Solidarity Museum Gdansk Poland

It was another early start, waking up when the workers arrived at 5:30am.

So we watched the sunrise over the cranes in the busy harbour and had a stroll around the area which has 2 small cafes, but which is also used by the luxury multi hull yacht manufacturer, Sunreef. They had their fibreglass moulds scattered everywhere. 

It was only a 10min walk to the Solidarity Museum. Along the way we popped into the library.

Outside of the museum was the famous Gate 2 of the Gdansk Shipyard, which was the birthplace of Poland’s historic struggle against Communism. 

There was also the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers of 1970, commemorating the 42 killed during the Coastal cities events. 

At 10am we bought our tickets to the museum (zt35/€8pp) and with our audio guide we began our journey into the history of Solidarity- the Polish trade union and civil resistance movement. It was lead by its co-founder Lech Walesa (later to become President of Poland 1990-95). The union is recognised as having played a central role in the end of Communist rule in Poland. It was a very interesting 2.5 hours.

We began with the shipyard..

A representation of a flat in the 1970’s.. tv broadcast was censored but people were able to hear the radio broadcast from Eastern Europe

An interrogation room

Faces of those the rose up against Communism 

The Pope Mobile..

The used heavy methods to subdue the supporters of the movement

We returned to Bluey and after some lunch drove out to the mouth of the river that serves the biggest port in Poland. 

We tried to get a close look at the beach resort town of Sopot but had to change our plans due to major traffic jams and limited parking.

Mmmm probably the worst roundabout sculpture we have seen 

This is the vehicle of choice around the beach resorts

Unfortunately the S6 motorway running East to West is still under construction so our trip was slower than expected. 204km/3hours later we arrived (5:15pm) in a lovely little marina in Jamno, on the outskirts of Kozalin.

We supported the small but popular cafe, buying an ice cream and ate it while we walked out onto the jetty of the lake. It should be a quiet night and maybe we will get a sleep in unless the farmer decides to plough his field.