Darłowo

Our last Sunday in Poland and we were fascinated to see the numbers of church goers. The folk were all dressed in their Sunday best and they filled the church in two consecutive hours that we observed. Poland has traditionally been Catholic, and it has been said that it was the church that maintained the Polish culture and identity through the many years of foreign control. 

Beautiful! In the ancient church yard at Iwięcino. 

We decided that we would wander northwards toward the Baltic to the town of Darłowo. We were pleasantly surprised to find an old attractive central market square and some interesting historical buildings surrounding the area. 

The reconstructed Renaissance Town Hall in Darłowo. 

A fine pair!

Another angle. 

Castle entrance. 

Castle, mill race and restaurants. 

In the gothic church of St Mary's is the tomb of King Erik VII (1397-1459). I particularly loved his story: he was a local (Darłowo) boy who became king of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, married Henry V of England's daughter, Phillipina, whom he later tired of and banished her to a nunnery. He was kicked off the throne in 1439, returned to Darłowo as a Duke of Słupsk, and lives out the rest of his life on the earnings from his piracy in the Baltic Sea!

A plaque in St Mary's Church in reference to Erik VII's reign. 

Another red brick church - St Mary's. 

We took a stroll around the town where a lot of holiday makers were enjoying the pleasant surroundings of an old castle, a 14th century church and a reconstructed Renaissance town hall which were all within easy access from the square. 

After lunch we thought we would risk the 3 km journey to the beach - but we were beaten there by scores upon scores of Polish holiday makers. The place was pulsating with humanity. They all seemed to be out on the promenade waiting for better conditions on the beach. 

Crawling with holiday makers. 

We quickly changed direction - not easy in the van when you had just entered a pedestrian area and the folk weren't prepared to give much ground!

Fun....

..... and fair!

We reset our course to Iwięcino where we had heard there was a 14th century church worth visiting. On arriving the church was all locked up so decided that this was a very suitable place to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening.  

Rustic charm of the church at Iwięcino. 

Over the road is an old barn and a well tended garden. 

Another of the church at Iwięcino. 

Masses of brightly coloured hydrangeas around the church. 

A sneak look inside the church through one tiny window. It was all locked up!!

Słupsk

Just another cruising day. No great direction other than the obvious - the Polish-German border in a few days. 

The Pomeranian Dukes castle in Słupsk. 

We gave the coastal Baltlic towns a miss - mostly members of the bucket-and-spade league and heavily populated with Polish holiday makers. 

Traveled through central Pomeranian agricultural landscape this morning. Cerial crops interspersed with Baltic Pine forests and plantations. 

Many areas of Baltic pine during our drive this morning. 

We stopped for a short time at Lebork before travelling on to Słupsk. Here we parked in front of the delightful neogothic town hall - built in 1901 - had lunch and was entertained by a number of wedding groups that rolled through for their civil ceremony. 

Hilton in on the act again - and in front of the town hall!

A better aspect.

We later wandered around the town and took in some of the older and younger sites. A pleasant town but more of an administrative area than a tourist destination. 

Old town gate amidst modern buildings. 

St Jacks church. 

An interesting display inside the foyer of St Jacks Church. Polish memories are long term - and we don't blame them! (Google Translator will help with the message.)

We later did a major stop on the outskirts of the town for the navigator to buy some shoes! 

Late in the afternoon we drove on to Sławno for our overnight stop. 

Some extras:

A large statue of Pope John-Paul in Lębork. John-Paul is a most revered character across Poland. His contribution to Polish freedom today is recognised where ever we have visited. 

The Castle Mill. 

Castle, mill and Witches Tower on the right - Witches Tower refers to a tower in a medieval town wall that often was used as a prison. 

More of the town's old fortification. 

It was interesting to see that all the wedding guests arrived carrying bunches of flowers - as can be seen in the boot of the car after the ceremony. 

Sobot - Gdynia

Woke to an overcast sky this morning and the temperature has dropped as well. 

Oliwa Cathedral organ is the show piece of the church. So when we read that there was going to be a recital at 10 am this morning we decided to hang around and attend, which we surely did. The organ is known for it's fine tones and mechanised angels that blow trumpets and ring bells as the organ is playing. The concert was well attended and the appreciated by the large audience. A much better performance than the recital we attended in Warsaw. 

The famous organ of the Oliwa Cathedral. 

 

The last two days has been a bit hectic and so today we set a less ambitious agenda - shopping!

We did however, call in at Sopot, a very touristy and summer holiday destination for the Poles. We felt a bit sorry for the holiday makers as the weather was turning a little sour - cool, misty rain and generally not very pleasant for beach going. We did, though, check out the Baltic sandy beach before retreating back to the van. 

The hooded beach goer tells the story of the day. 

The Baltic sandy beach and kiosk - decidedly empty. 

Some hardy souls making the best of it. 

Ours are better than theres!

Later we visited Gdynia, the home of the Polish tall ship that visited Tassie during the Bi-centennial celebrations back in 1988. At Gdynia there were hundreds of holiday makers being driven indoors by the misty rain - many hardy souls kept battling the elements though!

Polish tall ship in Gdynia. 

Some were out .....

.... and the lody (ice cream) kiosk still doing a good trade. 

You must have a big wheel too!

We later drove into the village of Bozepole Wielkie for our overnight stop. 

Extras:

Tower blocks as far as the eye can see! Ex - Soviet style but have been enhance with a little colour.

And saw this in a catelogue - must buy some!

Gdansk

Another busy day! We were away early to beat the city traffic in Gdansk, located a convenient parking spot and then took to the pavements for the next few hours. 

Not quite knowing what to expect we were pleasantly surprised. Gdansk has always had the image of a large ship building city with its only claim to fame coming through the Solidarity movement. But on approaching the old town our understandings took a rapid reshaping! 

The first look at Gdansk. 

Wonderful stepped facades - typical of the Hanseatic League towns. 

The city has worked hard at returning its  heart to a place that encourages people to want to enter. This old Hanseatic League town has all the architectural features of these Baltic trading towns. The high stepped facades not only ring the market square but also side streets around the town.

And some with some very ornate finishing. 

The very distinguishable Gdansk Crane - the largest medieval port crane in Europe. 

A lot of work is evident to improve on this reconstruction. War damaged areas are still evident.  As is the trade in Amber!

Mariacka Street was unusual as it had maintained ornamental and functional gargoyles to disperse the water from the terraces of the houses. 

It also had oodles of Amber shops once again. 

And other delights!

Mariacka Street. 

Having had a long look around the city we drove out to the old Gdansk shipyards to the European Solidarity Centre. Here we were presented with  the story of the events leading to the 1980 strikes, the emergence of Solidarity under the leadership of Lech Walesa and how this led to the dismantling of the communist system in Eastern Europe. Again a very intelligent and well presented museum - even though the audio guide wasn't quite as logical as one would wish.  

Entrance to the old Gdansk shipyards - now entrance to the Freedim Museum. 

Political advertising for the first free elections in Poland. 

A Lech Wakesa moment in the museum. 

View out over the old shipyards where the challenge to the communist reign was fermented. 

Later in the afternoon we came across Oliwa Cathedral, a few kilometres from Gdansk, which was hosting part of the World Youth Day. This amazing cathedral has this very unique organ and a recital was taking place during our visit. 

Interesting facade - twin githic towers sheltering a baroque portion wedged in between. 

We chatted with the organisers and then decided to stay near here for the night. 

Another delightful day in Poland! It continues to endear itself to us.