From Peenemunde we crossed over into Poland and spent a couple of days at the coast. Inbetween some really heavy downpours, the sun came out and we were able to go for walks along the beach and dip our toes into the Baltic. As expected, it was far too chilly for us to go swimming but there were many hardy Polish and German families enjoying the beach.
One evening we even saw a lovely sunset.
We continued around to Gdansk. I was surprised at how much I liked the city as it was not as I had expected it to be, i.e. industrial due to the shipyards.
Gdansk has over a thousand years of history and was the largest city of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , a royal and Hanseatic city, it had the right to actively participate in the act of electing the king , and in the 16th century it was the richest in the Commonwealth.
According to Wikipedia
"Gdańsk is considered a symbolic place of the outbreak of World War II and the beginning of the fall of communism in Central Europe". I certainly remember watching the news reports on the rise of Solidarity and the strikes at the shipyards in the 1980s, the end of communism in 1989 and in 1990, Lech Wałęsa becoming the first democratically elected President of Poland since 1926 and the first-ever Polish president elected by popular vote.
As usual, we covered a lot of ground in foot and here are just a few photos
We also ate our first perogies here and waddled out of the restaurant. We needed the 3km walk back to the camper and a snooze.
From Gdansk, we headed south all of 60 kms to Malbork. The town was founded in the 13th century by the Knights of the Teutonic Order. The town is known for its enormous medieval castle built in the 13th century as the order's headquarters. It was also one of the residences of Polish kings and is the largest brick built castle in the world measured by land area. It was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997.
Continuing south another 150kms and we're in the town on Torun, one of the oldest in Europe. It dates back to the 8th century and was part of the Hanseatic league, a leading trading point in the 17th century.
Torun is renowned for its Museum of Gingerbread as the gingerbread-baking tradition dates back nearly a thousand years. And yes, I had to buy some.
During the Second World War, Torun was not bombed at all so the Old Town and iconic central marketplace have been preserved.
n 1997 the medieval part of the city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The town is also the birthplace of Nicholas Copernicus
Tomorrow we head further south to the town of Poznan.
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