[ Oct.2015 ] We went to Gdansk in Poland.
The first thing you remember about Gdansk is “Solidarity”, isn’t it?
The trade union created by the workers of the dockyard there led the country to democracy.
That image was so strong that I imagined this place to be a grey industrial zone.
But in fact, it was a beautiful city with lovely old fashioned buildings.
The weather was grey, though.
When we booked the hotel, we chose the one with the address of “Old Town”, without hesitation.
But in Gdansk, there is the Old Town and the Main Town and most of the places to see are in the Main Town.
Those two areas were next to each other and we could walk easily, but I learned that it is important to do your homework.
This is a photo of one of the buildings in the Old Town.
By the way, it was not so easy to get here.
The woman at the tourist office at the airport was blunt and thoughtless.
She gave us only one word answers to our questions.
For example, there were 4 local bus stops at the airport, but she did not tell us which one to take, so we moved about in confusion and wasted our time.
It did not seem to have occurred to her that the first-time visitors would not know there were 4 different bus stops.
Or it might be that the old rule from the communist era that ‘if you speak too much to strangers, you would get into a trouble’ still has an effect, even among young people.
In fact, we often come across this kind of attitude in former communist countries.
Well, we see them in northern Europe, too, though.
