Gdansk
A Hanseatic Port Rebuilt After 1945, With The Gabled Merchants' Houses Of Long Market And The Crane On The Motlawa. The Gdansk Shipyard Is The Birthplace Of The Solidarity Movement, Whose 1980 Strike Helped Bring Down Communism, And The City Is Where The Second World War Began, At Westerplatte, In September 1939 · Gdansk, Pomeranian
Gdansk is a Baltic port on the Motlawa river, a Hanseatic trading city whose Main Town was largely destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt in the following decades. Long Market and its Neptune fountain, the tall gabled merchants' houses, the medieval Crane and the huge brick basilica of St Mary's show the rebuilt core at its best. The city is also where the Second World War began, at Westerplatte in September 1939, and where the Solidarity strike at the Shipyard in 1980 started the end of communist rule, now told in the European Solidarity Centre. Amber is sold in every street, and the beach towns of Sopot and Gdynia lie a short train ride along the coast. It is a calmer, smaller place than Warsaw, best explored on foot, and the history sits close to the cafes. Much of what you see is reconstruction, done with care, and the sea air, the river and the quiet streets after the day-trippers leave make it a good base for several days on the coast.
Main Town around Long Market and the Motlawa river waterfront, with the Shipyard 2 km to the north, Gdansk, Pomeranian, Poland
The Main Town, Long Market and the waterfront are open air and free at any hour. Museums and towers keep their own hours: most open mid-morning, close late afternoon or evening, and many are closed on Mondays, with shorter winter hours. The European Solidarity Centre and the Museum of the Second World War each have a weekday with reduced or free entry that may change, so check. St Mary's tower closes in bad weather and in winter, and churches pause for services. Westerplatte is open air, but boats and the guard-house exhibit run on a seasonal schedule, so confirm before travelling. Public holidays close most sites.