Day 33 - Saturday 8 July

After lunch our ship was reversed into Gdansk port with assistance from a tug boat. We are berthed at an industrial terminal so cannot walk around the port. Thirty three buses were lined up waiting to take us on tours. We decided to do the included tour for three and a half hours. Most of that time was out of the bus which was fortunate as the air conditioning was woeful. There were a couple of showers while we were on the walking tour but they cleared.

We enjoyed listening to our guide who was very well informed and forthright in expressing her understandable anti Russian views. Almost all of Gdansk was razed by the Russians at the end of WW2. After the war there was debate whether to rebuild or to construct a modern city. The decision was to rebuild so 95% of these buildings date from the 1950s onwards. It reminded me of a film set with facades that don't reflect the buildings behind.

St Mary's is the largest brick church in the world. Construction of the original building commenced in the 14th century. It was Lutheran but is now Roman Catholic. Poland is about 90% RC with a high percentage being regular church goers. Money from the USA, UK and more recently the European Union has helped fund the rebuilding of Gdansk. 

The current right wing Polish government is resisting pressure from other European countries to take some of the African refugees swamping Italy. So far Poland has taken none and refuses to accept Muslims. Over one million Ukrainians live in Poland and presumably do the jobs Poles don't want, while hundreds of thousands of Poles do such work in places like the UK and Norway. The second most spoken language in England is Polish. This Polish workforce is one of the major issues to be addressed before Brexit.

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