Gdansk, Poland

 Gdansk, Poland                                                                                                     Monday, May 23, 2022

               Yesterday was a rare sea day that began with our nondenominational worship service.  I will try to remember to attach my prayers under Stories from Jen.  As I type this a few days later, the TV is informing us of another devastating shooting in an elementary school.  Our prayers are spoken with deep, deep sadness.

               Looking ahead, we stay on the Baltic Sea (so far, anyway) cruising tomorrow to Klaipeda, Lithuania; Wednesday to Riga, Latvia; Thursday to Tallinn, Estonia; Friday and Saturday to Finland, Sunday and Monday to Stockholm, Sweden; then it’s the end of yet another leg of the long journey!

Today, a bit more refreshed after a sea day, we boarded our tour bus at a little before 8:30 am, to enjoy a drive through Gdansk, a walking tour through its Old Town with free time (“to contribute to the local economy”), then to take a bus ride to a nearby district called Oliwa to gawk at another large basilica and to hear an organ recital.  Details are below.

Old City

New construction across from Old City

Our guide is a former elementary teacher, so get ready to learn!!! Did you know that:

·        the FIRST shots fired to start WWI happened in Gdansk, Poland

·        the city has a 1000-year history; portioned off, and controlled by treaties, it is happy to be a republic at this time due to Treaty of Versailles after WWI

·        the size of New Mexico, Poland shares a border with Ukraine (!), Germany, Russia Kaliningrad, Belarus (literally “White Russia”), Czech Republic, Slovakia, & Lithuania—many past maps don’t even have Poland on its maps

·        Pope John Paul was Polish

·        Lech Walesa (vow WEN sah) was born in Gdansk --- he won 1983 Nobel Peace Prize and came to Cedar Rapids, remember?

·        During 1880s, thousands of Pols left the country and settled elsewhere; well over 2 million reside just in Chicago even now

·        Poland has been a member of the Hanseatic League since the 1400s; HL is a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in central and

·        northern Europe (thanks, Wikipedia)

·        Is mentioned in The Canterbury Tales as the spruce trees of Prussia

·        Rivers flow north—to the Baltic Sea

·        Gdansk has the oldest pine resin in the world and for it extracts valuable amber for jewelry and sculptures

·        Polish population of 38 million now; there was a 90% population shift in the past 100 years or so

Rub ear or paw for good fortune

     For two full hours we walked quite a bit of the Old City noting the evolving coat of arms above gates

(a white eagle wears a golden crown—except during the years of communism), the morning sun on the River Mitrava, looking in the distance toward a glass-topped building which is the WWII Museum, walking through the Green Gate, looking at various kinds of medieval brick (that was used in place of concrete or marble since there are no nearby quarries), seeing the only remaining granaries left standing from WWII—green shutters across from the river.  The tower with white brick “filigree” is from the 15^th Century and is now the archeological museum.

Prussian Hag

Info about the Prussian Hag

               Perhaps Gdansk’s most photographed street is Mariacka Street with architecture dating back to display and for sale in booths under their porches.  Note the gargoyles above the porches for directing rain runoff into the streets below.  Upon closer look, you may see that there is some erosion on the old, old exteriors.  This is due to the Chernobyl nuclear ash whose acids were was blown their way.

               Then we learned about medieval churches—and that they were oriented to the east to symbolize sunrise and resurrection—as we entered Mary’s Basilica, the biggest brick church in the world.  Its stained glass windows didn’t survive the war, but it is striking!  Including an astrological clock with 3005 pieces of information, original medieval murals.  We learned that every art piece of importance in the city was deconstructed and hidden in outlying farm areas before the Russians marched into the city; therefore they were all saved and able to be returned.

Fahrenheit's original barometer with both Celsius and Fahrenheit marked on it.

               Back to the Old City, we found the Golden Gate opposite the Green Gate, a torture chamber at the gate of the city where men were chained and passersby could throw anything at them.  

Are we surprised? No. 

Daniel Fahrenheit was born in Gdansk in 1700s; he moved a lot and ended up in England.  Shakespeare Theater (The Black Coffin) is there because Gdansk was one of first cities to feature his plays after his death, especially after Cromwell got rid of anything that was artistic.

               The height of our day was going to a nearby suburb of Oliwa to a 12^th century Cistercian Cathedral to hear a concert on an organ with 7867 pipes, the smallest pipe is matchbook size and the largest is 108 m long. It was built in the 18^th century with billows.  It took 7 men to pump it!!!  The recital was 20 minutes long.  The organ has 110 voices, 5 consoles, and one organist (currently, one man and one woman have permission from the bishop to play this treasure) who plays once an hour from 10-5 daily except Sundays when there are 6 masses.

The Great Armory