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Gdansk, Poland: Travel Europe’s New Hotspots

Locations in this article:  Budapest, Hungary London, England Los Angeles, CA Venice, Italy


Gdansk, Poland: Travel Europe’s New Hotspots

Gdansk Gate Poland - Europe's New Travel Hotspots - photo by Lynn LangwayThey may never beat the buzz of New York’s Meatpacking
District, London’s Docklands or Downtown Los Angeles, but some of Europe’s most
historic cities are cultivating a new cool in their old industrial
neighborhoods.  

Empty factories and office buildings in Gdansk, Poland, The Hague, Netherlands
and Venice, Italy, are being transformed into hip new galleries, cafes and
hotels with the requisite rooftop bars. Lynn Langway explores these new urban
hotspots.

Rising from the rubble of WWII, which began here, Gdansk, Poland, has rebuilt,
recycled and regenerated itself into a Baltic beauty.

Known as Danzig between the world wars – and vividly described by native son
Gunter Grass in The Tin Drum – Gdansk artfully mixes old and new.

You can admire the mammoth wooden crane that symbolizes the city’s 15th century
seafaring might – but you might also see the visiting Red Bull Acapulco Divers catapult off the top into the Motlowa
River. Chill at a Chopin concert, or rock out with Lady Gaga (if you can snag
tickets to her November 26 gig.) Lunch on kielbasa sausage, and dine on
molecular cuisine.

Gdansk Poland - photo by Lynn LangwayIn 1980, Gdansk was the site where another native son, Lech
Walesa, declared the shipyard strike that would echo around the world, shaking
the foundations of Communism throughout Eastern Europe. To mark the 30th
anniversary of the strike’s settlement, the Solidarity trade union has created a
stirring exhibit at the shipyard,
featuring the flags, the leaflets, and even the mimeograph machines from the
struggle that claimed 45 lives. Outside the museum, three steel crosses soar 130
feet into the sky in memory of the fallen.

Nearby is the new Roads to
Freedom exhibition
, a moving multimedia recreation of the repression,
martial law, and economic hardships of the post-war years, and the fusillade of
revolutions that ended Soviet rule from Poland to East Germany.

To see where World War II started in 1939 when Nazi troops fired on a Polish
garrison, take a 90-minute boat trip from the riverfront out to Westerplatte and
back; 180 Poles held out here for nearly a week against more than 3,000 Germans.

Downtown, the old walled city is a pedestrian delight. Wander the traffic-free Royal Way from the Green Gate at the river –
where Walesa, a Nobel Laureate and former President, maintains his office – into Long Market Square,
where stalls sell everything from smoked fish to Polish amber. Ornate houses of
gold, green, red and orange testify to the wealth of the 14th-16th century
Hanseatic merchants who built them. 

St. Mary's church - Gdansk, Poland - photo by Lynn LangwayPause at the bronze statue of Neptune that crowns a fountain;
stop for a coffee and a doughnut stuffed with plums at Patisserie Sowa.

See the light-filled St.
Mary’s
, an immense brick church, and explore Mariacka Street, a
charming lane of jewelry shops and townhouses with gargoyle downspouts.

If weather permits, take the train or a taxi 8 miles north toSopot, a well-preserved Victorian spa town with
one of the Baltic’s best beaches and an energetic club scene, especially in
summer.

You’ll find tasty versions of traditional Polish foods all over town.

Mercato concocts featherweight pierogi (dumplings), whileVelevetka serves such classics as potato
pancakes and trout with apples in a romantic 16th century cellar.

But I consumed my most memorable meal at Filharmonia, an airy modern restaurant
in the old municipal power plant that’s been rehabbed into a symphony hall. The
menu here could not be more modern: try the essence of tomato soup (chilled with
a liquid nitrogen “cloud”) and the halibut poached in vanilla.

Just across the river, the Hilton Gdansk, which opened last July,
is both stylish and warm.

Sunset in Gdansk Poland - View from High Five Bar - photo by Lynn LangwayBuilt of local limestone and handmade brick and embracing a
14th century watchtower, the 150-room hotel blends in as if it has always been
there; its boutique flavor is a world away from any cookie-cutter trappings.

Catch a sunset and an amber martini at the rooftop High Five bar, the
tallest perch around.

If you’d prefer to stay at the beach, the historic Sofitel Grand Sopot, where everyone
from Adolf Hitler to Charles de Gaulle once stayed (separately, of course) is
another five-star option.

Check back for part two of Lynn Langway’s report on industrial zones turned
trendsetters in Europe.

By Lynn Langway for PeterGreenberg.com. Lynn Langway is an award-winning
editor, writer and journalism teacher. Visit Lynn on the Web at www.lynnlangway.com
.

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