Toruń is a Gothic brick town that survived the twentieth century almost untouched, which is rare for Poland, and that makes it the best place in the country to see what a medieval trading city looked like. The Teutonic Knights founded it in 1231 on the Vistula, and it grew rich as a member of the Hanseatic League, with merchants shipping grain, timber and goods down the river towards the Baltic. UNESCO listed the old town in 1997, and the red-brick churches, granaries, town hall and city walls are still there.
The most famous son is Nicolaus Copernicus, born here in 1473, the astronomer who argued that the Earth goes around the sun. His house, a narrow Gothic building on a cobbled street, is now a museum, and a statue of him sits in the market square. The town hall, a massive Gothic building with a tall tower, anchors the square, and the Leaning Tower, a medieval defence tower that tilts alarmingly, is a popular landmark. Churches such as St John's, with its enormous bell, are worth entering for their painted vaults.
Toruń is also the capital of gingerbread. The tradition goes back to the Middle Ages, when the local honey and imported spices made it possible, and the pierniki are sold in shops across the old town, in shapes from hearts to little Copernicus figures. Some are hard as a brick, and some soft and rich. A small museum shows how they are made, and you can bake your own.
For riding, the city is an easy stop on the long run from Gdańsk to the south. The roads here are flat and fast, through farmland and forest, with long, straight stretches and not much else. The surface is generally good, but trucks are heavy on the main roads and the cobbled streets of the old town are slippery when wet. Parking for motorbikes is possible just outside the walls, and the old town is best seen on foot. A bridge across the Vistula offers a fine view of the skyline, especially in the evening.
Fuel and services are plentiful in a city of around two hundred thousand, and Wielka Nieszawka, just downriver, is a quieter place for a break. Eat a bowl of soup and buy a bag of gingerbread, then ride on.
Stay for the golden hour on the river bank, when the walls glow.