Gdansk, Poland

Monday and Tuesday, 11 and 12 September 2006

Gdansk sees the first tentatative step of the trip into the world of youth hostels. We take the Lonely Planet's advice and try a place that looks like a high-security prison/pyschiatric hospital (lots of reinforced doors, jail bars, man at reception desk wielding truncheon etc.). Much to our disappointment, it is booked-up. The next place we try is down by the waterfront which, apart from the (watch out for the pun) Baltic showers, is decent. We are near the "Royal Way" - this is the ornate main street of Gdansk which received any visiting Polish kings. Also nearby is the "Gdansk crane", a wooden crane originally built in the 15th century, which was the largest of its kind in Europe at the time - fascinating stuff for anyone who has an interest in crane-history! We visit the Gdansk Shipyards to see the museum commemorating the "Solidarity" strikes of 1980 and take a boat trip out to Westerplatte where WWII broke out in 1939. This is starting to sound like an essay on a school tour...

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