Gdańsk

Tour Day 1 | Dzień Pierwszy

Meet and Greet & Walking Tour

We met up with the group for introductions, a short orientation walk, and the first group dinner. Our guide, Tomasz Klimek, can be seen with Cameron Hewitt on a recent Monday Night Travel episode and turned out to be the best tour guide I have experienced (Mom says he's tied for that honor with 2 other Rick Steves guides she had on other tours). Throughout the tour, Tomasz helped us balance the quite serious, heavy history of this country with levity and throughout. He provided little treats for us throughout and ensured we ate to the point of being stuffed. Much to Tomasz's amusement, I said I would call him babushka (Polish for grandmother) if he continued (my Polish grandmothers did the same exact thing).

About half of the tour was interested in exploring their Polish heritage like we were, but the reminder desired to explore something different than their usual European trips or had an interest in WWII.

We learned about the history of this amazing city on our walking tour:

The first battle of WWII started here when Hitler landed Germany's troops as this city was the epicenter of European trade for several hundred years; cutting off the supply line from Gdańsk would greatly hinder any attempts to thwart their invasion
The world's largest man-powered grain crane still in operation (the items are moved up and down using big wheels that people move like a hamster wheel
The world's largest piece of amber is found in the local Amber museum (see the Pre-Tour page for more on this)
The history of how the city was rebuilt after WWII, painstakingly using records and pictures to recreate the city as faithfully as possible to the original

Left: Tomasz explaining how the 15th century wooden crane behind him was operated by several workers climbing inside giant hamster wheels to lift 4 tons up to 30 feet or 2 tons up to 90 feet. I was used in shipbuilding until the days of Lech Wałęsa (early to mid-1990s). Above: Diane enjoying the late afternoon city walk on the riverfront.

The food in Gdańsk is heavily influenced by centuries of trade in this port city and the food vastly more varied than the rest of the tour's locations. Kristen had arancini with tomato gazpacho for lunch in a cheese-themed riverfront restaurant, Port Formage.

You never know what you will find while walking through the city. We stumbled across a wedding photoshoot. Quite the picturesque scenery for their wedding photos!

Prayer candles at St. Mary's Church

We always seem to find gelato on every tour. Pyszne!

Sailing for Westerplatte | Żeglarstwo

Off we went for a ride on the high seas (or river, in this case) in a ships retrofitted to look like 15th century galleons. It was a nice way to spend our free time with some of the others on the tour who chose the same. The ship went out to Westerplatte where you could get off and explore the location of Hitler's troops landing. However, there were no seats left that would return us in time for our first group dinner. We did not feel like we missed out on much after seeing the large stone memorial at the site and reading Rick's thoughts on it.

The view from the ship was quite lovely on this overcast day. We found this a relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

Right: Westerplatte where Hitler started his campaign to conquer Europe

long the way were signs of industry throughout whether recycling yards, large piles of coal, ship building, or ship maintenance. Cranes like these one on the elft were found throughout the boatride.

First Group Dinner | Pierwsza Kolacja Grupowa

Our first group dinner is always a first dip into getting to know the other tour members. We had a lively conversation on our end of the table at Gdanski Bowke where while we were served a potato salad, fresh fish, and a coffee cake for desert. Diane made friends with a local sailor, too.

Day 1 | Day 2 | Travel to Toruń

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