You couldn't ask for a lovelier welcome to Poland than strolling around Gdańsk on a warm afternoon in early September. We started with the Great Mill built by the Teutonic Knights in the mid-14th century. It now houses the Amber Museum but for a couple of centuries the water mill ground more than 200 pounds of flour a day.
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| The Great Mill by P. Willer (1687) |
A walking tour recommended by the Lonely Planet began at the Upland Gate, through which Polish kings once entered the fortified city.
Allied and Soviet air raids left most of Gdańsk's landmarks in pieces after World War II. The nearby Torture Museum & Prison Tower displayed a lot of random architectural motifs.
Allied and Soviet air raids left most of Gdańsk's landmarks in pieces after World War II. The nearby Torture Museum & Prison Tower displayed a lot of random architectural motifs.
When I told Florian, who's German, that I was going to Gdańsk, he reminded me that it used to be called Danzig and that it would be third city in the Hanseatic League I had visited, including Hamburg and Lubeck. Think of the League as a Middle Ages sneak peek at globalization: members embraced free trade in northern Europe for nearly three centuries, much of it before the discovery of America.
Christine posed in front of the Millennial Tree, created in 1997 to celebrate the city's one-thousandth birthday. That's a lot of history, much of it in dispute. After Napoleon established it as a free city-state in 1807, Poland, Germany and the USSR have all claimed ownership.
The pretty reconstruction reminded me a lot of Dresden.
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| Great Armory |
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| Main Town Hall |
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| Artus Court & Neptune's Fountain |
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| Mariacka Street |
Somehow I forget to get a good photo of the Basilica of St. Mary's, the world's largest brick church. Chalk it up to jet lag!
The ungepatchke interior combines traditional and modern elements.
This memorial honors nearly 3,000 Polish priests who lost their lives during the German occupation in World War II.
I left Christine behind to climb to the top of the bell tower.
You couldn't beat the wraparound views, almost to the Baltic Sea.
I thought 409 steps from top to bottom would give me bragging rights until I met a woman who had done it in heels!
More Poland
Gdansk:
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