Gdansk and Sopot

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Perhaps my second favorite city in Poland is Gdansk. The old town is extremely attractive and very well rebuilt. It was destroyed by the Germans and much of it has been rebuilt including The Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Activity and creativity was plentiful. We only spent a couple hours in each Gdansk and Sopot. I don't really have anything to say that would be funny about both cities, but it was an enjoyable visit. Justyna provided me with tons of background information including stories about brave defenders of the city during the war. It was nice traveling around these areas in car as they were fairly close and traffic wasn't horrid bad despite rush hours.


My first view of Gdansk. The old town can be seen a bit and the turret that protected the outside of the city. On the right in the grassy area is a part of the city that has not been rebuilt and was not accessable to me; it occurs to me that germans should have to repair what they broked. We parked next to a building that was being restored by students - I saw them hammering out semi new cement between old bricks to be replaced later more carefully.


Gdansk town center area. There were dozens of streets to explore and look around. Much of the activity was tourism based and shopping key. Notice I can get 9 feet tall when needed.


Another view of the old city and ruins.


Fountain of Neptune on the main road through the center (Dlugi Targ) built in 1633. Some of these building are original and were not destoyed in the war and date to the 15th and 16th centuries.


The Crane over the Motlawa River used to play the double role of a port crane and city gate. The structure was given its present shape between 1442-1444. Inside, a huge wooden wheel set in motion by men walking inside it; now the wheel has 5 inches of pigeon poopers on it. The crane served not only cargo reloading purposes, it was also a device to put up ship’s masts. I kinda considered this the focal of Gdansk.


This is one of the coolest things I saw while in Poland. Never have I seen something so cool in the states... except for the flush toilets we have. I wanted to wait for it to rain so bad, but I didnt tell anyone because they'd think I was cooky.


Inside Saint Mary's. It has basically 3 parts like this and things off to the side I don't know the name for. We climbed up the towel which advertised nearly 500 steps. One thing I liked about it besides its size and contents was the amount of light it let in.


This is the view from the platform on top of the tower. It was hot this day and people were trying to be smelly up top and despite the lack of humans in the picture is was busy up there.


Look close. thats a convertible ford escort.


The Grand Hotel in Sopot viewed from the pier. There was a beach there and normal water/beach activities. Lots of tourist stuff to do. I didn't really see a focal in Sopot other than this.


We went to several areas in Sopot and Gdynia and I had a lack of pictures problem for some reason. I think it was heat based, but here is a typical street in Gdynia close to where we parked the van.


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