Strolls in Gdynia

10 Lutego street - a street parallel to Starowiejska street, runs from the railway station directly into the sea. It was designed across a field in 1904 as Spa street which brought the visitors straight to the Spa Hotel on the Gulf. In the early times, there were many houses along this street of which very few have survived. In 1920 the street was named 10 Lutego (10th of February), to commemorate the act of regaining the access to the Baltic sea after a 150-year-long partition among the neighbouring countries.

Kościuszko Square - we enter it by crossing Świętojańska street. It was designed in the 1930s as part of the elegant district of the city. In the very centre of the Square there is the Plate devoted to the Polish Mariner. Here all the major celebrations take place.

Al. Jana Pawła II - makes the end of Skwer Kościuszki. It runs along the Southern Pier (Molo Połud¬niowe) over the distance of 626,5 m, built in 1930s in the water of the Gulf. The left bank of the pier is called the Pomorskie quay - vessel-museums are moored here: the Polish destroyer „Błyskawica" and the frigate „Dar Pomorza". There is also the port for the ferries and pleasure boats. At the pitch of the pier there is a statue of the Polish author of marine fiction, Joseph Conrad by Zdzisław Koseda and also the Baltic Tourist Information Stand. Across the pier, opposite the ferries there is the Aquarium and the Faculty of Navigation of the Marine Academy with a marina behind it, named after Gen. Mariusz Zaruski (an outstanding yachtsman, mountain climber, writer and soldier) whose statue is located next to the mooring yachts (also by Z. Koseda). There is also another statue, one portraying Leonid Teliga (the first Pole ever to singly circle the globe on board „Opty" in 1967-1969).

Along the sea:
Nadmorski Boulevard - we turn right off Skwer Kościuszki and walk up the Navy Club (Klub Marynarki Wojennej). It is housed in the former hotel „Polska Riwiera", constructed in 1922-23. On its both sides two modern structures have just risen where the Museum of Gdynia and the Navy Museum are due in 2006. The 2 km long Bulwar Nadmorski is the favourite destination for the citizens of Gdynia where they like to take walks (regardless of the weather). It runs along the seashore at the foot of the Kamienna Góra hill. The shore strip (between Ka¬mienna Góra and Orłowo) is a forest reserve of 127 ha surface. The boulevard comes as far as Polanka Redłowska. Tough wanderers are invited to go further and arrive at the beach in Orłowo.

The port
Once in Gdynia, a visit to the port is a must as no other harbour is so firmly bound with the city as this one is. The miracle of a development of a fishing village into a city within some dozen years happened just here, at the junction of the city and the sea. The route: Centrum Gemini - Waszyngtona street - Św. Piotra street - Tadeusza Wendy street - Urząd Morski (Maritime Office) - Chrzanowskiego street - Dworzec Morski (Maritime Station).

Gemini - Silver Screen - was constructed within the area once owned by one of the biggest fishing company. At the other end of Gemini there is the pier with ferry quay and the vessel-museums: ORP „Błyskawica" and „Dar Pomorza".

Waszyngtona street - the magnificent building houses the Headquarters of the Polish Navy. Next to it there is the structure with a characteristic tower on the roof - the marine division of the Meteorology and Aqua Management Institute, which make up the current forecasts for the port in Gdynia.
Going down the street, on the right we can see the area owned by „Dalmor", the fishing and processing enterprise. At the end of the street there is the „Nauta" Repair Shipyard - the oldest and the smallest shipyard of Gdynia.

Św. Piotra street - Fishermen families had been living here for many generations. The construction of the port drove them away one by one as they lost direct access to the sea. The rapidly developing city overwhelmed the humble fishermen huts, which started to be disappearing from the local landscape. Only the relics have survived to this day. One of those typical houses is still standing off the Plac Kaszubski, where now a coffee shop and a gallery have been arranged.
At the end of the street, in the former heating room building bordering on the shipyard there is a music club "Ucho" [Ear].

Tadeusza Wendy street - the arched viaduct over the tracks and its vicinity make a superb point to view the „Nauta" shipyard and part of the port. Engineer Tadeusz Wenda, after whom the street has been named, was the designer of the Gdynia harbour.

Maritime Office - a characteristic building at the junction of Chrzanowskiego and Wendy streets, the centre of the Polish Maritime Administration since 1927. The Office supervises the marine signalling systems, navigation and warning devices, vessels and coast salvage and rescue. The Harbour Masters report directly to the Maritime Office.

Chrzanowskiego street - we are close to a typical harbour supporting area. The street is crossed by many tracks of the feeder railway.

Maritime Station - is located in the centre of the so called western port. It was constructed in 1932-33 for the purpose of providing customs clearance facilities for the passenger vessels. For many years it was the berth of the legendary „Batory" transatlantic ship followed by his successor "Stefan Batory". It was here that the writer Witold Gombrowicz set off for his voyage to Argentina never to come back again, which has been commemorated by a plate inserted in the quay. In 1987, the transatlantic link stopped operating and thus the "Marine Station" wharf was deserted. At present it is being renovated. In front of the building there is a monument devoted to the People of the Sea, constructed in 1965 of four huge rocks recovered fro the bottom of the sea while dredging the Gdynia port road. Next to it there is the building housing the office of the Harbour Master located on a kind of pier cutting into the water passage, a superb place to look at passing ships on their way into or out of the port from very close.

There are convenient bus services from Dworzec Morski to the Railway Station and downtown Gdynia.