Day 2 of sightseeing in the Tricity

After the Old Town in Gdansk it was a time show my Aussie friend recent history of the town. I heard of a new museum Roads to Freedom and that it was a must to see. For some reason I had not seen it before. I was not even sure how to get there even if I knew that is was not far away from the shipyard. I must have passed it in my walks to the green market or the Old Town but somehow never saw an entrance to the museum. In my role of a tourist guide, which I played not all that brilliantly, I was supposed to know how to get there without any  hiccups. So I checked the situation in internet. I knew the street but why didn’t I see the entrance when passing the place? When we were near the museum I understood.  Not a salubrious entrance but communistic times were not salubrious times and this is what the museum shows. The museum is going to move in the near future to the still being build European Solidarity Center. I pass this impressive building often and it grows fast. Next time I come to Gdansk it will be most likely ready. I cannot wait.

But back to The Roads to Freedom. We walked down the stairs leading old shabby environment showing us how it was before Poland re-gained its freedom. We bought our tickets looking like old fashion cards from the time of martial law in 1981-83.  I believe that the ration cards were used for longer than this period. The first exhibits show typical Polish shop of the times. Not much there, vinegar and mustard were on the shelves, other things may have been available for the chosen ones but they were under the counter rather than displayed.

This is how the typical shop looked like. The men on the left just managed to buy toilet paper and this was the way to carry an unexpected purchase.

                                  

The museum covers the modern history of Poland, the events I was not aware of even if I lived in Poland in the 70ties.  I was in Gdansk in January 1971 learning about programming in Cobol and PLAN, the ICL assembly language. Memories, memories... That aside, December 1970 was a tragic time for Gdansk and its shipyard workers who protested against sudden increase of food and other everyday items. As the result of riots which were brutally put down 42 people were killed and over 1,000 wounded.

The events were not covered by news, they were the times the government could hide such things. Not to people of Gdansk, of course, they were involved themselves and saw things happening. My Polish neighbour, who worked at the time in a pharmacy, remembers the panic and how she was helping to sterilise surgical instruments in a great hurry. One month later nobody wanted to talk to me, a girl from Warsaw, about what happened. It was not safe to talk. I knew that something horrible did happen but it was only when visiting the museum I put the pieces of the puzzle together. If you are surprised at my ignorance I left Poland in 1976 and now I am catching up with my Polish history knowledge.

The museum has a multimedia tour covering events from 1956 to 1989. I would recommend using the audio tour and sit for a while at the computers reading the stories of the times. It is all both in English and Polish. And very inexpensive.

I like one of the last exhibits, domino of abolishing communism, with Poland starting the chain of changes.

                                        

I got carried away writing more than planned so the second part of the sightseeing day 2 – lunch in Polish style will be a subject of my next post.

Day 1 of sightseeing in the Tricity

After my last post I was encouraged by two of my friends to write more about Gdansk churches. And since I like both gothic and baroque architecture and art I may indulge my friends and myself  one day. Today, however, after getting curious how many churches are in the neighbourhood and finding out the number I lost enthusiasm for a while. I counted 69 churches just in Gdansk not in the whole Tricity. I guess that at least 20 of them would have historical value and be worth while writing about. Suddenly I felt like after eating too much sweets, a bit queasy after that much goodness. So I will leave the subject for some later time when I am less focused on the number of the churches in Gdansk.

From 1358, Gdansk/Danzig belonged to the Hanseatic League, a commercial and defensive confederation of northern European merchants guilds and towns.

Walking the streets of Gdansk memories of Lubeck, Bremen or Amsterdam may spring to mind. Old northern European merchant towns have similar looks as they had similar function. Names of the streets remind us of occupations of their citizens : Long Market, Coal Market, Fish Market, Wood Market, Beer Street or Amber Street.

It was a long period from the twelfth to the sixteenth century when Danzig was an important and prosperous trading centre. This was reflected in the buildings of the town. Majority of remaining buildings in the Old Town come from  the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century.

One of my favourite places is The Crane –Zuraw. It is one of the oldest buildings which current shape comes from the 15^th century. It was used to load cargo and and place masts on ships. Whenever I am in the Old Town I make a little detour, if needed, to have a look at this proud, heavy and very Gdansk monument of its Hanseatic past.  

                                     

Another favourite of mine is the Neptune Fountain. It is standing in the middle of the Long Market and is considered to be a symbol of Gdansk. Certainly, the most popular place to take a photo while sightseeing in the Old Town. I have several photos of my own taken over the years in front of the fountain. And I still have a leather card case with the image of the Gdansk Neptune. Ach, memories...

As I was writing in my previous post, another favourite of mine is St Mary’s Basilica. If you put together my favourite historical beauty spots in Gdansk, it looks  like a top list from a tourist guide. Not too original, I am afraid, but and it does not matter or even means that everybody visiting Gdansk should see the places and I can  guarantee no disappointment.