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Gdansk, Poland
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Gdynia (Gdansk), Poland August 28
It was a great looking sunny day and we were able to wear somewhat lighter clothing for a change (thank heavens we had packed jeans and jackets!) since the forecast was for 69 degrees. We had breakfast and headed for an 8:30 meet in the Lounge for a 4 1/4 hour excursion with minimal walking called "Panoramic Gdansk." Our guide, whose name we never heard, made Galina in Riga look good. We only heard her on the bus and she had little of interest to say anyhow, so we were kind of on our own.
There are three cities that run into one another – Gdynia (the port), Sopot (a beach community) and Gdansk itself. Both Gdynia and Gdansk are home to major shipyards and Gdansk is the birthplace of the Solidarity Movement. Gdynia is mostly oriented to sailors and boat workers with lots of medical facilities, schools and other government entities. The majority of Poles everywhere in the country live in flats so there are lots of large, industrial looking buildings. Along the way to Gdansk, we stopped in Oliwa to visit a beautiful cathedral, with an organ with 7687 pipes, one of the largest we have seen. We also passed Lech Walesa's current home, a very attractive building but not in any way ostentatious. Sopot is a beach resort of 40,000 and quite pleasant with lots of hotels and cafes. When we reached Gdansk, we headed for the Old Town, which was completely destroyed in World War II. The Poles voted to rebuilt it in the original style after 1945, so it is a new town in old style and quite attractive and clean. The guide basically said to go look around and meet back in 45 minutes, so we went into St Mary's Basilica from the 1600s and wandered around the area. The drive back to the ship went past the Solidarity Monument, visited the canal and lighthouse, another square and monument in Gdynia, the pier and aquarium, etc. before heading back.
The Oceania Club party was at 5:30pm so we changed and went and shook hands with the senior staff and had a drink with Jim and Annette Laughlin from Prairie Village/Kansas City who we had met on the Canadian cruise on Regatta last Fall. He writes e-book mysteries and sells them on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com. We talked in the Anne of Green Gables house on Prince Edward Island in 2011. We all stayed an hour to be polite. Dinner was at Toscana and perhaps we were too tired, as we were disappointed in the food and service, so headed off to bed earlier than usual.
