Poland draws you with its contrasts and depth, the dialectic of historical and contemporary, the melodies of Chopin and poetry of Mickiewicz, the pompous beauty of royal Krakow, the industrial power of Poznan, the sea attractions of Gdynia, the Baltic waves of Gdańsk.
History of Gdynia
One of today’s most popular tourist destinations is the famous Polish Tri-City. It’s kind of like the Russian Golden Ring. Except that if you compare the latter with a luxurious Scythian pectoral, the former is more of a small pendant with three pearl beads – Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia, the main one being Sopot. Today, as in antiquity, all three cities are a single agglomeration, all parts of which are connected by electric trains, streetcar lines and bus routes. From central Sopot you can see both Gdańsk’s Westerplatte and the rooftops of Gdynia.
Tourists often visit the Baltics on the residual principle, limiting themselves to a tour of Gdansk – and in vain. If you wake up an intellectual and a modernist aesthete, you can see innumerable beauties in the vicinity of the Trehgrady. And the clearest example of this is Gdynia.
The Baltic coast has not always been for Poland what it is today. Once a desolate and cold place with the sea, swamps, marshes, and the cries of lonely seagulls, it gained key importance in the 16th century, when the then Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took over the reins of the European wheat trade. Before that, the aggressive Teutonic Order, conquered by the Polish kings in the mid-15th century, ruled in the Baltics. After the Union of Lublin and the formation of the Rzeczpospolita, active Polish colonization of the Baltics began. The coast was slowly being accreted with ports, among which Gdansk became a real giant. And fishing villages stretched toward the ports. Such, gray and unremarkable among hundreds of similar stories, was the initial history of Gdynia, a small fishing village on the outskirts of Gdansk.
The main occupation of the inhabitants was fishing and farming, until Poland gained its independence in 1920. The impetus that breathed new life into the modest fishing village was the construction of a port in Gdynia. The initiator of this project was the Polish architect and engineer Tadeusz Wenda, who had no doubt that the lowlands between Gdansk and Gdynia, protected from strong winds and with large depths on the shore, were the best place to build a port that could compete with Gdansk itself.
Unfortunately, the global economic crisis slowed down the work – the young state, surrounded on all sides by ill-wishers, was not up to the port. But in 1935, France came to the rescue, betting that an economically powerful Poland could compete with Nazi Germany in Europe. Within a few months, shipyards and wharves were built, and the deepened bottom allowed even the largest warships and merchant ships to be accommodated. An advantage that distinguished the town even from neighboring Gdansk was the presence of enterprises that “without leaving the cash register” processed products that flowed into Gdynia from all the Polish provinces. It had its own mill, rice refinery, and grain elevator.
The architectural appearance of the city changed dramatically in the productive 1920s – residential mansions grew up next to the port enterprises, and between them towered the spires of cathedrals. During the Nazi occupation of the port and shipyards were destroyed, the residential buildings have survived, but many residents had to leave the city because of the brutality of the occupation regime.
After the war, the city was rebuilt, and thanks to the active participation of its residents in the protest movements of the 1980s got a new round of development – a lot of money was invested in infrastructure, construction of new roads and residential areas.
Top 8 Sights of Gdynia
Today, Gdynia’s window to the world is opening wider and wider. In addition to large infrastructure projects, the city is actively developing trade, entertainment and cultural leisure industry. Today’s Gdynia in Poland with its sights is a true Baltic gem, attracting travelers with its many cozy bars, architectural monuments of stylish modernism and the thick, rich smell of the sea that seems to permeate every sidewalk stone here.
What’s more, even most of the museums here tell the story of the sea in one way or another. Although the age of Gdynia can compete even with the ancient Gdansk (first mention of the fishing settlement dates back to 1253), but it is not particularly ancient. Although it also has something to boast before the inquisitive and curious tourist.
Ocean Museum
Ocean Museum with a huge Oceanarium and the main exhibit – the hero ship “Blyskavica”, which took a heroic part in the sea battles of World War II. The Oceanarium features 36 enormous pools and aquariums that showcase the inhabitants of the sea and ocean depths, brought in from almost all over the world. But the “Blyskavica” is a true national relic: a glorious Polish torpedo-carrier, the only surviving ship built before World War II. On board the ship you can see an exhibition of artillery and torpedo weapons.
Maritime Museum
Maritime Museum – if on the “Blyskavica” you can plunge into the atmosphere of military battles of the last century, here you will make an excursion into even more distant times – the 16th century. In the Naval Museum there is an exhibition of weapons of the era of the Polish Golden Age or “Age of Sigismunds,” as it is often called, during the reign of Kings Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II August, which was the heyday of Poland.
Heineken Open Air Festival
Heineken Open Air – all-Poland national music festival (this is a tip for “summer” tourists) – it sounds a variety of music, from pop-rock to avant-garde, and it all looks extremely organic at the traditional location of the festival – a military airfield, where specially for the guests unfolded guarded tent camp.
Sailing regatta
The Tall Ships Races are a sight for lovers of snow-white sails against a blue sky… Unfortunately, the regatta is held in summer and tourists going to see the beauty of the Baltic in the cold season do not have the opportunity to enjoy this beautiful spectacle.
Malbork
Malbork is the ancient capital of the Teutonic Order, one of the most beautiful Gothic fortresses in Europe. Malbork or Marienburg in the German manner, is located only 50 km from the outskirts of Sopot and Gdynia, and if you are not limited to a day trip, it is definitely worth allocating a few hours for this unforgettable historical excursion.
Sailing Museum
Museum sailing ship “House of Pomorya. This is a real ship, which faithfully served the German merchant navy until the end of World War I, and was made in its time in the Hamburg shipyards under the name of “Prince Friedrich”. After the war, as a reparation, now as the “Holbert”, the ship “moved” to France, and the latter sold it in 1929 to the Polish Naval Academy under the symbolic name “Gift of Pomerania”. The sailing ship was used as a training ship – until 1983, it credited 105 voyages, called at 383 ports and educated 14,000 young naval officers on board.
February 10 Prospectus
One of the most interesting streets in the city is “February 10” Avenue. It runs from the center of Gdynia almost to the sea. This is where you can admire the most original modern buildings – today they are the Post Office and the City Council. And the name of the street is sacred for Poland. It was on this day at the Paris Peace Conference that Poland regained 140 kilometers of the Baltic Sea coast. To admire the sea horizon, there is a special place – the observation deck of Stone Mountain. If you ignore the cable car – and the walk is actually not that high and far, on the way you can see unique villas from the beginning of the last century.
Museum of Emigration
Museum of Emigration – one of the richest expositions in Europe, devoted to the theme of emigration, is collected here. Gdynia was the last place on Polish soil that emigrants saw before they stepped aboard French, American, or British ships that were taking them away from their native shores forever.
Video overview of the sights of Gdynia
Poland is a treasure trove of historical treasures and a hyper-concentration of that intoxicating feeling called the spirit of history. A golden necklace of historic cities and powerful industrial centers. The cradle of several generations of European democracy. The standard-bearer of Art Nouveau in art, home of modern museums and stylish, accessible to everyone European design. One of the most beautiful cities in the country is Gdynia.
