Our guide was very knowledgable about the region of Poland in which we were in and the history of the area (medieval, wartime, and Solidarity movement era) but his manner of speaking was a little monotonous so the drive from Gdynia passed without much to recall. We drove through Sopot and past both the impressive Gdańsk stadium and the Monument To The Fallen Shipyard Workers Of 1970, either of which would have made nice photo stops but it was not to be on this trip. Eventually, we parked up at the Podwale Przedmiejskie close to the archaeological museum and commenced our walk to the Green Bridge and to the outskirts of Gdańsk’s Main Town.

Stopping for occasional history lessons and to give some people a chance to pop into one of the amber stores along the Gdańsk waterfront we eventually passed through the Brama Chlebnicka entrance into the Main Town then immediately turned right in order to hit Mariacka Street. Brama Chlebnicka was the oldest of the three main gothic water gates and the one that suffered the least damage in the bombings of World War II, requiring the least amount of rebuilding work. We were constantly reminded that a lot of what we would see in Gdańsk had been heavily damaged during the war but it wasn’t until we got back onto our coach at the end of our excursion that we were handed before and after photographs of the area; they made for very sobering viewing but also attested to the great work of the people in rebuilding afterwards.

Mariacka Street is the centre of Gdańsk’s amber jewellery trade and was an incredibly photogenic location. Before we’d travelled to Poland we knew that we wanted to hit this street to see the cobbles and the ornate stonework decorations (with some very bizarre designs) of former merchant houses now turned into craft shops. Our guide pointed out numerous places of interest along here and I made a point to fix the location in mind as I knew that our free time would see us return here in search of something for my wife.

From Mariacka Street we tracked around St Mary’s Church (where we would be visiting next) and stopped at the Fontanna Czterech Kwartalow (or Four Quarters Fountain) to hear about it and the area we were in. The fountains have coloured lights set into their bases and can produce fabulous light and water shows to entertain people although it was broad daylight when we visited and they were rather more standard in appearance. As we stood here listening to our guide I was approached by a local who was interested in our group, who we were, where we were from, what we’d seen, etc. I had to explain that while I and my wife were English the overwhelming majority of people in our group were American and that we were coming to the end of our cruise around the Baltic Sea. He seemed genuinely interested in us and cruising and in the places we’d seen and it was nice to interact with someone like that in that setting.

We finished this guided walk part of our excursion outside the entrance of St Mary’s Church (or the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary to give it its proper title) while our guide sorted out tickets for us to enter.

St Mary’s Church had the sense of scale of a Roman Catholic cathedral but its decor was more in line with the Lutheran churches we’d seen in trips to Scandinavia. This turned out to make perfect sense as in the 16th century it held masses for both flavours of Christian worship.

St Mary’s is one of the largest brick churches in the world and can accomodate 25000 people inside! The white walls and columns inside showed off some of the interesting works of art and other religious decorations well, many dating from the 15th century. I was quite taken with the Gdańsk astronomical clock which may still be the largest, wooden, astronomical clock in the world. Like many things in the city of Gdańsk it was damaged in World War II and required some reconstruction work.

We finished our exploration of the interior of St Mary’s Church by popping into a small room off the main nave containing some somewhat abstract art pieces and religious representations. At this point, as we’d wandered away from the main tour group, we weren’t entirely sure what we were looking at but it was all still very interesting.

This concluded our guided part of our excursion from the Crown Princess cruise ship into Gdańsk and would leave us with plenty of time to explore a little more on our own, hunt for souvenirs (especially amber), and grab some food before meeting up with everyone again for the trip back to the ship.

Normally, we don’t really visit a place with the intention of doing much shopping; our main drive with visiting places is to experience the culture, learn a bit about the history, and – and this may come as a bit of a surprise to you – take a huge amount of photos. However, Poland and the Baltic region just happen to be good sources of amber and my wife just happens to be a keen admirer of jewellery (unique pieces, usually, not diamonds for the sake of it, for instance) and so there was a determination during this part of our excursion to hunt down something specific: cherry amber in a white gold, platinum, or (grudgingly) silver setting; necklace or ring. With the number of amber stalls and shops we’d already passed we felt certain of success in this endeavour.

We began our Gdańsk amber hunt in the Long Market ducking into a number of shops in swift succession and grabbing a few pictures of the area outside between ventures.

The most prominent building along the Long Market on account of its architecture being notably different from that of all the other businesses along the pedestrianised area was the Gdańsk Historical Museum. Were we to return to Poland and to this city this looks like it would be the sort of place we’d like to spend some time inside.

With the places we hit along the Long Market proving fruitless in our continuing search for amber we headed back to Mariacka Street, having already been there during our earlier guided walk. There were few reasons to take photos with pictures already having been taken and we were keen to get through as many stalls and shops as possible. The people were very helpful as we asked after the dark red jewellery my wife wanted and one owner even acted as a translator for another whose English wasn’t great.

Ultimately, however, we decided to call it quits in our shopping quest in Gdańsk. Orange amber was in abundance and while we found a few pieces that were cherry they were either as brooches or with yellow gold. With flights from London to Poland being available for ridiculously low prices we won’t rule out a weekend return to the country at some point and we’d be more than happy to hit Gdańsk again too.

By this time we were hot, hungry, and thirsty so went off in search of something to satisfy our needs. I tried to find something local initially but we were ignored when we went in so left after a few minutes and we ended up back in the Long Market and at something more of a chain called Fahrenheit. We ordered local beers along with burgers and fries (not what I really wanted but I can’t complain about any of it; all very tasty indeed and recommended if you don’t want to dine too local).

We had a little bit of time left before we’d have to meet up with our tour group again so we headed back along the Long Market towards the Golden Gate end. On the way we stopped to look at Neptune’s Fountain, made from bronze and completed in 1633 and designed to have the Roman god of the sea facing where royalty would stay with his head lowered in respect.

I grabbed what photos I could as we headed back to the Green Gate where we would meet our guide and the rest of our group. We were very nearly the last ones back to the meeting point which is unusual for us as we’re typically early but I can blame keeping an eye out for any missed amber shops for that. And not my need to photograph nearly everything we passed.

With everyone gathered together we headed over the bridge and made our way back to the coach, a walk of only about five minutes.

As I’ve mentioned in the first of the Gdańsk articles this was a city that suffered heavy damage during the second world war. We hadn’t realised until back on the coach just how much damage there had been until our guide passed around some before-and-after restoration photos of various buildings we’d seen and in some cases places we assumed were centuries old had been little more than a pile of rubble in 1945. Gdańsk was a lovely city to spend time in and the area inside the gated walls was particularly attractive; a recommended place to visit.