Day 3 of sightseeing in the Tricity - Sopot

My Aussie friend and I had two days of sightseeing in Gdansk. One concentrating on the Hanseatic past of Poland and the other learning the modern history of Poland with Gdansk as focal point of the political changes. To create a more complete picture of Poland and what she is all about we still were missing many points. I was aware that I will not be able to show my friend all I consider important, good, interesting and characteristic to complete the picture. I had to put aside Polish literature, music, art, nature, our complicated history over the centuries. There was no time for that and we would have to explore as well other towns than the Tricity.

Sopot and Gdynia are the remaining two towns forming the Tricity. I had to chose one of the two as my friend had to continue her European trip further and leave Poland the next day. My choice was Sopot.

Lately I came across a comparison Sopot – Polish Monte Carlo. Hmm... I think that comparisons like Stockholm - Paris of the North or similar make it rather difficult for the pretenders to a higher standard. They simply do not measure up! The same is with Sopot but I thought that this comparison may help in understanding the flavour  of the place. Of course this is not Monte Carlo but it is an elegant town, with elegant society people walking down the main street and promenade – Monte Casino which is affectionately called Monty (in polish Monciak). And it has a casino situated next to  the sea shore like in Monte Carlo. So much for similarities.

the Monty

Crooked House

The town is ranked as #1 town in Poland with population only 38,000. During the holiday season, July – August, the population significantly increases. This is Polish  ultimate place for summer holidays. Walking down the Monty one sees VIPs passing by, beautiful people and aspiring personalities of the future. Quite fun. It has always been that way, even in the communistic times. Not that I ever saw the Polish Prime Minister walking down Monty even if he lives in Sopot so I hope I might one day. He may remember Palme's demise. 

While Sopot's architecture today is a mixture of  modern and 19^th century buildings it was mentioned in historical documents as a village in the 13^th century. From the 16^th century it started to operate as a spa. So much for history of Sopot today.

We started our Sopot walk from the top of the Monty passing the Crooked House, and many coffee places. We stopped for a while in at E.Wedel coffee place where we indulged in the speciality – drinking chocolate. It was not the most healthy or slimming stop but Wedel is considered the best Polish national candy brand so it was a must to have experience even if in fact it is Cadbury-E.Wedel now. Times change.

We continued along rather empty promenade, the season has not started yet, to the longest wooden pier in Europe – 650m. I remember few years ago I dragged my other Aussie friends to show them the pier and the reaction was not that of admiration but rather annoyance – we have piers in Australia you know! True, I did not realise that I was overly Tricity patriotic and my friends were already tired of sightseeing.  This time I was more lucky and we walked to the end of the pier admiring Grand Hotel which presents itself best from from the end of the pier called Molo.

                                            

Then it was time for a walk down another promenade stretching from Gdansk to Gdynia. It runs along the beach parallel to bicycle path and it is divided from the sea by dunes.  One has water views only when passing gates to the beach. Every 100 meters of so. Great walk and I plan many of them while in Gdansk

That what it looks like, the beach is 20 meters to the right. Difficult to believe looking at the picture

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.

Sightseeing in the Tricity

The Tricity is an urban area of three major Polish cities at the Baltic coast. Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia. They are adjacent to one another, in a row,  and the distance from end to end is approximately 20 km.  The population of the Tricity is over 1 million people. When I come to Poland these days, I stay in Gdansk.

I like to have friends coming to stay with me and when that happens I play a role of a tourist guide to present the town in the best possible way. I have been conscious of the fact that I may not be the best guide in the world and I want to improve.

The last week one of my Aussie friends, who was travelling through Europe, came to spend few days with me in Gdansk. I have a feeling that I have not made an impression on her of a super guide but I did improve my sightseeing program considerably this time. I had been aware of the fact that not everybody is keen on seeing all the churches a town has to offer. And Gdansk has many, many of them which are worthwhile seeing if one is big way into sacral architecture. But who is? I may be a bit, but this is not normal and I know it.

This time I planned not to overdo with churches and selected only three to visit. St Mary’s Basilica because it is so impressive and the biggest brick Gothic church in Europe. Oliwa Cathedral because it has a famous organ with moveable parts and because I love it. 

Oliwa Cathedral

St Nicolas church because of the organ concert from the cycle Closer to Bach. I was happy with the plan but it did not work. On reflection, this was actually fortunate.

We saw only one church,  the huge St Mary’s Basilica which has a room for 25,000 people. Each time I enter the church, its size makes an impression on me. I feel small and insignificant aware of a higher power to which glory the church was built.  The major construction work was carried  from 1379 to 1502, but even if the church was structurally then completed the work has not finished to this day.

                                                     

Many years ago I saw the church destroyed and empty but with each visit I find new restorations and additions of altars and historical artefacts.  The church ever changes. My favourite object there is stone Pieta from around 1410. I always go to the chapel housing the sculpture to once again admire its sad beauty. The sculpture is in a glass cabinet  and unfortunately does not photograph well.

           

There I go, started to write about a church and got carried away. Will have to continue the subject of sightseeing in the Tricity in my next posts. No more stories about churches,  I promise.