Gdansk

It was meant to snow in Bristol so we took off for warmer climes – only slightly, but at least it was sunny and it didn’t rain or snow at all in the weekend. We’re at Gdansk Airport and I have nothing to read as I bought a book from home that I have already read. Silly me!! After flicking through Harry’s car magazine (which is only marginally more exciting than a Women’s Weekly - each to their own I guess) and finding that the magazine shop only sold books and newspapers in Polish (or very expensive English newspapers) I decided to write some postcards and draft the blog. We have really enjoyed visiting Gdansk – we felt we were in Poland – not some tourist resort that was catering for the English tourist. I somehow think we will visit Poland a little bit more - afterall from Bristol you can also catch a cheap flight to Krakow and Warsaw. Gdansk (once known as Danzig) is on the Baltic sea and over its history has been attacked by Swedes, Germans and Russians. In one book it said that the city 'is known historically as the powderkeg whose spark (lit by Hitler) ignited the Second World War'. It was also in Gdansk where the flame that signalled the collapse of communism was raised by Lech Walesa. Once it was a shipyard, but now the old town stands proudly as a historic town, it’s been rebuilt after the war, and now hosts restaurants, shops as well as the historic town hall and museums. It got reasonably well demolished during the Second World War but most of the buildings look older – that ageless quality of stone where it is difficult to tell if a building is 40 or 400 years old. The central part of the city is being slowly renovated and some of the buildings look lovely – the Dutch influence of ornate roofs is definitely around. It’s amazing to think that communism was over run finally in the 1980’s but the city still has a long way to go before it becomes a vibrant, exciting city - wait 20 or so years, and we reckon it will be a top tourist destination and Easyjet will probably run the flights to the city once again – they are cancelling them in May due to lack of patronage. The best way to see the central part of the old town was on a walking tour so we took to our feet. We soon learnt that the scale of the map wasn’t very large but it still took us about 10 hours to wander around (not counting the coffee and food breaks). You can sort of wander through the walled part of the city at times as there are a number of gates (above which there were prisons etc and now are offices for people like the president). We wandered passed numerous old buildings and statues and came to the green gate which was built initially for visiting monarchs. Had a coffee in the grand mill, which has a huge gable roof, which was operated as a flour mill, granary and bakery before becoming a modern shopping arcade. We visited the historical museum – it didn’t take long as all the explanations were in Polish - and so we looked at photos, tools, paintings - which sort of speak an international language. We were the only ones at the museum and so the security staff followed us around, opened doors as we got close to the next door, closed the one of the room we had left, switched lights on and off - a little bit unnerving but also had a funny side. I did wonder if this is what an animal feels like in a zoo ie being constantly watched.


Gdansk is apparently well known for its 'Crane' which stands over the Mottawa River and handled cargo and also helped to raise ships masts. It also served as a city gate. The reconstructed driving mechanism is still in working condition and was originally propelled by men walking in a wheel (it reminded me of the little dog that churned the cheese in the kitchens in Bath) both similar to the wheel mice play in but a lot bigger. I did wonder about the damage you could do to yourself if you tripped over by walking in a wheel once it got the momentum got going - I guess you just couldn't go into a daze. Most people spoke a broken English and some spoke very little. In broken English the hotel proprietor said ‘come come’ when showing us the breakfast room and ‘come come’ when taking us to our room and showing us the tea making facilities. At the tourist information office the woman said ‘moment moment’ when asking us to wait or when the computer was slow to provide some information. We enjoyed ordering food when the menus weren’t in Polish and English as we couldn’t find a phrase book at the library to help us. The Polish language is quite soft and a pleasure to listen to but sounds nothing like English - when we asked how to get to the beach we were told certain numbered trams but they only took us half way and it took a while for us both to work out we weren’t very close. After getting off the first tram, a very nice Polish man tried to tell us to catch the Number 6 tram by counting to three in French. He tried very hard but it was not until someone came along who realised out problem did we work out he actually meant catch Number 6. Some people asked us where we came from and when saying New Zealand they were surprised that we had come so far. I guess they don’t get too many kiwis as it is is a bit off the tourist track. The place is kind of flat and we wandered up 400 steps to the top of the church spire – some quite steep spiral steps – but it was worth it. The view of the central town is very picturesque from the church.


One of the surprises and delights of Gdansk has been the food. We read somewhere that ‘Poles are passionate about their food. Throw away your preconceptions about miserable eastern bloc stews, and prepare yourself for a great surprise’. Even then we weren’t expecting much but we went to 3 little restaurants and each of them presented the food beautifully, it was cooked fresh (but weary feet don’t mind the wait), after the third time we took a photo of the visual delight. We didn’t sample the Goldwasser, the local alcoholic drink and the name of our lunch restaurant but it has gold leaves in it (possibly it might be a bit much for our wallet and we would prefer to spend gold than drink it). The local legend says that Neptune (of which there is a fountain built in the 17th century) indignant at seeing coins tossed into his fountain struck the water with his trident crushing the gold into tiny flakes which since then have glittered in the herbal liquor.

The shops are quaint with little glass booths outside displaying some of the wares – looking at them means you will have a sales person in front of you in seconds - not trying to persuade you to buy but I like to think being available if you do wish to buy - more like watching that you don't wonder away with a little bit of amber jewellery without paying for it. Amber is a natural mineral and the local Baltic gold. It is quite lovely and depending on its age can range from white to a cherry red. It was in many of the stands outside shops and in market stalls. Apparently Homer once said 'Among luxury goods is is valued so high that an amber human figuring, no matter how small, costs much more than men in their prime (slaves)'. Obviously, a long time ago as it is now in plentiful supply and thankfully there is no more slavery.

We walked a lot and by Sunday night even a wait at the airport was fine as long as we weren’t standing. We did enjoy wandering around as there weren't that many people to rub shoulders with and so could go at our own pace and stop to take photos whenever we wanted to. We wandered to the ‘Road to Freedom’ museum which recorded the history of the overthrow of communism but unfortunately it was ‘closed until further notice’ and then also to the ship workers monument which was steeped in atmosphere and warnings to future conquerers that Poland has had enough. It felt like the nation is strong after all its oppression.

Our walking tour took us up to the fortress, millennium cross (where we looked across the city in the early evening). The cranes looked like giant locusts from a science fiction movie - and the scene a far cry from those pictures we took from St Mary's a few hours earlier. The cemetery of nonexistent cemeteries (for a while we wondered if the latter was actually nonexistent but then we stumbled across on the way down the hill). Quite poignant sitting below the cross and its in memory of all those that can no longer be physically remembered due to the loss of early cemeteries.The monument to the fallen shipyard workers commemorates the workers strikes in 1970 and was made by ship yard workers in the 1980’s. Apparently, all official delegations visitng Gdansk lay flowers at the foot of the monument. The cemetery was a very colourful area with lots of lovely flowers, mainly yellow and Harry was fascinated by the number of people who died there hair a vivid red (mainly woman) and I was equally fascinated by the fact that the men appeared to be somewhat shorter than in New Zealand (on average) – could it be diet, work/home balance, who knows.

Next day, was beach day – can’t resist a beach if I know there is one close. Our first sight of the Baltic Sea. What a superb beach – no wonder Hitler stayed at the Grand Hotel when his troops marched towards Poland. It must be devastating to have your country invaded and as we stood on the Pier looking towards the Grand Hotel and imaging Hitler standing on the porch we felt some of the anger and fear that these people have lived with for so long.

The waterfront was well designed with a green sand dune area between the beach, and then a pedestrian path, cycle path, houses and then cars. A relaxing way to spend a Sunday afternoon. It is a place for everyone to enjoy and we saw many an elderly couple well wrapped up in their berets and hats. Some of the houses were spectacular in size, while others were little beach cottages sitting on sections worth more than a few pieces of Amber I would imagine.

I was in Swansea this week on work and Harry went off to Devon with students on an ‘outdoor pursuit centre’. A couple of pictures from his hike along the beach at Hartland Point. I didn't take any of my hotel room or conference room - a little bit of an anti climax after Gdansk.