GDAŃSK
VISIT GDANSK
- Gdansk was part of the Hanseatic League – an international (European) association of trading cities, cooperating and supporting each other, the Hansa was active since the Middle Ages and still in the early modern era.
- St. Mary’s Church (in Polish “Kościół Mariacki”) is the largest burnt brick temple in the world (it took 159 years to build: it was completed in 1502).
- It is in Gdańsk that the longest urban axis of medieval Europe is located. What do I mean? I will show you.
- The largest mill in medieval Europe: Gdańsk! Not bad for a port city somewhere out of Central Europe, right? 😉
What were the main ingredients of the huge financial success that Hanza Gdansk was proud of for a few centuries? I will present them to you with pleasure. Then I’ll tell you what caused the changes in circumstances. It’s a whole story. After our meeting you will also know where the strange names of neighbourhoods that today make up the city of Gdansk come from, such as Stare Szkoty (the translation will be: The Old Scots), Biskupia Górka (The Mountain of The Bishop), Św. Wojciech (Saint Adalbert). I will also tell you since when pretty Oliwa with its cathedral and splendid park has been part of Gdańsk and how it happened, that Oliwa is no longer a separate administration.
SOME FACTS ABOUT THE GDANSK OLD TOWN TOUR:
What we are going to see in Gdansk above all, is the Main City. Everyone calls this part of the town “the old town”, and what you see in the pictures on this site are photos taken almost entirely here: the Main City.
The Old Town and the Main City are next each other. In the old times they were separated by walls (gone today). The functions of these two parts of Gdansk were distinct, so they were like sisters contributing in different ways to the wealth of the family.
What was, and still is, officially called the Old Town is a district that was not entirely rebuilt after the Second World War. That’s why guided tours are usually sightseeing in the Main Town. Personally I would suggest maybe a more in depth tour which introduces you to what contributed to the power of one of the richest cities in the Baltic Sea Coast, Hanza Gdańsk.
When you contact me we will organise ourselves in such a way as to meet your points of interest, since there are also a lot of things to see both in the Old and the Main Town. They are impressive in different ways, giving you the whole picture.
I can also show you other areas of Gdansk that have developed over the centuries. Neighbourhoods that have known ups and downs – those resulting from history and those resulting from unfortunate decisions by the authorities.
Traces of communist times – whole neighborhoods battered in the 1970s, and traces of communist times in places you wouldn’t expect. That’s why I organised myself to have a Polish multi-seater car of the time: a Nysa 522.
Constantly changing neighborhoods. There are a lot of them 😉 And for that another car, a more comfortable one: Volkswagen Transporter T5.
A peculiar kaleidoscope of Gdańsk 🙂
THE CAPITAL OF AMBER
Oops! I almost forgot to mention it, but it’s probably obvious: Gdańsk is a Mecca for amber lovers. Some say that Gdańsk deserves the title of the world capital of amber.
Amber is everywhere. There are not only jewelry shops dedicated to it, but the Amber Museum is also located here. Right next to it you will find a very large altar, all in amber (!) in one of the churches (old church, contemporary altar). Finally you can find amber on some beaches yourself: you just have to know when to go there. This means that amber is not lying around every day and not on every beach – where and when is the open secret I can share with you.
