Poland’s Warsaw and Gdańsk

0:00 Hey, I'm Rick Steves back with more of the best of Europe.

0:04 This time we're visiting two of Poland's leading cities.

0:08 The bustling capital Warsaw that way, the gorgeous maritime port Gdans that way,

0:13 and the most formidable pile of medieval bricks I've ever seen.

0:18 Thanks for joining us.

0:21 [Music] Most tourists visiting Poland go only to Krakow.

0:55 But there's so much more to see.

0:57 The capital Warsaw is the heartbeat of contemporary Poland.

1:00 And Gdansk up here in the Baltic coast is

1:03 a colorful historic port city with a dramatic 20th century story.

1:08 We begin in Warsaw, the cosmopolitan capital gilded

1:13 with a grand palace and a trendy urbanity.

1:19 We'll learn about its turbulent 20th century and enjoy some Shopan in the park.

1:24 Then we visit a sweet medieval town,

1:26 taste its claim to fame, and storm a massive Tutonic fortress.

1:31 Finally, we discover the port of Gdansk

1:33 and how it helped bring communism down in Europe.

1:37 Poland, about the size of Arizona, sits in the north of Central Europe.

1:42 We'll follow its main river, the Vistula, from the capital, Warsaw,

1:46 north past Tun and Malborg Castle to Gdansk on the Baltic Sea.

1:53 Warsaw is an energetic metropolis offering

1:56 a fascinating foray into urban Poland.

1:58 It comes with both a hard-fought history and a modern vibrancy.

2:04 Today, Warsaw, pronounced Barava here,

2:06 is Poland's biggest city with close to 2 million people.

2:11 It's muscular and sprawling, broad boulevards,

2:15 imposing buildings, and glittering glass office towers.

2:19 Today's Warsaw is a thriving European center of business,

2:23 banking, and politics with a cosmopolitan energy.

2:28 Warsaw's glory days peaked between the World Wars

2:31 when it was one of Europe's most gental capitals.

2:35 That spirit survives along its rebuilt main drag, the sweeping Royal Way.

2:40 With its elegant facades and its popularity with local strollers,

2:47 just being out and about, you feel the youthful confidence of this society.

2:52 Stately hotels and government buildings, this is the president's residence,

2:57 add to the royal ways grandeur.

3:01 The Blecla Bakery is every pole's favorite for Ponchki jelly donuts.

3:12 When locals here go out for donuts, they go out for punchki.

3:16 My favorite's the classic.

3:18 It's filled with wild rose jam.

3:23 But it's not all jelly donuts.

3:25 Vast squares with memorials remind all of Poland's hard-fought history.

3:30 Here, the eternal flame honors war dead with numbers almost incomprehensible.

3:37 As the city was totally destroyed by Nazis in World War II,

3:41 nearly everything you'll see, palaces, churches, and fountains,

3:45 was painstakingly rebuilt from the rubble of 1945.

3:50 I keep having to remind myself that in this city,

3:53 hardly a building standing is over 80 years old.

3:57 Consequently, Warsaw is an architectural jumble, rebuilt both old and new.

4:10 Warsaw's meticulously rebuilt old town is

4:13 dominated by its meticulously rebuilt royal castle.

4:18 The castle, a symbol of Polish sovereignty now for over 400 years,

4:23 boasts some of this country's most lavish halls,

4:26 gilded and glittering with chandeliers.

4:30 The palace reflects how Poland was independent and strong for centuries,

4:35 starting in the Middle Ages.

4:38 When the homegrown dynasty died out,

4:40 Poland's nobility elected foreign kings at gatherings like this.

4:46 Many of those imported rulers squandered

4:49 Poland's resources on their own selfish agendas.

4:53 They weakened the country until it actually ceased to exist in 1795.

5:00 For over a hundred years, Poland disappeared from the map,

5:04 partitioned by three empires, Prussia, Austria, and Russia.

5:08 But the Poles succeeded in preserving their culture until

5:12 their country was reborn in 1918 after World War I.

5:17 Today, back out on the streets,

5:19 the atmospheric Old Town entertains the tourists.

5:23 Here, the 21st century seems to rule these cobbled lanes.

5:27 In the center of the beautifully

5:29 constructed market square is a popular sculpture.

5:32 The mermaid, a symbol of Warsaw, serenades the town's people,

5:36 still welcoming friends while keeping out foes.

5:40 To me, this fountain, always energetic with kids playing,

5:43 feels like a celebration of life, Polish life.

5:48 [Music] And Polish life comes with music,

5:59 especially the genius of favorite son Frederick Shopan.

6:03 On summer Sundays, Shopan concerts pack the park.

6:07 It's an expression of this city's pride

6:09 in its culture and its enduring appetite for community.

6:20 Poland's great romantic composer sits under a willow tree.

6:26 Though he lived and worked mostly in Paris,

6:28 locals cherish the thought that Shopan's inspiration came from memories

6:33 of the breeze blowing through the willow trees of his native land, Poland.

6:40 [Music] Warsaw museums work hard to explain its complicated

6:56 history and much of Poland's story is a Jewish story.

7:00 The Museum of the History of Polish Jews

7:03 celebrates a thousand years of Jews living in Poland.

7:08 A winding route traces their experience.

7:11 [Music] With the relative tolerance of medieval kings,

7:15 Jews became established in Polish society.

7:19 But because they still suffered through pilgrims and other persecution,

7:23 few actual artifacts survive.

7:27 Many Jews lived in market towns called with richly decorated wooden synagogues.

7:34 Above the traditional elevated prayer platform is a colorful ceiling,

7:38 a humble canopy rich with symbolism.

7:42 When Poland regained its independence after World War I,

7:45 Jewish culture blossomed, especially in the 1920s when for the first time,

7:50 Jews had full citizenship and voting rights.

7:54 And Warsaw was the biggest Jewish city in Europe.

8:00 Tragically, this flourishing of Jewish culture was

8:03 crushed when fascist Germany invaded in 1939.

8:07 Jews were then coralled into a miserable ghetto,

8:11 subjected to unlivable conditions before being shipped

8:14 off to Nazi death camps and killed.

8:24 A monument captures the desperation of the ghetto's last days.

8:31 Realizing they were all doomed anyway,

8:33 the Haggar and Hungary who remained staged a desperate uprising.

8:38 Nearly all were killed.

8:42 This was just one city's experience in a Europewide Holocaust.

8:46 In this attempted genocide, Hitler tried to rid the world of Jewish people.

8:52 Of the 6 million he killed, half died here in Poland.

8:57 [Music] With its Jewish population decimated,

9:01 Warsaw's next chapter was a second valiant but doomed uprising.

9:06 This time by the non-Jewish Poles who remained under Nazi occupation.

9:12 Poles had formed the biggest underground resistance army in history.

9:18 Late in the war, as the Nazis began to falter and the Soviets advanced,

9:22 Poland's home army mobilized to liberate the country.

9:27 But the Nazis regrouped and brutally put down the Warsaw uprising.

9:33 Hitler then ordered that Warsaw be destroyed to its foundations.

9:38 [Music] The Soviet army sat here across the river and watched and waited.

9:45 Finally, when the Germans were gone,

9:47 the Russians marched in to claim the wasteland that was once Warsaw,

9:52 kicking off over four decades of communist rule.

9:56 Like a phoenix, the city has risen from the ashes.

10:00 And today, Warsaw is filled with a happy and youthful

10:03 populace that has no living memory of those hard times.

10:10 Today's Warsaw is hip and trendy.

10:13 Hulking old buildings, no longer fascist or communist,

10:17 are filled with a rainbow of global food choices.

10:21 [Music] Postindustrial architecture is all the rage.

10:27 Old red brick factories and power plants

10:30 have been transformed into convivial hubs for dining, drinking, and shopping.

10:38 I'm joined by my friend and fellow guidebook author Cameron Huitt and the show's

10:42 producer Simon Griffith at Debenda for a taste of Warsaw Zerbane foodie scene.

10:48 This trendy restaurant specializes in craft cocktails and Polish fusion cuisine.

10:54 The menu takes fresh local ingredients like heirloom

10:57 tomatoes and beets and gives them an international spin.

11:02 Padrron peppers, falafel, pumpkin dumplings,

11:08 all washed down with a good Spanish wine.

11:11 Whether Polish or international,

11:13 you can see that we thought everything was delicious.

11:16 It's a reminder of how cosmopolitan Warsaw respects

11:20 Polish tradition while also embracing a global future.

11:24 I can't think of a better way to enjoy our last night in Warsaw.

11:33 Heading north from Warsaw through

11:34 the rolling farmland of the Polish countryside,

11:37 we reach a small town break from our big city itinerary, Touun.

11:43 Torun feels affluent.

11:45 In the Middle Ages, it was part of the Hansiatic League,

11:48 a trade union of northern European merchant cities.

11:52 Like much of northern Poland,

11:54 many of its buildings are finely crafted of red brick.

11:58 The city has an easygoing ambiance

12:00 that comes with the heavenly scent of gingerbread.

12:05 Every pole knows Tun for two reasons, Capernicus and gingerbread.

12:14 This was the birthplace of the astronomer Capernicus who 500

12:17 years ago established that the earth revolves around the sun.

12:25 But today here in Torun anyway a lot revolves around this gingerbread.

12:32 This recreated old bakery is a favorite for field trips.

12:37 Costumed guides teach young students how in the Middle Ages,

12:40 Torun's trading connections gave local bakers access to exotic spices.

12:46 Spices like ginger, cinnamon, and clove.

12:49 And how the honey in the dough was a natural preservative,

12:52 allowing it to be traded far and wide.

12:57 Then the children get to actually roll the dough,

13:02 press it into traditional molds, and pop their little creations into the oven.

13:10 Local gingerbread shops let you mix and match

13:12 a variety of tasty treats with any combination of jams, glazes, and chocolate.

13:18 For locals, the word is actually a verb.

13:22 If you've eaten too much, you have gingerbreaded.

13:25 [Music]

13:30 I think this will get me to our next stop.

13:34 Further north is the Malborg Castle.

13:37 Another red brick masterpiece called the biggest brick castle in the world.

13:41 This was the 14th century headquarters of the Tutonic Knights.

13:46 These Germanic crusaders turned mercenaries were hired here

13:50 by a Christian duke to convert the local pagans.

13:54 Job done.

13:55 The Tutonic Knights decided they liked it here, so they stuck around,

13:59 built this castle, and dominated northern Poland for over a century.

14:04 Malbour Castle was essentially a fortified monastery home to monks,

14:08 knights, and their leader, the Grandmaster.

14:12 Malbour's fortifications are formidable indeed.

14:16 The complex was surrounded by an imposing moat and a mighty brick wall.

14:22 The heavy portal stopped anyone who breached the moat.

14:26 Then from slits up above, archers could rain down arrows.

14:32 And the inner drawbridge made the core

14:33 of the castle an impenetrable last refuge.

14:38 While knights lived in the outer castle, monks lived in the inner castle.

14:43 The Grandmaster's lavish and wellfortified quarters

14:46 with their fanvated assembly rooms and expansive dining

14:49 halls were the capital of those Tutonic

14:52 Knights from where they administered their domain.

14:57 Most of the main sites of Poland are connected by the Vista River.

15:01 An hour's drive takes us to its and our final stop, Gdansk.

15:07 Historically Poland's leading port sits near

15:09 where the fistla meets the Baltic Sea.

15:13 For a thousand years, a cultural crossroads with a rich maritime history.

15:17 Architecturally, it feels more Scandinavian or Dutch than Polish.

15:23 During its medieval golden age,

15:25 Gdansk prospered as a key member of the Hansiotic League.

15:30 The Hansiotic League was an association of over

15:32 a 100 cities and ports across Northern Europe.

15:36 Its mission to protect and promote trade.

15:39 Busy hunting down pirates, building lighouses,

15:41 and boycotting ports that didn't join the club.

15:44 It dominated the economy and politics

15:46 in the region through the late Middle Ages.

15:49 In a way, the Hansiotic League was a precursor to the European Union.

15:53 Its motto, all power to the merchants.

15:57 Along the embankment is a structure those merchants put to good use.

16:01 a hulking 15th century crane.

16:05 Back then, this entire river could be filled banktobank with trading vessels.

16:11 Maritime trade from distant lands made Gdansk both prosperous and tolerant.

16:16 It attracted merchants from all over Europe who

16:19 brought with them elements of their home cultures.

16:22 These were then woven into the tapestry of the city,

16:25 reflected in its eclectic architecture.

16:29 Overhead, the town hall tower holds a carolon

16:32 that marks each hour with a cheerful tune.

16:39 [Music] To better understand Gdansk,

16:46 we're joined by my friend and fellow tour guide, Agnesca Sroa.

16:52 Our first stop is the town hall.

16:58 So the city was governed from this exact room here.

17:02 And the art is there's a lot of art here.

17:05 Yeah, that's amazing, isn't it?

17:06 In the middle of the vaulting,

17:08 have a look at this magnificent painting from6008.

17:13 [Music] Visa river starts over there in the mountains.

17:17 Look at these barges filled with the grain from all over the kingdom of Poland.

17:23 So all the goods were shipped from the Dinsk

17:28 down the Vista River to the Baltic Sea.

17:31 They are taking that grain and that grain goes all over Western Europe.

17:35 And look, deals, businesses made here in front of the Arthus court.

17:40 These would be traders from all over Northern Europe.

17:43 Part of the Hansiatic League here making a deal, shaking hands.

17:46 Indeed, like 1600 stock market and God's hand.

17:50 So he's holding not the church but the town hall.

17:54 Exactly.

17:54 Because Gdansk was so multicultural and multi-religious throughout centuries.

17:59 It really never mattered what religion you are but how

18:02 much money you can bring to the city doing your business.

18:05 The guild hall is next door.

18:07 This is a magnificent roof.

18:09 It's a beautiful guild house.

18:11 A great example of a great social space where guilds,

18:16 medieval merchant groups met.

18:18 Okay.

18:18 So this was like um networking.

18:21 Exactly.

18:21 Exactly.

18:22 Merchants from all over Europe were coming here to do their business.

18:25 Each arch uh belonged to one guild.

18:29 Imagine in front of each arch there

18:31 was goldmith guild uh beer guild, amber guild.

18:36 They were very competitive.

18:38 So that the traders from Lubebec would meet

18:40 the traders from Amsterdam and from Ria coming together

18:44 and then buying grain, timber, coal and exporting that all over Europe.

18:52 The city is ornamented with fine red brick buildings.

18:56 That's because here in the marshy north of Poland, stone is scarce.

19:01 Grand buildings like this old mill elevate brick laying to an art form.

19:06 The old market hall has long provided

19:08 an impressive place for farmers to sell their produce.

19:13 The train station gives visitors a red brick welcome.

19:16 And even the modern shopping malls carry on this love of brick.

19:21 And rising high above everything is St.

19:24 Mary's Church, one of the biggest brick churches anywhere.

19:29 To be both tall and stable without the strength of stone,

19:32 it was fortified with beefy brick buttresses.

19:36 Stepping inside, you're struck by the stark, austere and very white interior.

19:41 This is a remarkable church.

19:44 Mary's church was built before reformation.

19:46 Look at the beautiful tptic altar coronation of St.

19:50 Virgin Mary.

19:51 So the altarpiece is from before the reformation.

19:54 Exactly.

19:55 And then the city converted to Protestant.

19:57 And what was really important was the pulpit because

20:00 of the word of God and music coming from magnificent organ.

20:07 Look at that pipe organ.

20:10 This is like a pavement of tombstones.

20:12 Exactly.

20:13 500 gravestones of the wealthiest merchants of Gdines who

20:18 wanted to be buried here in their parish church.

20:21 And if not buried in the tomb, you could commemorate your family on the wall

20:24 with an epito [Music] in the shadow of the church.

20:31 Atmospheric Marriottska Street is lined

20:33 with traditional porches, clever gargoyles,

20:37 and vendors selling the prized amber that the Baltic coast is so famous for.

20:48 For amber as high art, the striking amber museum fills an old mill

20:53 with precious deposits of this fossilized tree sap.

20:57 Much of the world's amber comes from Poland.

21:00 Amber, which can be tens of millions of years old,

21:02 comes in shades of white, yellow, and brown.

21:06 It's a favorite medium of local artisans who create exquisite items

21:11 from an organically sculptured candalabra

21:14 to a chessboard that would mesmerize a grandmaster.

21:18 There's an exquisite miniature storage chest and even

21:22 furniture such as this gorgeous writing desk.

21:27 [Music] Gdans lived its most dramatic moments in the 20th century.

21:35 World War II began right here in 1939 when Hitler invaded.

21:39 And those cranes marked the shipyard where 40 years later in 1980,

21:43 the Soviet block finally began to crack.

21:47 During communist times, Gdansk was home to the massive Lenin shipyard.

21:51 In 1980, after decades of frustrations and struggles,

21:55 shipyard workers went on strike.

21:59 They created a trade union called Solidarity.

22:03 Locking themselves inside the shipyard,

22:05 they refused to work and scrolled their list of 21 demands on plywood.

22:12 A fired shipyard electrician, Le Fuenza, heard news of the strike.

22:16 He came here and literally climbed over

22:18 the wall to get inside and join his comrades.

22:21 The strike had its leader.

22:23 The European Solidarity Center with its industrial strength architecture

22:28 and inspiring exhibits tells the story both vividly and proudly.

22:34 For 18 days, 17,000 workers, welders,

22:38 machinists, and steel workers stood strong.

22:42 Their only connection to the outside world was to come to the gate.

22:46 There they'd pass messages to family members and receive food,

22:50 supplies, and encouragement.

22:54 The strikers were hungry, tired, and scared.

22:58 But they were both inspired and emboldened by the new Polish Pope, John Paul II.

23:04 Finally, the communist authorities gave in and legalized the union.

23:08 Half of the nation's workforce joined solidarity, and change was in the air.

23:14 But then after 16 hopeful months, Polish authorities,

23:18 fearful of Soviet intervention, declared martial law.

23:22 Tanks rumbled through the snowy streets of Poland,

23:25 and the riot police cracked down on dissident.

23:29 Solidarity went underground.

23:31 Yet, it gained momentum.

23:34 In 1989, the roundt talks brought about elections.

23:38 The result, solidarity, now a political party, won every available seat.

23:46 These first cracks in the Eastern block spread quickly.

23:50 Within a few months, the Berlin Wall fell, borders opened up,

23:54 communist regimes voted themselves out of existence,

23:57 and Leoenza was elected the first postcommunist president of Poland.

24:03 Today, Gdansk, mindful of its history, is a forward-looking community.

24:08 Facing the skyline of old Gdansk across the river, is a modern development.

24:14 Only recently rebuilt from World War II bombings,

24:17 it echoes the historic roof lines.

24:21 With its 21st century affluence,

24:23 Gdansk provides its people a stylish boardwalk for good living.

24:28 Strolling here, you feel the promise of a bright Polish future.

24:37 The resilience of Poland's culture and the warmth of its people inspire me.

24:41 And learning from this country's hard history, I'm reminded that freedom, peace,

24:46 and prosperity are hard-earned and that we have lots to be thankful for.

24:51 I hope you've enjoyed our look

24:52 at perhaps Europe's most underrated and surprising country.

24:56 I'm Rick Steves.

24:57 Until next time, keep on traveling.

25:02 It's filled with wild rose jam.

25:07 Whoa.

25:08 It's a colorful historic port city with a dramatic 20th century story.

25:14 This is it.

25:14 This Oh, come to Gdubsk.

25:21 Yes.

25:21 To do their business, networking, commerce,

25:30 money.

25:27 [Music]