Taking Gdansk

 This is where we were today. Thankfully, it doesn't look like that today. Poland was captured by Germany during World War II, and Gdansk was pretty much reduced to rubble as the Soviet Union bombed it to liberate it an restore it to the Polish people.  That's one of the crazy things about wars. Gdansk has been amazingly restored, and we were in the charming city center for most of the day.

And very impressed with the city as it is today. It has a rich history as we found by visiting some of the museums.

Our port was about a 20 drive to city center, so shuttle buses took us into a town. We lined up for the early bus and headed out. Cabs were also available at the port if you had local currency.

This is the sight we found when we got off the bus.

We started the morning with a self-guided walking tour.  Semester at Sea folks were already filling the area.

The WOW effect was at work for most of us.

We happened by the library and made a stop to look about.  This has one librarian and seems to be a collection about Gdansk.

Our first stop of the day was at St. Mary Cathedral.  This is the oldest brick cathedral in
Europe, and we happened to be there as a service was starting, so we heard some organ music. We went on to climb the tour to  one of the highest views in the city.  After 409 steps, the view was spectacular and gave us a nice context of where we were and how the city was laid out.
From there it was time for a pastry and coffee--both delicious--and the outside cafe gave us a great chance for people watching.

Our next stop was to the Town Hall, a restored building that is now a museum and give much of the history of Gdansk throughout its history.  The bottom photo shows a section of the original wall.

It was a great day in a really neat, historical town