I had heard that Gdynia was 'cool' from a couple of my Polish colleagues. And it certainly sounded and seemed cool from additional research and info I absorbed. A modern city. With a great beachfront. Home to a number of annual festivals and concerts. Poland's primary port of business and a 21st century tech hub. Plus the historical aspect that I either never learned or had learned and forgotten. (Look up "Gdansk free city" after WWI and how it triggered Poland's investment in developing Gdynia and you'll see what I am referring to.) Sitting just about 25 minutes by train from Gdansk it was too close to not scout it out.
Step one was getting the local train, which felt like a nicer version of the L in Chicago. Or, at least what that felt like some 15 years ago when I last took it. Nothing special, but gets the job done comfortably. For 10zł (less than $3) per person, it was fair value for sure.
We hopped off the train, got our bearings, found some Bolt scooters, and made our way to the waterfront. The dark blue line below shows what we did between getting off the train at
Gdynia Głowny and then getting back on at
Gdynia Hill of St. Maximillian. In between we scoped out some of central Gdynia's main east-west street, its main north-south street, the waterfront and little park area.
Again, it was impossible for me to snap photos safely while we scooted about. But the downtown areas we passed through all had a pleasant feel. I got the sense that it would indeed but a nice comfortable place to slow travel through for a week or so, enjoy its cafes, etc. Once we got to the water I had to snap a few shots. Very much Chicago vibes, minus the skyline. Could have been a composite of the lakefront trail and beach areas of Foster, Montrose, and maybe the stretch between Oak Street and Ohio.
Cool place. Glad we stopped. Would happily spend a couple / few days there if we are able to swing back through Poland again in the future. But we had Sopot in our sights next and needed to get moving.
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