Visit the alternative Gdansk

As many as six alternative tour routes are offered by the CCI for those who wish to do some sightseeing in Gdansk. In addition to the well-known walks around Zaspa and Biskupia Górka which were given by the Local Guides, as well as to the ones in the former Shipyard, where the Metropolitanka social group tells her-stories, three more districts join the project: the Lower Town (Local Guides and Storytellers), the Main Town, and the Old Town (Metropolitanka). The free walks start on 16 June and will last till the end of September.

In order to participate in the walks, you need to sign up at Punkt Informacji Kulturalnej at the following address: ul. Długi Targ 39/40 (Mon—Fri: 1000—1800, Sat—Sun: 1200—1600) or via e-mail (punkt@ikm.gda.pl), or by telephone (58 301 20 16). All the walks are free of charge!

The members of the Metropolitanka social group affiliated with the CCI present three routes around the Shipyard: P – shipyard female workers, A – female artists associated with the Shipyard, S – the Solidarity movement female activists. They tell the stories of the women who played the crucial role during the strikes of 1980: Anna Walentynowicz, Alina Pienkowska, Henryka Krzywonos, Joanna Duda-Gwiazda i Maryla Płońska, as well as other female workers who – alongside their male colleagues – built ships and the shipyard itself. The walks are organised once a week.

This year, two more tours are organised by Metropolitanka in the Main Town and the Old Town, i.e. the pioneers’ route, and the Polish activists’ route. Participating in the two new routes, within three hours, one can learn about 29 women important for the social, cultural, and political life of the city. They include Wanda Czyżewska (the founder of an underground, Polish school, and a member of the Polish Women Association in Gdansk – the first female organisation in Gdansk), Hanna Żelewska (the founder of the Station Task Force, whose volunteers helped young girls coming to the city to find jobs and places to stay), Stanisława Przybyszewska (a writer), Klara Stryjowska-Beadaker (the reformer of women’s fashion), Irena Nadolna-Szatyłowska (a pilot and a speedway referee), and many other women relevant for Gdansk whose lives and achievements should be commemorated. You can learn more on the Metropolitanka project and the routes at http://metropolitanka.ikm.gda.pl/. The walks around the Main Town and the Old Town are organised twice a week, i.e. on Wednesdays and Fridays.

The Local Guides will take us into three other neighbourhoods: Zaspa, Biskupia Górka, and the Lower Town.

One of the largest housing estates in Poland, Zaspa enjoys the oldest (possibly, the highest, too) integrated gallery of murals which we are going to see. Giving the tour of the gargantuan masterpieces of Zaspa, the Local Guides tell stories about the neighbourhood, discuss its architecture and city planning assumptions behind it, as well as talking about the works and life of the authors of the murals. We would like to recommend the walks taking place during this year’s (sixth) edition of the Monumental Art festival (30 June 2014—11 July 2014) when artists from Argentina, Spain, Japan, Italy, and Poland will be swarming around the buildings and on scaffoldings, busy making new projects. The guided mural tours will be organised three/four times a week. The Monumental Painting Collection can be admired one one’s own – you can collect the maps of murals from the CCI and the Plama GAK club, and at Foursquare (http://4sq.com/1oN5jPU) the list of murals is available with their descriptions. You can read on the mural collection in Zaspa and mural-related activities (Gdańska Szkoła Muralu, the Monumental Art festival, and Local Guides) at www.muralegdanskzaspa.pl.

Walking cobblestone streets among original 19th and 20th century tenement houses of Biskupia Górka, you can feel the atmosphere of the pre-war Gdansk. The writings on the walls are in German, and it is as if time stopped in the dark corners, courtyards, and stairwells. The Local Guides will tell us about the complicated history of Gdansk, some extraordinary figures characteristic of the neighbourhood, and the legends of Biskupia Górka. We will also find the place offering a wonderful panorama of Gdansk. Biskupia Górka is located in the city centre, but it is worth visiting because it is so off-centre and so different than other must-sees. Sightseeing in Biskupia Górka is organised three times a week.

The Local Guides and the Storytellers bring the Lower Town back to life. Located near the city centre, the neighbourhood has a rich history, great architecture, and abundant flora. The walks around the Lower Town are scheduled to start in July (three times a week). We will have the opportunity to learn more about everyday life there before and after WWII, about the medieval fortifications, the defunct tram depot, and undiscovered forms and architectural styles of the Lower Town.