Gdańsk

My final destination in Europe, for this journey, was Gdańsk. I spent about four weeks here between the end of March to mid April. I had heard that Gdańsk is a beautiful city and it certainly did not disappoint. While I had been to other parts of Poland before, I had never been to this city and so I wanted to take this opportunity to explore it. The other main reason I came here was as a home base to visit Norway. Gdańsk has direct flights to Bergen, in Norway, that I wanted to use as my entry point to get to the Trolltunga hike. While I wouldn't have minded staying in Norway directly it was a little too expensive; the cost of living was certainly cheaper in Poland.

I found a nice apartment to stay in that was right next to the old town, only two blocks away from the main street. I was on the top floor and while I worked I could often look out to a beautiful view of the city.

Most of the buildings throughout Gdańsk had a distinctive architecture style similar to the Netherlands with tall narrow buildings build right next to each other along streets and waterways, with pointed roofs.

This is the main street with the town hall building in the middle (the tall one with a clock tower). The street was often crowded with people and has many shops, restaurants and cafes. I often walked along here to get to other parts of Gdańsk.

The main street looking west towards the golden gate.

The main street looking east to the Green Gate. Directly beyond the gate is one of the canals pictured in the next photograph.

This is the main waterway of Gdańsk. The building to the left of the bridge is the Green Gate shown in the previous image. The main city centre is not build directly on the coast but is a little inland, and is connected to the sea by these canals and rivers.

This photo shows the old port crane, perhaps the most famous building in Gdańsk. When I was visiting, the shore front area was under construction, hence the crane and barricades you can see in the picture.

On my first weekend here I went for a walk to a park south of the main city where there is a series of old forts. Each of the forts were shaped into the landscape with straight lines and hard angles. They pointed outwards from the city and were all next to a canal/moat that had a zig-zag pattern to it. The path along this waterway followed this zig-zag shape and so it had sharp corners to it.

A couple of swans wondering past this old structure.

There were a few of these old towers in Gdańsk and I loved taking pictures of them from different angles throughout the city. I was in Gdańsk during the springtime and you can see the new spring foliage in the last image above.

On one of my walks in Gdańsk, I passed the Radunia canal, that looked very tranquil and had an island in the middle with some beautiful old buildings.

This imposing building was once a prison that has now been converted into an amber museum. It is situated on the island and on one side the canal flows past the building rapidly with a miniature waterfall.

On another walk, I passed some ruins from what I assume was the old defensive walls of Gdańsk. This image was taken opposite the Gdańsk Shakespeare theater and there was a small park nearby.

I often passed this lane on my way to the main street. In the afternoon and evening the amber shops opened, displaying all their wares in special display boxes setup on the street, outside their doors.

On my last weekend in Gdańsk, I took a ferry from the city centre to Westerplatte, a peninsula on the coast. The ferry journey was about half an hour and took me past much of the city, the dock, and the shipyard. I took the photos above while sitting on the roof of the ferry (they had an outdoor seating area there).

Before World War II this peninsula served as a port for Poland and was defended by a small garrison. It was here that the first shots of World War II were fired.

There is a big monument on top of a hill at Westerplatte to remember the fighting from the war.

I happened to visit on a day when there was a military parade happening.

In the park on Westerplatte were some ruins of the original military fortifications. There was also a graveyard for the soldiers who died defending the outpost. They were severely outnumbered, and were only expected to hold out for 24 hours, but instead they defended the peninsula for nearly 7 days.

This is the view from Westerplatte looking out towards the Baltic sea.

I found this monument while on a longer walk. I believe it is for the defenders of the polish post office. I thought it looked pretty cool and I found the design interesting, such as how the woman seems to be emerging from a crazy tangle of metal reminiscent of folded paper.

I loved spring time in Gdańsk and I could not help but try to capture some of its beauty.

These willow trees were beautiful, sprouting their new coat of green foliage.

A tree with beautiful white blossoms located in a city park with the Flow of Life and Peace monument.

This tree was situated in the car park behind my apartment building. I remember one day looking out the back window and noticing the tree in full bloom, it looked absolutely beautiful and I had to go inspect it up close.

This is the best picture I have of the street I stayed at (my apartment is one of the buildings on the right). While the front of the building looked out onto the street, to actually access the apartment I had to walk all the way around to the back of the buildings, where the entrance is. The street had a number of cafe's and restaurants on it that I frequented often.

There was a park nearby to the apartment (it's literally right next to where I took the previous image from). I came here a few times to relax and get some fresh air.

Part of the view from my apartment window.

This restaurant not only looks really nice with its decorative flowers, but had the best pierogi in town, and it was right opposite my apartment 😀. It was so close in fact that I could still connect to the apartment's WiFi, as long as I was at a table close enough to the door.

My time in Gdańsk was lovely. I didn't get to see all the sights I hoped to; there were a few interesting museums I never got around to visiting, but I can always save that for next time. This city really was beautiful, and it was a great place to stay.

Thanks for reading – Edward

Written 9th of July 2024