Gdansk; Tuesday, 22 July, 2008

The bed in the hotel turned out to be exceptionally comfortable, and I had the best nights sleep in a long time. I awoke refreshed and ready to start the day, by stuffing my face at breakfast – a good nights sleep really gives you an appetite.

I caught the bus into town and headed for the Old Town making a tour of the main street (Long street). I stated at the old gate to the city which includes the Prison Tower and Torture Tower, though now home to the amber museum, then stopped off at the Uphagen’s house before taking in the City museum in the town hall.

Having climbed to the top of the tower of the town hall and descended back down to ground level I though there would be nothing more sensible then climbing to the top of the tower of the largest church in Gdansk, St Mary’s! 400 odd steps late I emerged onto the very rickety viewing platform, wedged between the two sloping halves of the roof, took in the views and then descended back down again before I developed vertigo!

A brief pause for a late lunch overlooking the river was followed by an afternoon taking in the museums and sites of the impressive sounding “Central Maritime Museum”. This included the crane. If Paris has the Eiffel Tower, and Rome the Coliseum, then Gdansk has the Crane. It’s on every postcard, in every tourist book and appears on every map. Having looked around the museums on this side of the rive I caught the ferry to the other side to take in the main part of the CMM as well as the museum ship MS Soldek.

By now it was starting to get late, and my legs and feet were killing me, but it wasn’t quite late enough for dinner. I thought about doing some more wandering, but when I started to feel a bit of pain in my leg I decided it was probably best to go back to the hotel, change into something less clammy than my Jeans, which in the temperatures were starting to feel too hot, and put my feet up for a short while before heading back out for dinner.