Gdansk - Splendour and Grandeur (Part Two - The Embankment)
Gdansk is Poland's principal seaport but you will not see the sea if you in the historic city centre. However, there is a lot of floating water to enjoy - rivers and canals that lead to the Gdansk Bay and then to the Baltic Sea.
After a few hours spent among the most beautiful buildings a city can produce, we took a walk through one of the gates onto the Mołtawa embankment. It is a marvel.
A refreshing breeze among a hub of various activities struck us straight into the face. We did not know what to look at first, so many things are going on there, so colourful, vibrant, energetic.
First, a proper river with proper ships, boats, water-trams, ferries, bustling happily, carrying passengers, fisherman, tourists. Absolute dazzle.
The AmberSky Wheel on the horizon and the drawbridge immediately draw attention, as well as the number of restaurants, cafes, hotels, museums, historic places - everything that - more or less - a sophisticated visitor can wish for.
Gdansk is a tourist heaven, yet not lost in a cheap, shabby touristy attractions.
One of the landmarks of the area is the Crane, unique on a world scale.
A crane was functional at the place already in the 14th century. The one above, after a few uplifts, dates back to mid 15th century and it was the largest. For most of the time it also served defensive purposes - cannons were placed on the ground floor. The crane cargo-lifting capabilities were used up until 1944! Today, the crane tower has been adapted as a museum.
How is it that the ancients could have built structures lasting so many years, centuries even, in almost pristine conditions, and nowadays constructions with all the technology available, are replaced within a few years time - we wonder. But of course the economy rules the world.
And of course living in times where everything is only temporary - as if we are unable to stretch our look forward for more then a decade - is simply sad. In Polish, we call it 'gospodarka rabunkowa' - in loose translation: a predatory economy.
Across the river, on previous industrial derelict site, modern apartments had recently been erected, in compliance with the rest of the architectural style of the city. Will they outlive the old ones? Cleverly, they look quite in line with the rest, so wish them all the best.
On the east bank, berthed in its retirement is SS Sołdek - now a museum - one of the first ships to be built in Gdansk Shipyard, after the war. The city, besides being an important seaport from the early Middle Ages, was also a shipbuilding town and, in the 14th and 15th centuries, due to its expansion in wealth, it had to deal with the pirates.
Czarna Perla - the Black Pearl, and Galeon Leo, two stylish ships, the jewel in the river experience, relate to those rough times; they offer Pirate cruises, up to historic Westerplatte peninsula.
Gdansk is also widely known by its German name, Danzig. It had been a bone of contention between Germany and Poland in the inter-war period. To resolve the problem, the League of Nations, acclaimed it the Free City of Danzig, enjoying some autonomy.
The Nazis became a voice for the German population of Gdansk. The hostility grew and separatists movements dominated the 1930s with the Great Depression affecting everyday life. An outburst of physical conflict was here a really a matter of time.
The above mentioned Westerplatte was the starting point of the Second World War - it was Hitler's excuse to grab and incorporate the city of Gdansk to the Third Reich. In fact, he was fully prepared to invade the whole of Poland in a couple of days (with the help of Stalin's Soviet Union attacking from the East).
The city streets have preserved some of the foregone Teutonic and German influence, and you can hear a lot of German-speaking visitors around.
In the communist era, Gdańsk became a nest to a history-changing movement, the Solidarity. There had been anti-regime demonstrations, eventually leading to the collapse of communism in the Eastern Bloc.
We have stumbled accidentally on the last bit of Gdansk momentous story. A time of watershed in a waterhole, a time-lapse in Ministerstwo Sledzia i Wodki - The Ministry of Herring and Vodka.
The (above, lower right) reads: a beer normally costs 8 PLN. However, if you say 'one beer, thank you' you will pay 7 PLN. Unless you choose to get more cultured and kind, saying 'Hello, I'd like one beer, if you will, thank you', then you'd pay only 6 PLN. (£1.10)
Be nice to Gdansk and Gdansk will be nice to you :)
Previously:
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Sources:
collectionhttps://zabytek.pl/en/obiekty/gdansk-zurawperlalew.pl/
en.nmm.pl/soldek
gdansk.pl/turystyka/historia-gdanska
danzig-online.pl/historia
portgdansk.pl/port/inwestycje-i-rozwoj/port-i-miasto/
teleport.org/cities/gdansk/
spartez.com/blog/2018/02/26/move-to-tricity