down to the Green Gate at the waterway

Beautifully decorated building along the street with the Town Hall clock tower

Neptune fountain

Gargoyles are prominent in Gdansk buildings

Town Hall and surrounding buildings

Town Hall clock towers and remnants of building facades in 1945

Buildings today

The Green Gate at the opposite end of the Main Street near the waterway in 1945

As it is today

Daniel Fahrenheit came from Gdansk and an authentic temperature gauge and barometer from the 1700s is located on the Main Street. Celsius has taken over so Fahrenheit is a museum piece!

Beautifully painted buildings on the Main Street

Summer today in Gdansk is a cool 20 degrees but that didn't stop the water pleasure cravat from coming out particularly on a Sunday. The streets lining the waterway Stara Motlawa are similar to Dluga in architecture as well as being pedestrian malls.

Stara Motlawa waterway

The Crane is a main feature of the old town as it was used to winch things from boats. The cable used is very thick.

Some of the pleasure craft included character 'car' boats that people could hire. It was too tempting, so we put on our life jackets and headed up the waterway in our own little red car

Our 'car' boat

Best way to see everything along the waterway in the old town as well as the shipping dockyard made famous by Lech Walensa and the Solidarity movement to overcome soviet communist rule.

Pirate ship boat rides

Super bad selfie trapped in a life jacket

Apparently Gdansk has a number of murals in the newer part of town. The city often has the European Festival of Monumental Painting-Monumental Arts with artists from many countries creating huge wall murals.

The Museum of World War II

Back on shore, we ventured along the waterway to find some lunch after getting somewhat soaked thanks to the wake of jet skiers and large cruise boats.

Buskers with amazing music

The restaurant for lunch was on the top floor of the Maritime Museum

Mariacka Street is a more secluded laneway with gentrified homes that have carved stone porches. Artisans and amber jewellery merchants line the street to sell their wares. The street is often used as a film location. It also has a large supply of gargoyles.

Back in the old town main street, loud music was coming from a flash mob where coloured powder was being thrown over people participating in the dance.

 

Further up the street a band of soldiers dressed from the past marched on...what a contrast

Balloon sellers and other merchants stroll through the crowds.

Our room on the 3rd floor with a high picture window at the Hotel Zatoka in Gdansk. It also has a rather close railway line with incredibly noisy trains and a church within view that rings its bells every hour so at least you can set your watch by it.