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| Overlooking Gdansk from the top of Town Hall. |
Aside from the day spent at Stutthof Concentration Camp, I spent the
remainder of my time in Poland in the city of Gdansk. Since I didn’t know much
about Poland before my arrival, I didn’t have any expectations and was
surprised by how much I enjoyed Gdansk! Gdansk is a wonderful city with almost
Dutch-like architecture and a nice waterfront. I spent two days wandering
around the city taking in the beauty, plus eating about 200
pierogies
(I’m not joking about this) and shopping for amber.
I also spent one day in the countryside exploring the Kashubian
culture. The Kashubians live west of Gdansk and are a Slavic ethnic group. The
Kashubians’ ancestors include Medieval Pomeranian people who arrived in
Pomerania before the Poles. The Kashubians have they own language and culture
and founded the city of Gdansk. Approximately 233,000 people in Poland declare
their identity as Kashubian.
The area where many Kashubians reside is very agricultural, so it
reminded me a bit of home, but it also included many lakes and waterways. I
took a driving tour through the countryside and ended my tour with a Kashubian
meal plus a dancing and music show.
Poland is the last port-of-call for the summer voyage and I felt a
little melancholy as we sailed away on Sunday night. Just a few more days at
sea before I return to the real world. Am I ready? To be determined.
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| So, the Russian and Poles have something in common - their love ornate decor. This is one of the main meeting rooms in the Gdansk town hall. Pretty crazy ceiling, right?! |
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| View of Gdansk from the top of town hall. |
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| Kashubian music instrument demonstration. The barrel has a long strand of horse hair attached at the end. When you pull the wet horse hair, a kind of drumming sound is created. |
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| The tour participants got to try out some of the Kashubian musical instruments. |
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| Kashubian dancers and singers. |
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| Our Kashubian "snack" was a bread bowl potato soup with chocolate cake to follow. These people eat well! |
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