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00:00Hey, I'm Rick Steves, back with more of the best of Europe.
00:04This time, we're visiting two of Poland's leading cities.
00:08The bustling capital, Warsaw, that way.
00:11The gorgeous maritime port, Gdansk, that way.
00:14And the most formidable pile of medieval bricks I've ever seen.
00:18Thanks for joining us.
00:30Most tourists visiting Poland go only to Krakow, but there's so much more to see.
00:57The capital, Warsaw, is the heartbeat of contemporary Poland.
01:00And Gdansk, up here on the Baltic coast, is a colorful, historic port city
01:05with a dramatic 20th-century story.
01:08We begin in Warsaw, the cosmopolitan capital,
01:12gilded with a grand palace and a trendy urbanity.
01:18We'll learn about its turbulent 20th century
01:21and enjoy some Chopin in the park.
01:24Then we visit a sweet medieval town, taste its claim to fame,
01:28and storm a massive Teutonic fortress.
01:31Finally, we discover the port of Gdansk
01:33and how it helped bring communism down in Europe.
01:37Poland, about the size of Arizona,
01:39sits in the north of Central Europe.
01:42We'll follow its main river, the Vistula,
01:44from the capital, Warsaw, north past Torun and Malbork Castle,
01:48to Gdansk on the Baltic Sea.
01:53Warsaw is an energetic metropolis,
01:55offering a fascinating foray into urban Poland.
01:58It comes with both a hard-fought history
02:00and a modern vibrancy.
02:03Today, Warsaw, pronounced Warsaw here,
02:06is Poland's biggest city with close to 2 million people.
02:10It's muscular and sprawling.
02:13Broad boulevards, imposing buildings,
02:16and glittering glass office towers.
02:19Today's Warsaw is a thriving European center
02:22of business, banking, and politics,
02:25with a cosmopolitan energy.
02:28Warsaw's glory days peaked between the world wars,
02:31when it was one of Europe's most genteel capitals.
02:34That spirit survives along its rebuilt main drag,
02:38the sweeping Royal Way,
02:40with its elegant facades
02:42and its popularity with local strollers.
02:46Just being out and about,
02:48you feel the youthful confidence of this society.
02:52Stately hotels and government buildings,
02:55this is the president's residence,
02:57add to the Royal Way's grandeur.
03:01The Bleakle Bakery is every Pole's favorite for panczki,
03:05jelly donuts.
03:08When locals here go out for donuts,
03:14they go out for panczki.
03:16My favorite's the classic.
03:18It's filled with wild rose jam.
03:21Mmm.
03:23But it's not all jelly donuts.
03:25Vast squares with memorials
03:27remind all of Poland's hard-fought history.
03:30Here, the eternal flame honors war-dead
03:33with numbers almost incomprehensible.
03:37As the city was totally destroyed by Nazis in World War II,
03:40nearly everything you'll see,
03:42palaces, churches, and fountains,
03:45was painstakingly rebuilt from the rubble of 1945.
03:49I keep having to remind myself that in this city,
03:53hardly a building standing is over 80 years old.
03:57Consequently, Warsaw is an architectural jumble,
04:00rebuilt both old and new.
04:10Warsaw's meticulously rebuilt old town
04:13is dominated by its meticulously rebuilt royal castle.
04:18The castle, a symbol of Polish sovereignty now
04:21for over 400 years,
04:22boast some of this country's most lavish halls,
04:26gilded and glittering with chandeliers.
04:30The palace reflects how Poland was independent
04:33and strong for centuries,
04:35starting in the Middle Ages.
04:37When the homegrown dynasty died out,
04:40Poland's nobility elected foreign kings
04:43at gatherings like this.
04:45Many of those imported rulers squandered Poland's resources
04:50on their own selfish agendas.
04:52They weakened the country
04:54until it actually ceased to exist in 1795.
05:00For over a hundred years,
05:02Poland disappeared from the map,
05:04partitioned by three empires,
05:06Prussia, Austria, and Russia.
05:08But the Poles succeeded in preserving their culture
05:11until their country was reborn in 1918,
05:15after World War I.
05:17Today, back out on the streets,
05:19the atmospheric old town
05:21entertains the tourists.
05:23Here, the 21st century
05:24seems to rule these cobbled lanes.
05:27In the center of the beautifully constructed
05:29market square is a popular sculpture.
05:32The mermaid, a symbol of Warsaw,
05:34serenades the townspeople,
05:36still welcoming friends while keeping out foes.
05:40To me, this fountain,
05:42always energetic with kids playing,
05:44feels like a celebration of life,
05:46Polish life.
05:57And Polish life comes with music,
05:59especially the genius of favorite son,
06:01Frederick Chopin.
06:03On summer Sundays,
06:04Chopin concerts pack the park.
06:07It's an expression of this city's pride in its culture
06:10and its enduring appetite for community.
06:20Poland's great romantic composer
06:22sits under a willow tree.
06:25Though he lived and worked mostly in Paris,
06:28locals cherish the thought that Chopin's inspiration
06:31came from memories of the breeze blowing through the willow trees
06:35of his native land, Poland.
06:37Poland.
06:53Warsaw Museums work hard to explain its complicated history,
06:57and much of Poland's story is a Jewish story.
07:00The Museum of the History of Polish Jews celebrates a thousand years
07:04of Jews living in Poland.
07:06A winding route traces their experience.
07:10With the relative tolerance of medieval kings,
07:15Jews became established in Polish society.
07:18But because they still suffered through pogroms
07:21and other persecution,
07:23few actual artifacts survive.
07:26Many Jews lived in market towns called shtetls,
07:30with richly decorated wooden synagogues.
07:33Above the traditional elevated prayer platform
07:36is a colorful ceiling,
07:38a humble canopy rich with symbolism.
07:41When Poland regained its independence after World War I,
07:45Jewish culture blossomed,
07:47especially in the 1920s,
07:49when, for the first time,
07:51Jews had full citizenship and voting rights.
07:54And Warsaw was the biggest Jewish city in Europe.
08:00Tragically, this flourishing of Jewish culture
08:03was crushed when fascist Germany invaded in 1939.
08:07Jews were then corralled into a miserable ghetto,
08:11subjected to unlivable conditions
08:13before being shipped off to Nazi death camps and killed.
08:25A monument captures the desperation of the ghetto's last days.
08:30Realizing they were all doomed anyway,
08:33the haggard and hungry who remained
08:35staged a desperate uprising.
08:38Nearly all were killed.
08:42This was just one city's experience
08:44in a Europe-wide Holocaust.
08:47In this attempted genocide,
08:49Hitler tried to rid the world of Jewish people.
08:52Of the six million he killed,
08:54half died here in Poland.
08:59With its Jewish population decimated,
09:01Warsaw's next chapter
09:03was a second valiant but doomed uprising,
09:06this time by the non-Jewish Poles who remained.
09:10Under Nazi occupation,
09:12Poles had formed the biggest underground resistance army
09:15in history.
09:18Late in the war,
09:19as the Nazis began to falter and the Soviets advanced,
09:22Poland's home army mobilized to liberate the country.
09:26But the Nazis regrouped and brutally put down the Warsaw uprising.
09:33Hitler then ordered that Warsaw be destroyed to its foundations.
09:41The Soviet army sat here across the river and watched and waited.
09:45Finally, when the Germans were gone,
09:47the Russians marched in to claim the wasteland that was once Warsaw,
09:52kicking off over four decades of communist rule.
09:57Like a phoenix, the city has risen from the ashes.
10:00And today, Warsaw is filled with a happy and youthful populace
10:04that has no living memory of those hard times.
10:07Today's Warsaw is hip and trendy.
10:13Hulking old buildings, no longer fascist or communist,
10:17are filled with a rainbow of global food choices.
10:23Post-industrial architecture is all the rage.
10:26Old red-brick factories and power plants
10:30have been transformed into convivial hubs
10:33for dining, drinking, and shopping.
10:38I'm joined by my friend and fellow guidebook author,
10:40Cameron Hewitt,
10:41and the show's producer, Simon Griffith,
10:43at Bibenda for a taste of Warsaw's urbane foodie scene.
10:48This trendy restaurant specializes in craft cocktails
10:51and Polish fusion cuisine.
10:54The menu takes fresh local ingredients,
10:57like heirloom tomatoes and beets,
10:59and gives them an international spin.
11:02Padron peppers, falafel, pumpkin dumplings,
11:07all washed down with a good Spanish wine.
11:11Whether Polish or international,
11:13you can see that we thought everything was delicious.
11:16It's a reminder of how cosmopolitan Warsaw
11:19respects Polish tradition
11:21while also embracing a global future.
11:23I can't think of a better way
11:25to enjoy our last night in Warsaw.
11:33Heading north from Warsaw
11:34through the rolling farmland of the Polish countryside,
11:36we reach a small-town break
11:38from our big-city itinerary, Torun.
11:42Torun feels affluent.
11:45In the Middle Ages,
11:46it was part of the Hanseatic League,
11:48a trade union
11:49of northern European merchant cities.
11:52Like much of northern Poland,
11:54many of its buildings
11:55are finely crafted of red brick.
11:58The city has an easy-going ambiance
12:00that comes with the heavenly scent of gingerbread.
12:05Every Pole knows Torun for two reasons,
12:08Copernicus and gingerbread.
12:11This was the birthplace of the astronomer Copernicus,
12:16who 500 years ago established
12:18that the Earth revolves around the sun.
12:21But today, here in Torun anyway,
12:27a lot revolves around this, gingerbread.
12:31This recreated old bakery is a favorite for field trips.
12:37Costumed guides teach young students
12:39how, in the Middle Ages,
12:40Torun's trading connections
12:42gave local bakers access to exotic spices.
12:46Spices like ginger, cinnamon, and clove,
12:49and how the honey in the dough
12:50was a natural preservative,
12:52allowing it to be traded far and wide.
12:57Then the children get to actually roll the dough.
13:00Press it into traditional molds
13:05and pop their little creations into the oven.
13:10Local gingerbread shops let you mix and match
13:12a variety of tasty treats
13:14with any combination of jams, glazes, and chocolate.
13:18For locals, the word is actually a verb.
13:22If you've eaten too much, you have gingerbreaded.
13:26I think this will get me to our next stop.
13:31Further north is the Malbork Castle,
13:36another red-brick masterpiece.
13:38Called the biggest brick castle in the world,
13:41this was the 14th-century headquarters
13:43of the Teutonic Knights.
13:45These Germanic crusaders-turned mercenaries
13:48were hired here by a Christian duke
13:51to convert the local pagans.
13:54Job done.
13:55The Teutonic Knights decided they liked it here,
13:58so they stuck around, built this castle,
14:00and dominated northern Poland for over a century.
14:03Malbork Castle was essentially a fortified monastery,
14:07home to monks, knights, and their leader, the Grand Master.
14:11Malbork's fortifications are formidable indeed.
14:16The complex was surrounded by an imposing moat
14:19and a mighty brick wall.
14:22The heavy portcullis stopped anyone who breached the moat.
14:26Then, from slits up above, archers could rain down arrows.
14:31And the inner drawbridge made the core of the castle
14:34an impenetrable last refuge.
14:37While knights lived in the outer castle,
14:40monks lived in the inner castle.
14:43The Grand Master's lavish and well-fortified quarters,
14:46with their fan-vaulted assembly rooms
14:48and expansive dining halls,
14:50were the capital of those Teutonic Knights,
14:53from where they administered their domain.
14:57Most of the main sites of Poland
14:59are connected by the Wistula River.
15:01An hour's drive takes us to its and our final stop.
15:06Gdańsk, historically Poland's leading port,
15:09sits near where the Wistula meets the Baltic Sea.
15:13For a thousand years, a cultural crossroads
15:15with a rich maritime history,
15:17architecturally, it feels more Scandinavian or Dutch than Polish.
15:22During its medieval golden age,
15:25Gdańsk prospered as a key member of the Hanseatic League.
15:29The Hanseatic League was an association
15:32of over a hundred cities and ports across Northern Europe.
15:35Its mission? To protect and promote trade.
15:38Busy hunting down pirates, building lighthouses,
15:41and boycotting ports that didn't join the club,
15:44it dominated the economy and politics in the region
15:47through the late Middle Ages.
15:48In a way, the Hanseatic League was a precursor
15:51to the European Union.
15:53Its motto?
15:54All power to the merchants.
15:58Along the embankment is a structure
16:00those merchants put to good use,
16:02a hulking 15th-century crane.
16:05Back then, this entire river could be filled
16:08bank to bank with trading vessels.
16:11Maritime trade from distant lands
16:13made Gdańsk both prosperous and tolerant.
16:16It attracted merchants from all over Europe
16:19who brought with them elements of their home cultures.
16:22These were then woven into the tapestry of the city,
16:25reflected in its eclectic architecture.
16:29Overhead, the town hall tower holds a carillon
16:32that marks each hour with a cheerful tune.
16:36To better understand Gdańsk,
16:46we're joined by my friend and fellow tour guide,
16:49Agnieszka Soroka.
16:52Our first stop is the town hall.
16:55So the city was governed from this exact room here.
17:02And the art is... there's a lot of art here.
17:05Yeah, that's amazing, isn't it?
17:07In the middle of the vaulting,
17:08have a look at this magnificent painting from 1608.
17:15Vistula River starts over there in the mountains.
17:17Look at these barges filled with the grain
17:21from all over the kingdom of Poland.
17:23So all the goods were shipped from Gdańsk
17:27down the Vistula River to the Baltic Sea.
17:31They are taking that grain,
17:33and that grain goes all over Western Europe.
17:35And look, deals, business is made here
17:38in front of the Arthur's Court.
17:40These would be traders from all over Northern Europe,
17:43part of the Hanseatic League here,
17:44making a deal, shaking hands.
17:46Indeed, like 1600 stock market.
17:49And God's hands.
17:50So he's holding not the church, but the town hall.
17:53Exactly.
17:54Because Gdańsk was so multicultural and multi-religious
17:58throughout centuries,
17:59it really never mattered what religion you are,
18:02but how much money you can bring to the city
18:04doing your business.
18:05The guild hall is next door.
18:07This is a magnificent room.
18:09It's a beautiful guild house,
18:11a great example of a great social space
18:15where guilds, medieval merchant groups, met.
18:18Okay, so this is like networking.
18:20Exactly, exactly.
18:22Merchants from all over Europe were coming here
18:24to do their business.
18:25Each arch all belonged to one guild.
18:29Imagine in front of each arch,
18:31there was goldsmith guild, beer guild, amber guild.
18:36They were very competitive.
18:38So that the traders from Lubeck
18:40would meet the traders from Amsterdam
18:42and from Riga coming together.
18:44And then buying grain, timber, coal,
18:47and exporting that all over Europe.
18:52The city is ornamented with fine red brick buildings.
18:56That's because here in the marshy north of Poland,
18:59stone is scarce.
19:01Grand buildings like this old mill
19:04elevate bricklaying to an art form.
19:07The old market hall has long provided
19:09an impressive place for farmers to sell their produce.
19:13The train station gives visitors a red brick welcome,
19:16and even the modern shopping malls
19:18carry on this love of brick.
19:22And rising high above everything is St. Mary's Church,
19:25one of the biggest brick churches anywhere.
19:28To be both tall and stable without the strength of stone,
19:32it was fortified with beefy brick buttresses.
19:35Stepping inside, you're struck by the stark,
19:38austere, and very white interior.
19:41This is a remarkable church.
19:43Mary's Church was built before Reformation.
19:46Look at the beautiful triptych altar,
19:49coronation of St. Virgin Mary.
19:51So the altarpiece is from before the Reformation.
19:54Exactly.
19:55And then the city converted to Protestant.
19:57And what was really important was the pulpit
20:00because of the Word of God
20:02and music coming from magnificent organ.
20:07Look at that pipe organ.
20:10It's like a pavement of tombstones.
20:12Exactly.
20:13Five hundred gravestones
20:15of the wealthiest merchants of Godoynsk
20:18who wanted to be buried here in their parish church.
20:21And if not buried in a tomb,
20:22you could commemorate your family on the wall with an epitaph.
20:30In the shadow of the church,
20:31atmospheric Mariatska Street
20:33is lined with traditional porches,
20:35clever gargoyles,
20:36and vendors selling the prized amber
20:39that the Baltic coast is so famous for.
20:41For amber as high art,
20:50the striking Amber Museum fills an old mill
20:53with precious deposits of this fossilized tree sap.
20:56Much of the world's amber comes from Poland.
20:59Amber, which can be tens of millions of years old,
21:02comes in shades of white, yellow, and brown.
21:06It's a favorite medium of local artisans
21:09who create exquisite items,
21:11from an organically sculptured candelabra
21:14to a chessboard that would mesmerize a grand master.
21:18There's an exquisite miniature storage chest
21:21and even furniture,
21:23such as this gorgeous writing desk.
21:25Gdansk lived its most dramatic moments in the 20th century.
21:35World War II began right here in 1939,
21:38when Hitler invaded.
21:39And those cranes marked the shipyard,
21:41where 40 years later, in 1980,
21:43the Soviet bloc finally began to crack.
21:46During communist times,
21:48Gdansk was home to the massive Lenin shipyard.
21:51In 1980, after decades of frustrations and struggles,
21:55shipyard workers went on strike.
21:59They created a trade union called Solidarity.
22:03Locking themselves inside the shipyard,
22:05they refused to work
22:06and scrawled their list of 21 demands on plywood.
22:11A fired shipyard electrician, Lech Fuenza,
22:14heard news of the strike.
22:16He came here and literally climbed over the wall
22:18to get inside and join his comrades.
22:20The strike had its leader.
22:24The European Solidarity Center,
22:26with its industrial-strength architecture
22:28and inspiring exhibits,
22:30tells the story both vividly and proudly.
22:34For 18 days, 17,000 workers,
22:37welders, machinists, and steel workers, stood strong.
22:42Their only connection to the outside world
22:44was to come to the gate.
22:46There, they'd pass messages to family members
22:48and receive food, supplies, and encouragement.
22:54The strikers were hungry, tired, and scared,
22:58but they were both inspired and emboldened
23:00by the new Polish pope, John Paul II.
23:04Finally, the communist authorities gave in
23:06and legalized the union.
23:08Half of the nation's workforce joined solidarity,
23:12and change was in the air.
23:14But then, after 16 hopeful months,
23:16Polish authorities, fearful of Soviet intervention,
23:20declared martial law.
23:22Tanks rumbled through the snowy streets of Poland,
23:24and the riot police cracked down on dissidents.
23:28Solidarity went underground, yet it gained momentum.
23:34In 1989, the round table talks brought about elections.
23:38The result? Solidarity, now a political party,
23:42won every available seat.
23:46These first cracks in the Eastern Bloc spread quickly.
23:50Within a few months, the Berlin Wall fell, borders opened up,
23:54communist regimes voted themselves out of existence,
23:57and Lech Wałęsa was elected
23:59the first post-communist president of Poland.
24:03Today, Gdańsk, mindful of its history,
24:06is a forward-looking community.
24:08Facing the skyline of old Gdańsk across the river
24:11is a modern development.
24:13Only recently rebuilt from World War II bombings,
24:17it echoes the historic roof lines.
24:20With its 21st-century affluence,
24:23Gdańsk provides its people
24:25a stylish boardwalk for good living.
24:28Strolling here, you feel the promise
24:30of a bright Polish future.
24:36The resilience of Poland's culture
24:38and the warmth of its people inspire me.
24:41And learning from this country's hard history,
24:44I'm reminded that freedom, peace and prosperity
24:47are hard-earned,
24:48and that we have lots to be thankful for.
24:50I hope you've enjoyed our look
24:52at perhaps Europe's most underrated
24:54and surprising country.
24:56I'm Rick Steves.
24:57Until next time, keep on traveling.
25:00It's filled with wild rose jam.
25:06Whoa!
25:08It's a colorful historic port city
25:10with a dramatic 20th-century story.
25:13This is a...
25:15This...
25:17Oh, Tim.
25:19Oh!
25:20Come to Gdańsk.
25:21Yes, to do their business.
25:22Networking.
25:23Commerce.
25:24Money.
25:25I'm the only one of the young people
25:26who want to learn a bus
25:27is that they could win.
25:28You know,
25:29do the money
25:30and to pay attention to the sagtest
25:31but it's fun.
25:32I don't care.
25:33We'll be happy.
25:34Money.
25:35Money.
25:36I don't care.
25:37You can't even your last one.
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