As usual on this trip, we did a running tour (self guided) of Gdańsk this morning. We started by running over to the canal which is fun as we have to run through parts of Old Town to get tot the canal. We then ran around an island in the canal which has lots of restaurants and bars on it. We ran further afield but heading up to an overlook to see the city from the top. It ended up being Gory Gradowej which was a major fortification from the start of Gdansk. It saw action in the war of Polish succession (Prussians won), Napoleonic Wars (French won and added a new part of the fort), the Russians took the city back under Tsar Alexander at the end of the Napoleonic wars, though the city was given back to the Prussians, and during World War II it was occupied by the Germans.

The fun part of the fort was Tom made a friend in one of the custodians, Kazimierz, and he gave us a free tour of the fort and pointed out all the things we should see. It was done mostly by having us follow him and hand gestures. The information was from some audio tours that he took us to that was in English. It was a nice surprise on our run. There was also a cross monument on the hill. No English for that so I am not sure what it commemorated.

After running back to the AirBNB and showering, we found breakfast at a Cafe called Neighbors on the main canal. I had an English breakfast without the baked beans. It was a great place to eat and people watch.

Tom had done some research and found that there was a boat that would take us out to Westerplatte. Westerplatte is supposedly where WWII began. The Polish Army had an ammunition depot on Westerplatte which was just outside of Danzig (The German name for Gdansk). At the time Danzig was a “free city” under the Versailles treaty and mainly populated with Germans. It was also ruled by the Nazis. There was a great deal of tension between the surrounding Poles and the Germans. On September 1st, 1939, the Germans attached Westerplatte. The battle lasted 7 days with the Germans winning and starting WWII officially. The Poles treat it a little like their Alamo.

We thought the boat ride would just be a cruise taking us to Westerplatte but it ended up being a guided tour of the canal, Vistula River and Gdansk harbor. We went by the famous Gdansk shipyards (the start of the Solidarity movement that freed Poland from Communist rule. The shipyard is still operating today. We saw the sulphur and coal terminals. There were many ships tied up at the docks loading and unloading. We passed the Polish Navy training ship – which is a three masted sailing vessel. As usual the weather was spectacular.

Westerplatte has a monument which is very Soviet era in style. They are doing a great deal of archeology on the site. There is a simple graveyard for the Polish soldiers who died. While there the Polish army was doing parachute exercise so we watched them jump out of a helicopter and circle down. Westerplatte is right on the Baltic so we have seen the Baltic from both Tallinn and Gdansk. Riga and Vilnius are not right on the sea. Riga is on a river but close to the Baltic. Vilnius is pretty far inland.

After the boat ride, we wandered around old town and pastry and tea/coffee.

Then if we had not had enough steps, we decided to climb the bell tower of St. Mary’s Cathedral, one of the largest and tallest cathedrals in Europe. It reach the top of the tower, we had to climb 409 steps and ascend 82 meters. The first 200 steps were up an old circular staircase with very uneven steps. The last 209 were on more modern staircases. The climb was worth it for the views. But then we had to do the reverse to get back down to the ground.

After all the work of getting up and down the tower, a beer was required. We sat of the Main Street of old town and had Tyskie beer as the sunset.

Dinner was a traditional Polish dinner made up of peirogi, borscht and sauerkraut with beer. We ordered 3 types of pierogis so we could taste them but it was way too much food. We had beef and pork, cheese, and wild boar. All were good but definitely too much food as there were 10 peirogi with each order.

Another fun day on the trip!