- 1.2m
- 92 000
- 962 €
- 1702h
- Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport / Gdańsk: 10 km, Sopot: 10km, Gdynia: 23 km
Gdynia Orłowo
A series of beautiful coincidences created Tricity (Trójmiasto): an urban phenomenon made up of three cities: Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia. In fact it is a mosaic of smaller neighbourhoods, which becomes evident when one takes the SKM train connecting the metropolitan area along the Baltic coast.
Hopping on and off the train one can witness so many lifestyles and different eras it seems almost impossible for them to exist shoulder to shoulder. First there is the Old Town in Gdańsk – a monument to the power of the local bourgoisie who used to control all the trade between Poland and the rest of the world through the port. Meticulously restored after the Second World War, it is worth a long walk, although it feels a bit detached from the modern life of the city. Then there’s the legendary Gdańsk Shipyard where unrest started in 1970 and 1980, consequently leading to the fall of communism in this part of Europe. Further along the coast there are the gigantic concrete housing estates in Przymorze and Zaspa built in the seventies on the site of a former airfield. With huge open spaces left between the blocks, the strict separation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic and trams zooming in and out of tunnels, the neighbourhood even after four decades retains a slightly unreal, utopian feel. Worth seeing are the enormous murals created by local and international artists, churches from the Polish ecclesiastical construction boom of the seventies and eighties, and the longest building in Poland (860 m) – the Wave Block (Falowiec) taking its name from the winding footprint. In what seems like a parallel universe where time stopped a hundred years ago, there is the neighbourhood of Oliwa, which boasts a cathedral, a meticulously preserved historical park and streets lined with old trees and villas, with cozy cafes and antique shops.
Sopot’s main pedestrian promenade – Bohaterow Monte Cassino, affectionately called Monciak, is teeming with people throughout the summer season.
Sopot is Oliwa’s younger, wilder brother. The most famous resort on the Polish coast is the Tricity’s playground, where people from the whole area come to dine and party. It can become quite unbearable in July and August when the usual traffic is quadrupled by holiday makers, but take a walk a few blocks away from the main promenade (Bohaterów Monte Cassino or monciak), or come on a warm spring or autumn weekend and you will get a perfect blend of hedonism and class. Sopot is a firm favourite with expats who decide to settle in the Tricity, so don’t be surprised if you’re greeted by a handsome stranger in your native tongue.
Further north, Sopot (the smallest of the three cities) seamlessly blends into Orłowo – a neighbourhood of Gdynia. Gdynia is a city ’created out of sea and dreams‘, a Dubai-style story that happenedin the’ 20s and the’ 30s when Poland suffered from a trade war with Germany and decided it needed to grow independent from the German-controlled harbour in Gdańsk. A new city and a port were built in a space of a dozen years on the site of a fishermen’s village, quickly drawing a 100,000 ambitious people from all over the country.
Now Gdynia is still a vibrant port city, with quarters of modernist, art deco-flavoured architecture (the best examples can be found along ulica Świętojańska and 10 Lutego), surrounded by leafy residential quarters on green hills. Climb one of them – Kamienna Góra – to take in a view of the city, the harbor and the shipyard, recently shadowed by Sea Towers – a brand new 140 metre-tall residential building.
Leszek Możdżer
Composer, pianist, jazz musician, music producer, recently artistic director of the legendary SFINKS 700 club in Sopot, suggests a 7-day programme to give you insight into the city’s scene
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Monday Say hello to the sea. Listen to the only genuine music of Sopot – the sound of the Bay of Gdańsk. With its uninterrupted rhythm, the sea will envelop you with its wonderfully soothing whisper, asking you a few important questions. Tuesday After a good rest, we begin our tour at 8.00 pm. To start, allow yourselves to be carried away by Jazz Travel – a cycle of tue gigs in the club Versalka (ul. Bohaterów Monte Cassino 63). The cosy stage of that club has witnessed the best Polish jazz musicians of the young, mid and older generations. Versalka is the perfect place to gather momentum for the rest of the week. Wednesday Papryka (ul. Grunwaldzka 11, Live Wednesdays, 9 pm). A place for those in the know, the Mecca of Tricity’s alternative scene. Access to those over 21 years old; ring the bell on the left-hand side. Once inside, you will find yourself in the midst of loud, energetic guitar music. The joyous and spontaneous jamming sessions bring together the rock and punk scene of Tricity. |
Jazz musicians and DJs also pop in, sometimes the stage will feature dozens of musicians on a single evening; no one here is surprised by the roar of guitars at 3 o’clock in the morning. But midnight is usually the hottest hour. Thursday After a heavy dose of decibels it’s time for a change. Thursday music evenings at 6 pm in Dworek Sierakowski (ul. Józefa Czyżewskiego 12) will restore the right sensitivity to your hearing. Here, every thu you can listen to the most talented and active musicians in Tricity. Once you have fed your soul with a portion of delicate and sophisticated classical music, I suggest that you try something harder and take a walk to Stary Rower (ul. Pułaskiego 15). Here, the premier jazz league of Tricity and its surrounding areas swings its way through the jungle of jazz modulation, progressions and harmonic substitutes, pleasing the more demanding jazz enthusiasts during the weekly jam sessions. Friday and Saturday You don’t need a special plan to get to know the DJ scene – all you need to do is walk from club to club. | |
Mandarynka (ul. Bema 6), Stary Rower, Spatif, Soho (ul. Bohaterów Monte Cassino 61), Coco Bongo (ul. Bohaterów Monte Cassino 55/57), Ferber (ul. Bohaterów Monte Cassino 48), Ego (BohaterówMonte Cassino 53).
Luckily, you can get everywhere on foot, as the clubs are only a few paces from one another Sunday Visit Sauna World in Sopot’s Aqua Park (ul. Zamkowa Góra 3), for after such an intensive week, your body will need some rest and cleansing. In the evening, the ritual of saying farewell to the sea, the sound of which will soothe your senses, the obligatory borsch and pierogi in Spatif (Bohaterów Monte Cassino 52). On a Sunday evening you should be able to easily find a table.
The Sopot sound treatment is over; now you can go back to your daily business, enriched by |
Wojciech Szczurek
Probably the most popular of big city mayors in Poland. In 2010 he was elected for a fourth term by 87,4 % of Gdynia’s electorate
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According to a local saying, Gdańsk is for sightseeing, Sopot for relaxing and Gdynia for doing business. Recently, however, this view is becoming more and more anachronistic, as each of the three cities can well serve any of these purposes, albeit each in a different style. The close distance between Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia is shortened even more by the comfortable Rapid Urban Railway / Szybka Kolej Miejska – SKM, a network of roads and a ring road (Obwodnica). Gdańsk Gdańsk attracts visitors with its historic buildings and the charm of a Hanseatic port city. It is the Polish Amsterdam. Długa and Długi Targ streets, the City Hall (ul. Długa 46, tue: 10 am – 3 pm, no entry fee, entry every 30 minutes, wed – sat: 10 am – 4 pm, sun: 11 am – 4 pm), the Artus Court ( tue: 10 am – 3 pm, no entry fee, entry every 30 minutes, wed – sat: 10 am – 4 pm, sun: 11 am – 4 pm), fountain of Neptune, and a medieval crane (ul. Szeroka 67/68, mon – sun: 10:30 am – 6:30 pm) by the Motława river – all these are iconic landmarks. |
The city also serves a wartime memento, with remains of the heroic resistance against the Nazi aggressor from September 1939 at Westerplatte, where World War II started, still visible. The gates to Gdańsk shipyard, the monument at Solidarity Square and Lech Wałęsa himself – these are all symbols of anticommunist resistance. Sopot Sopot is the most famous of Polish seaside resorts, with Art Nouveau architecture and a recently built hotel and convention complex. However, Sopot’s main allure is still its beaches, the longest wooden pier in Europe and the ForestOpera, which is a concert venue for summer music festivals. Gdynia Finally, Gdynia, a phenomenon of a city that developed at lightning speed in early 1920s as a result of the decision to construct a giant harbour on the site of a Kashubian fishermen’s village. |
Nowadays, Gdynia is not only a port harbouring the world’s largest container and cruiser ships, a site for shipyards and maritime business, but also a vibrant city of a quarter of a million inhabitants that entices visitors with a plethora of tourist attractions, including the Gdynia Aquarium (al. Jana Pawła II 1, daily: 8 am – 3 pm), two swimming museums: Dar Pomorza frigate and WWII-era destroyer ORP Błyskawica as well as a uniform modernist architectural complex that is unique on the European scale. The city has become famous for its major artistic events, among them the Heineken Open’er Festival, recognized as the best music festival in Europe, the annual Polish Film Festival, Ladies’ Jazz Festival and Globaltica World Culture Festival. Additionally, Gdynia specialises in sailing events such as regattas and boat shows featuring the world’s largest yachts, which explains its title as the Sailing Capital of Poland. |
The Gdańsk Shipyard area, where anti-communist riots and strikes broke out in 1970 and 1980, is being redeveloped, but the traces of history are still there.
Lech Wałęsa
Leader of the Solidarność movement in the 1980s, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, President of the Republic of Poland 1990-95
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When I was a little boy, I saw Gdańsk as a big city with a seaport and shipyards. I knew that the Second World War had started there. I also heard that there were many historical sights in Gdańsk. This is how much I knew then. In the late spring of 1967 I got on a train and went to the seaside. I got off the train at the Gdańsk Główny railway station. |
A minute later I bumped into a friend from my old neighbourhood who talked me into working in the shipyard. I met my wife Danuta in Gdańsk and this is where our children were born…So that is how I became a Gdańsk man out of my own choice. Today, many years later, having visited so many cities in Europe and the world, I can say that I would never swap Gdańsk for New York, Paris, Brussels, Tokyo or Moscow… |
At the end of the 20th century, Poland gave Pope John Paul II to Europe and the world. Gdańsk, on the other hand, gave the Solidarność movement to its nation, as well as to Europe and the entire world (…).
excerpt from: Gdańsk Lecha Wałęsy / Lech Wałęsa’s Gdańsk, Piotr Adamowicz, Andrzej Drzycimski, Adam Kinaszewski, Gdańsk 2008. |
Buffet Klub, Gdańsk
Aneta Szyłak
Director of the Wyspa Institute of Art on the premises of the legendary Gdańsk Shipyard takes a break to give us an exclusive tour of the Tricity area
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Gdańsk Shipyard This is the most interesting place in the Tricity for me. It was herethat I decided to set up the Art Institute Island / Instytut Sztuki Wyspa. Above all I was struck by the complexity of the place. Because of this the Shipyard is now generally considered an industrial rather than a postindustrial place. It is not a monument, but a living place. It is still an operating workshop and only a certain part of its premises has been liquidated, destined for reconstruction into a new district, the City of Youth. Our projects often involve the fantastic locals working and living here. The shipyard is also a laboratory of the changes taking place in Poland. Here you can learn about the political struggle (including the myths about the founder of the Solidarność movement), the establishment of the institutions themselves, the cuts in the workforce, the division of the company, the privatisation processes, the culture of demonstration, free time and zoning. |
Tawerna Dominikańska ul. Targ Rybny 9, daily: 12 am – 12 pm The bar is located in Długie Pobrzeże opposite the Baltic Philharmonic Hall. It does not look too flashy, so it can be easily overlooked. It offers the best and freshest fish in town. A few varieties of cod, eel and salmon, as well as excellent herring in oil are served here. Make sure you book your table in advance for the weekend. Mazel Tov ul. Ogarna 119 This is the stronghold of the klezmer resistance against the anti tobacco law. Smoking is allowed here! It is a small and homely place with an intimate family atmosphere, so it is worth getting to know everyone around – without delay. It boasts a large group of regulars. Here you can improvise music with friends and unusual things can happen any time. If you have a musical instrument, bring it along and join in straight away.
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Subiektywna Linia Autobusowa / Subjective Bus Route An initiative by Grzegorz Klaman, giving voice to the former shipyard workers who debate the history of the shipyard in an old bus. Buffet Klub ul. Doki 1, mon – sun: 12 pm – 11 pm Frequented by artists, activists, musicians, journalists, students, curators and animators. This is a venue for all those who want to see the Gdańsk art scene in its full glory, especially at weekends. The cafe’s interior is a great combination of industrial style, a few contemporary additions and artistic touches. The club serves good drinks, offers music events, as well as book promotions. The Buffet staff are friendly, competent and charismatic. |
