Gdańsk

Gdańsk (Danzig in German, Gduńsk in Kashubian) is a 464,829 inhabitants city and capital of the Voivodeship of Pomerania in Poland, and the cultural capital of Kashubia, in Gdańsk Bay of the Baltic Sea. This city is the 6th most populated in Poland and the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area. The city of Gdańsk, together with Sopot and Gdynia, are name as the Triple City (Troójmiasto).

How do I arrive to Gdańsk?

  Gdańsk is the most important city in the north of Poland so there are many way to arrive there from all over the country and the neighbour ones. 

• Plane: there are many interntational flights to Lech Wałęsa Airport. To go from the airport to the city, there are buses (every 30 minutes Mon-Fri and every hour in the weekend) and taxis. It's just 14 km west from the center of the city.
• Boat: there are ships between Gdańsk and Nynäshamn (Sweden) during summer.
• Train: there are train routes from Gdańsk to places like Malbork (aprox. 50 minutes), Olsztyn (6 daily trains, aprox. 2 hours 45 minutes), Poznań (8 daily trains, aprox. 3 hours 30 minutes), Szczecin (4 daily trains, aprox. 6 hours), Toruń (9 daily trains, aprox. 3 hours) and Warsaw (every hour, aprox. 6 hours).
• Bus: from Gdańsk Bus Station there are frequent connections with many cities of Poland like Kartuzy (aprox. 1 hour) at Kashubian Landscape Park, Elbląg (aprox. 1.5 hours), Olsztyn (aprox. 3.5 hours) or Warsaw (aprox. 4.5 hours). As an important city it has connections with other countries like Russia (to Kaliningrad, aprox. 5 hours) or Lithuania (to Vilnius, aprox. 16 hours).
• Car: if you rented a car Gdańsk can be reached from many places within Pomeranian Voivodeship like Malbork (aprox. 45 minutes), Słowiński National Park (aprox. 1 hour 40 minutes) or Słupsk (aprox. 2 hours). Outside the voideship, Gdańsk can be reached a 1 hour 45 minutes journey from Toruń, a 2 hours journey from Bydgoszcz and Słupsk and 4 hours journey from Warsaw. It can also be reached from Kaliningrad (Russia) in 2 hours.

Once in Gdańsk the best ways of moving in the city are public transport. There are trains called SKM that go from Gdańsk to Gdynia and back, stopping in many places (each 5-10 minutes in peak times and then each hour). Other possible transportations are trams and buses (slower but with more reach), whose working time is 5-23. There are 24h metropolitan ticket for 12zł.

History

The city of Gdańsk is first mentioned in some chronicles, relating how St. Adalbert of Prague baptised the inhabitants of the place in 997, where they were seattled in 990s by the erection of a stronghold by Mieszko I of Poland. Gdańsk and its region was ruled as a duchy by Poland, the duchy of Pomerelia, receiving important inmigration from Lübeck. Afterwards the Polish dynasty sold it to Brandemburg, it was taken by Danish princes in 1301 and then the Teutonic Order to take it back for Brandemburg (making a massacre and replacing Kashubians for Germans). Danzig joined the Hanseatic League in 1358, its economic growth continued (mainly thanks to the trade by Vistula river). After the battle of Grunwald (1410) and the Thirteen Years' War (1454-1466), the Prussian Confederation, with Gdańsk inside, gained its independence from the Teutonic Order and went back to Poland, where it was one of the most prosper cities in the country, even after the Union of Lublin (1569). During this period most of the population were Germans, with important Polish, Jewish, Kursenieki and Dutch minorities. In the last part of the 18th century the city suffered a plague and an economic decline and in 1793, in the Second Polish Partition, Gdańsk was annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia (although it was a free city during Napoleon's conquer). In the 18th century Danzig was the capital city of West Prussia region first in the Kingdom of Prussian and then in the German Empire. After WW1 Danzig was still inhabited by Germans and that's why the League of Nations created the Free City of Danzig, with its own currency, parliament and anthem. In 1930s the Nazi party capitalised the German vote and seized power, trying to join Germany. Poland refused it and the situation got worse till WW2 started here in September 1. Hardly bombed during the war, Postdam and Yalta conferences annexed Danzig to Poland, forcibly expelling the remaining Germans from their home city and repopulating it with ethnic Poles (many of them repatriated Poles in the years of 1955–1959 from the USSR gained territories). The city was rebuilt in the 1950s and 1960s (trying to erase the German past). In the 1970s Gdańsk was the center of the protests against the communist regime, where the trade union Solidarity and its leader Lech Wałęsa were born. When the People's Republic of Poland stopped existing, Lech Wałęsa became the President of the country. In 2007, another person from Gdańsk was named Prime Minister of the country, Donald Tusk (who later became President of the European Council in 2014). In January 2019, the Mayor of Gdansk Paweł Adamowicz was assassinated in the middle of the street.

Gdańsk's top 10

If you have little or you just don't want to visit all Gdańsk, here's a list of the 10 places you can't miss in Gdańsk.

1. Artus Court and Gdańsk City Hall.
2. St. Mariacka Church.
3. Długi Targ.
4. Uphagen House.
5. Museum of Second World War.
6. European Solidarity Center.
7. Highland Gate, Front Gate and Golden Gate.
8. St. Brigid Church.
9. The Crane or Żuraw.
10. Oliwa Cathedral.

What can I visit in Gdańsk?

Gdańsk is an awesome city and has a very nice walk. There's a card that allows you to get into some monuments for free and get discounts (Touristic Card). There are very nice streets which have a nice walk, like Ulica Mariacka (the most spectacular of Gdańsk and one of the best in Poland), the Royal Way or Królewska Droga (street Polish kings used to walk in their visits to Gdańsk, with the most beautiful façades of the city), Ulica Długa, Długie Pobrzeże (promenade with many cafes by Motława river). The city is divided in several areas, mainly Główne Miasto (main city, which used to be the German soul of the city), Stare Miasto (Old Town, which used to be the mainly Polish area), Westerplatte and Nowy Port (northern part of the city, 7 km away from the center) and Oliwa (middle-class area 9 km from the center). The city has also some important festivals like St. Dominic Festival (end of July) or Open'er Festival (rock and pop festival, one of the most important in Poland).

These are Gdańsk' main attractions:

• 

  Uphagen House

  Highland Gate: 16th century gate, also known as Brama Wyżynna, used as royal entrance to Gdańsk. It was redecorated by W. van den Block in 1586.
• Front Gate: 15th century complex, known as Przedbramie, formed by the Prission Tower, Torture Chambers and communicated with two walls. It was used as a prission after the construction of the Upland Gate till the 19th century. Nowadays it hosts the Amber Museum (10-16 Tue-Sat and 11-16 Sun; 12zł/ 6zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids), an interesting museum focused on this precious material typical along the Baltic shore.
  
  
• Golden Gate: gate, also known as Złota Brama, built by A. van den Block (son of the Upland Gate designer) in 1612, with an outlook similar to a triumphal arch and beautiful sculptures.
• Uphagen House (10-16 Tue-Sat and 11-16 Sun; 10zł/ 5zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): traditional house from Gdańsk with restored interior and furniture from the 18th century.
• Długi Targ: former central market, rebuilt after WW2, and currently the most visited point of Gdańsk. It's translated as Large Market and in the middle of it there's the famous Neptune's Fountain, oldest secular monument of Poland, built by P. Husen in 1613. It also has one of the most beautiful façades of Gdańsk, Golden House one, built by J. Voigt in 1618.

  

  Długi Targ

• Green Gate: gate, also known as Zielona Brama, in the end of the Royal Way, currently used as an art gallery. It was first built in 1560 to be the royal residence but was never used for that purpose because it was too cold. 
  
• Gdańsk City Hall: former city council where it's located the highest tower of the city and the Red Room (or Sala Czerwona), a 16th century Dutch Mannerism style room which was dismantled and hidden during WW2, to protect it from bombings. Inside the building it also can be found the Gdańsk History Museum (10-16 Tue-Sat and 11-16 Sun; 12zł/ 6zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids), musum about Gdańsk's history, with paintings of Polish kings and Gdańsk mayors, as well as some reconstuctions of the original interior.
• Chlebnicka Gate: 15th century gate built by the Teutonic Order and modified in 1457, when Gdańsk joined Poland with Casimir IV Jagiellon.
  

  

  St. Mariacka Church

• St. Mariacka Church (8:30-18; 4zł/ 2zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): red-brick church whose construction started in 1343 and finished in 1502. It's thought to be the largest in this material (being 105 m long and 66 m wide). It have more than 30 chapels, an impressing organ and a huge altar. From its tower the visitor can get one of the best views of the city (6zł/ 3zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids).
  
• Gdańsk Archeological Museum (9-17 Tue-Fri and 10-17 Sat-Sun from Jul to Aug; 8-16 Tue-Fri and 10-16 Sat-Sun from Sep to Jun; 8zł/ 6zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): museum with a valuable collection of objects that go from Ice Age to Prussian times. The main ones are a bronze sceptre, Casubian funeral urns, ambar objects and a medieval fishing boat.
  

  

  Artus Court

• Artus Court (10-16 Tue-Sat and 11-16 Sun; 10zł/ 5zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): 14th century court used by the local businessmen as trade-union site and to celebrate festivals. Its façade was done by A. van den Block in the 17th century and is widely considered to be the most famous building of Gdańsk. It was destroyed during WW2 but carefully restored after the war.
• St. Mary Gate: gate in Ulica Mariacka street which was rebuilt again after 1945. 
• The Crane/Żuraw (10-18 from May to Aug; 10-16 Tue-Sun from Sep to Apr; 10zł/ 6zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): 15th century crane which was used to charge more than 2 tones into ships, the largest in medieval Europe. Even though it was destroyed in WW2, it was rebuilt and nowadays it's home of part of the National Maritime Museum.
  

• 

  The Crane

  National Maritime Museum (10-18 from May to Aug; 10-16 Tue-Sun from Sep to Apr; 32zł/ 20zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): large museum that displays expositions about the history and the role of Gdańsk as a Baltic harbour. There are permanent expositions about the first boat built here after WW2 (MS Sołdek). It has some parts of the museum in The Crane and in Ołowianka island (in the middle of Motława river). The latter explains the history of Polish sailing from its beginning to nowadays. There's a ferry (free for ticket holders) that comunicates the Crane with the island. 
• The Great Arsenal: 17th century building where the city arsenal was placed. It was designed by A. van Opbergen and it's fulled with military motif.  
• Royal Chapel: 17th century church, the only remaining Baroque one in Gdańsk, with an attractive façade designed by T. van Gameren.
• St. Mikołaja Church (7:30-20): 13th century church, considered one of the oldest Catholic shrines in Gdańsk and the only one in the center which resisted WW2. Its inner part is decorated in Baroque style.

  

  Inner part of St. Mikołaja Church

• Old Art branch of the National Museum (10-17 Tue-Sun from May to Sep; 9-16 Tue-Sun from Oct to Apr; 10zł/ 6zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): former Franciscan monastery transformed into a museum with Polish craftwork and works of art. The most important ones are an illustration of St. George, Danzig-style wardrobes, ceramic heaters and Flemish paintings by Van Dyck, Brueghel the Young or the main ones, the triptych Last Judgement by H. Memling and Hell by Swanenburgh (Rembrandt's teacher).
• St. Jana Church (10-18): 14th-15th century Gothic church that has partially been restored. There are also concerts and temporary expositions here.
• Hala Targowa (9-18 Mon-Fri; 9-17 Sat): 19th century market that seems a train station from that same century.

  

  St. Brygidy Church altar

• St. Hyacinth Tower: octogonal tower (Baszta Jacek in Polish) which belonged to the medieval fortifications and dates back to the in the 15th century.
• St. Brygidy Church (7-19; 2zł/ 1zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): 14th century church that was destroyed during WW2. It has an amazing 1.74 m amber pyx and an altar with more than 6.5 tones of polished amber. The temple has also political importance, it was where Lech Wałęsa used to pray and a refuge during the strikes in 1980s too.
• St. Katarzyny Church (free): oldest church in Gdańsk, first built in the 1220s, and then in the 15th century, being the most important church in the city till the construction of St. Maricka church. Unfortunately it suffered a fire in 2006 and it's still being restored.

  

  Museum of Second World War

• Wielkie Młyny: red-brick mill built by the Teutonic Order around 1350, considered the largest in Europe (40 m long and 26 m high). There's a small mall inside.
• Old Town Hall in Gdańsk: 16th century Renaissance red-brick building designed by A. van Opberghen, where there are temporary expositions and concerts.
• Museum of Second World War (10-20 Tue-Sun from Jul to Aug; 10-18 Tue-Sun from Sep to Jun; 23zł/ 16zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): museum, located in a Modernist brick and glass building, about WW2 (talking about military and social impacts) with valuable objects and nice multimedia. It was inagurated in 2017 and has received critics for manipulating history and being biased for Poland.

  

  European Solidarity Center

• Post Museum (10-16 Tue-Sat and 11-16 Sun; 10zł/ 5zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): small museum which shows the hisotry of the local post and the Polish community between 1920 and 1939. In that year, in the beginning of WW2, Nazi Germans took control of the building but postmen put an important resistence to leaving the building.
• European Solidarity Center (10-19 Mon-Fri and 10-20 Sat-Sun from May to Sep; 10-17 Mon, Wed-Fri and 10-18 Sat-Sun from Oct to Apr; 10-17 Sun; 20zł/ 15zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): museum about Poland's fight for democracy and freedom during the communist regime, specially focused in the trade union Solidarność (Solidarity). It's a quite big museum and it's focues on the period of history that goes from the first protests in 1970 to the fall of the communist system 1989, when the trade union was leaded by Lech Wałęsa.

  

  Gdańsk Shipyard

• Gdańsk Shipyard: old shipyard with an important history: the first strikes and protests in an Warsaw Pact country in the 1970s, Lech Wałęsa's speeches and the birth of the trade union Solidarność (Solidarity). Nowadays they are in process of reconditioning.
• Holy Trinity Church: 15th century Gothic church with some highlights like a Gothic pulpit, tryptyches and an organ.
• North Harbour Lighthouse (10-18:30 Tue-Sat from May to; 10zł/ 6zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): lighthouse where the first shots in WW2 were done. It provides with awesome views of Gdańsk Bay.

• 

  Oliwa Cathedral

  Wisłoujście Fortress (10-18:30 Tue-Sat from May to; 15zł/ 7zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): fortress that was built around 1480 in an island in Vistula's estuary (by then it used to be in the Baltic coast but the estuary moved during all these centuries). There's an small museum in the governor department.
• Guardhouse Wartownia 1 (10-18:30 Tue-Sat from May to Sep; 5zł/ 3zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): conmemorative place with a small exposition explain what happened here: the beginning of WW2 in September the 1st 1939.
• Oliwa Cathedral (9-17): Baroque-style cathedral with an impressing façade with two Gothic towers. The highlights of the cathedral are the Baroque major altar, the tombstone of the Duchy of Pomerania and, specially, the organ.
• Modern Art branch of the National Museum (10-17 Tue-Sun from May to Sep; 9-16 Tue-Sun from Oct to Apr; 10zł/ 6zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): former Palace of Abbots from the 18th century with a museum about Polish Modern art
• Ethnographic branch of the National Museum (10-17 Tue-Sun from May to Sep; 9-16 Tue-Sun from Oct to Apr; 10zł/ 6zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids): small exposition with traditional fishing and cultivating tools, located in a fomer barn.

Podwyższenia Krzyża Świętego Catholic Church

Near Gdańsk, only 10 km south, can be found the municipality of Pruszcz Gdański (Praust in German, Pruszcz in Kashubian), an industrial town with 26,834 inhabitants that is the beginning of the Triple City. The main sightseeing point in town is Podwyższenia Krzyża Świętego Catholic Church, Brick Gothic church first built in the 14th century till 1945, housed the Altar of the Crucifixion (one of the most impressive monuments of Dutch painting in Poland assigned to Colijn de Cotera), now located in the National Museum of Warsaw. Other of the sightseeing points are Pruszcz Sugar Plant (an industrial plant operating in the period 1881-2004, an excellent example of industrial construction from the second half of the 19th century), Raduni Channel and Matki Boskiej Nieustającej Pomocy Catholic Church (only example of religious architecture of the Free City of Gdańsk period in Pruszcz Gdański). 
Further from the city, 40 km east, it's located Nowy Dwór Gdański (Nowi Dwór in Kashubian, Tiegenhof in German), a 10,003 inhabitants town that is the capital of Nowy Dwór Gdański County. The town preserves some historic houses (mainly at ul. Sikorskiego), Przemienienia Pańskiego Catholic Church (Neo-Gothic church from the 1840s that survived WW2) and Żuławy Historical Park (10-16 Tue-Fri, 11-16 Sat-Sun from May to Sep; 10-15 Tue-Sun from Oct to Apr; 6zł/ 3zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids), a

Najświętszego Serca
Pana Jezusa Church

museum with exhibitions related to Nowy Dwór Gdański and the Vistula Delta, the history of the Mennonites who settled in Żuławy in the 16th century, a collection of old everyday objects, handicraft tools and relics of utility technology and the lapidarium of the cemetery (a Mennonite and Lutheran necropolis from the 17th century).

By the coast, 15 km far from Nowy Dwór Gdański, there's Stegna (Steegen in German), a small town with 2,337 inhabitants that has a cute church, Najświętszego Serca Pana Jezusa Catholic Church, half-timbered church built in the mid-17th century with unusual paintings and a large organ that has used as a Lutheran church before the end of WW2. It has also a very nice beach, Stegna Beach. Next to it is located Sztutowo (Sztutowò in Kashubian, Stutthof in German) another coastal small town with 1,931 people living there, birthplace of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Herte it can be visited St. Wojciecha Catholic Church, a Neo-Gothic church form the 1980s, but the most important point to visit is Stutthof Museum in Sztutowo (10-17 Mon, 9-17 Tue-Sun; free) a museum whose most important branch covers Stutthof Concentration Camp, a camp built at the beginning of WW2 by Nazi Germany that developed into complex of 40 subcamps with as many as 100,000 people incarcerated and more than 85,000 victims.

Boats at a beach in Kąty Rybackie

Continuing east it can be found Vistula Lagoon, a lagoon located between Poland and Kaliningrad (Russia) where sunbathing, doing water sports and swimming, hiking and cycling. One of the most important villages in the lagoon that are part of Pomeranian Voivodeship is Kąty Rybackie (Bodenwinkel in German), a village with 707 inhabitants in the entrance to Vistula Spit. Here the visitor can learn more about the lagoon at National Maritime Museum of Poland: Vistula Lagoon Museum (10-17 Mon-Tue and Thu-Sun, 13-18 Wed from Jul to Aug; 9-16 Mon-Fri from Apr to Jun and Sep; 9-15 Mon-Fri from Oct to Mar; 8zł/ 5zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids) and get in touch with nature at Vistula Spit Landscape Park (44.10 km²), a protected area founded to preserve one of the largest breeding colonies of the black cormorant in Europe. The following village in the spit is Krynica Morska (Kahlberg in German), a small town with 1,302 inhabitants that is the most important seaside resort in the spit. It has a nice pier, Krynica Morska Lighthouse (8:30-14 Mon-Fri) and a nice sandy beach, Krynica Morska Beach. The last village before reaching the border with the Russian part of Vistula Spit is Nowa Karczma (Neukrug in German), a district of Krynica Morska with 200 inhabitants. It has beautiful beaches too. Crossing the border with Russia isn't allowerd.

Which activities can I do in Gdańsk?

 Gdańsk is one of the cultural centers in Poland and its threater offer is important. There are many important threaters like Polish Baltic Philharmonic (threater with chamber music and home of many of the city festivals), Baltic Opera House (multifunctional theater with opera, ballet and symphonic concerts) or Teatr Wybrzeże (threater with national and international plays in Polish). Another very nice activity here is taking observation wheel AmberSky Gdańsk (11-22) to enjoy great views of the city.

Where can I buy in Gdańsk?

Shop selling amber jewery

Gdańsk is mainly known for amber, so you'll find it almost everywhere like for example Styl Galeria (Długie Pobrzeże 31). Some places to buy are the previously mentioned markets Długi Targ (Długa) and Hala Targowa (Plac Dominikański 1). Casubian craftwork can be bought in Galeria Sztuki Kaszubskiej (Świętego Ducha 48), Cepelia (Długa 47) or painting shop Galeria SAS (Szeroka 119/120).
Warning: some sellers offer fake amber and it's important to distinguish the real one with these 3 tricks: if it's heated, it's smell is similar to incense, it floats in sea water and rubbing amber on clothing makes it get static electricity.

Where can I eat in Gdańsk?

Gdańsk has a great variety of gastronomic offer for everybody. In low budget circunstances some good choices may be the dairy cafes Bar Mleczny Neptun (Długa 33/34), Bar Turystyczny (Szeroka 8/10), Bar Pod Rybą (Piwna 61/63), Jadalnia Pod Zielonym Smokiem (Szeroka 125), Pierogarnia Mandu (Elżbietańska 4/8), Original Burguer (Długa 47/49) or the bakery Pellowski Bakery (Długa 40/42). Tawerna Mestwin (Straganiarska 20), the Eastern European food restaurant Kresowa (Ogarna 12), Bistro Kös (Piwna 9/10) are some very interesting possibilities with medium budget. For a higher budget these are the suggestions: the Polish restaurants Restaurant Gdańska (Świętego Ducha 16/24), Pod Łososiem (Szeroka 52/54) or the innovative Restaurant Filharmonia (Ołowianka 1). 
The city has also a vast pubs and clubbing offer, with places like Cafe Józef K. (Piwna 1/2), the brewery Brovarnia (Szafarnia 9), the wine bar Literacka (Mariacka 50/52), the cafe Goldwasser (Długie Pobrzeże 22), Cafe Lamus (Lawendowa 8), Cafe Absinthe (Świętego Ducha 2), Kamienica Gotyk (Mariacka 1), the pub Degustatornia (Grodzka 16) or the discos Miasto Aniołów (Chmielna 26) and Parlament (Świętego Ducha 2). 

Posted in: Europe,Poland,Pomerania