Gdańsk (day 19)

Today we explored the historic city center of the Hanseatic city of Gdańsk, with its beautiful pastel-colored buildings.

The day started with breakfast and preparing our packed lunch. After that, we walked to the old city to explore it. The old city center has many buildings that, in terms of the appearance of their facades, are reminiscent of the Amsterdam canal houses, but more beautiful. Decorated with all kinds of details (drawings, statues and relief work) and painted in pastel colors. After a while, we had a coffee break at a café, after which we continued walking. We also visited the (78-meter high) 14th to 15th century cathedral in the old city, which is the largest brick church in the world. This church houses an astronomical clock of 14 meters high, which stopped working in the 17th century. After visiting the church, which is remarkably freely accessible, we finally walked out of the gate on the other side of the old city and sat on a bench just outside the old city to eat a sandwich, with a view of the old city. After the snack, we walked back into the old town to the old harbor area. Here we walked to the old harbor crane, which dates back to the 14th century. This building looks like a special (wooden) construction, with two wheels above the entrance gate. One person could walk in each wheel (think of a hamster wheel) in order to load or unload cargo from ships. When using both wheels, the crane could lift a total of 11 tons to a height of 30 meters. After having seen this we walked a bit further, where the travel guides recommended the main street of the old town because of the beautiful facades of the historical buildings, we walked back via a parallel street that looks even more authentic and picturesque, unfortunately it is full of jewelry sellers. Unfortunately, Gdańsk was hit hard by bombings during the Second World War and much was lost, and they had to rebuild a lot (from the ground up).

​In the end, we found it to be on the warm side in the early afternoon with 27 °C and a burning sun, so we walked back to the apartment, where we had lunch. After lunch, I took a siesta (nap) while my parents went grocery shopping. After a while, I woke up again and started doing a puzzle. Eventually my parents came back, and dinner was cooked, and we had a nice meal. After dinner we had a quiet evening. Tomorrow we drive on to Poznań, our last stop in Poland. More about this tomorrow!

Day 18

Travel overview

Day 20