Gdansk

From Cork I flew to Gdansk which is a port city in northern Poland.
It seemed like an odd choice to some people I met along the way but having read up on the place it seemed like it could be a bit of a hidden gem.

It's a city of about 500,000 on the Baltic Sea. Over the years it's been an important port and has a fascinating history.
Like a lot of Poland it's been invaded and occupied by various powers, starting with the Teutonic Knights ( from Germany) who established a fortress nearby in the 13th century.
Eventually the Poles were able to force the fearsome warrior monks out and were free again until the late 15th century when the area became known as Danzig and part of the Prussian empire. It wasnt until after World War Two that it officially became part of Poland again. Unfortunately 'liberation' meant become part of the USSR which began a very dark time for the city and indeed the whole country. Out of this grim period comes a resounding story of hope beginning in Gdansk, sparking revolutionary change across Europe.

During the communist days high prices, shortages of food, and intolerable working conditions were the norm. The workers of Gdansk, beginning with their economically crucial dockworkers were some of the most active in organised opposition to their totalitarian authorities in all of Europe. Strikes in '56,'68 and throughout the '70s spread across Poland and were brutally put down. Many protesters were killed by militias, there were also political imprisonments,executions and periods of martial law.

However the bravery of these protesters seemed to inspire the generations that followed and many of those that died became celebrated martyrs to the movement. By 1980 the movement which began in the 'Lenin Dockyards' in Gdansk had a name 'Solidarsnosc' or Solidarity and enjoyed popular appeal throughout the country. Led by local electrician Lech Walesa the dockworkers staged what would be a crucial period of industrial action that summer.

Eighteen days of collective striking was enough to bring to the authorities to their knees. For the first time in Societ block history the Socialist Goverment acquiesed to the strikers demands which included release of political prisoners, the rights to organise and better working conditions.
It cannot be underestimated the effect this had on the millions of people living across Eastern Europe and it was a flicker of hope to all. Lech Walesa, something of a folk hero by this time, received the nobel peace prize in 1983 and after the iron curtain fell in 1989 became president
in the first free Polish elections.

Nowadays the city is rightly proud of it's unique place in history. Monuments to the heros of Solidarsnosc abound and the 'Roads to Freedom exhibition' is a must.Amongst it's many artefacts it houses the UNESCO recognised demands of the dockworkers painted on wooden boards and bullet riddled jackets of protesters. Its truly a chilling and very relevant story in any age but certainly more so with the current unrest across the middle east.

The city has moved on from this too. It's a bustling commercial hub and foreign investment has got a firm foothold without detracting from the character of the place too much. The old town, which was nearly completely destroyed during fighting in WWII has been beautifully restored. Spires of baroque churches and colourful dutch townhouses line the way from the golden gate to the mammoth town hall in the city centre.
It's definately one of the more charming cities I have visited and with such a significant history its unlikely to be long until it becomes a must-see for travellers to Europe.