Gdansk has been a trading port for a thousand years, and the front of its Long Market, the Dluga Targ, shows what the money bought. Tall, narrow merchant houses stand shoulder to shoulder, their facades painted and gilded and carved with figures, around the Neptune Fountain and the Artus Court. In the Second World War, the city was ninety percent destroyed, and what you see today is a painstaking reconstruction from old paintings and photographs, which makes it more remarkable. The Gothic crane on the quay, the Zuraw, was once the largest in Europe, and it hoisted masts and cargo from ships in the Middle Ages.
The city carries a heavy history. The first shots of the Second World War were fired in September 1939 at Westerplatte, at the harbour entrance, where a Polish garrison held out for a week. In 1980 shipyard workers in Gdansk, led by Lech Walesa, went on strike and formed Solidarity, the independent trade union that helped bring down communism in Poland. The European Solidarity Centre, a rust-coloured building near the shipyard gates, tells the story with seriousness and clarity and is worth a couple of hours.
Amber is the local treasure. This part of the Baltic coast has been famous for it since antiquity, and the shops on Mariacka Street, a lovely cobbled lane lined with carved stoops, sell it by the kilo. Fish soup, pierogi and a pale local beer are easy to find. The seafront at Sopot, a few kilometres north, has a very long wooden pier and a lively beach scene.
Riding in the city is easier than it looks, with wide roads and a good ring system, though trams and cobbles call for care. The motorway south, the A1, has tolls, and it leads toward Torun. The ride follows the Vistula valley, a region of flat farmland, brick Gothic towns and castles built by the Teutonic Knights, such as the huge fortress at Malbork. Flat country means wind, and the Baltic brings sudden showers even in summer. Fuel is available everywhere.
Summer, from June to August, is warm, bright and busy, and September is calmer and lovely. Winter is cold and grey, and the roads can be icy.