Private Shore Excursion: Tour of Gdansk and visit Stutthof Concentration Camp

The virtues of Peace, Freedom, Wealth, Fame, Piety, Justice and Concord are depicted in allegorical statues adorning the balustrade of this gate overlooking ul. Długa. Designed by Flemish architect Abraham van den Blocke, it was built between 1642-44, later destroyed during WWII and not restored until 1997. An inscription on the gate reads, “Small states grow by concord, great ones fall by disagreement.” As you walk through the gate, you are now on ul. Długa (Long Street) - the heart of Gdańsk Old Town.

This magnificent four-arched gatehouse on the waterfront was built as a palace for Polish monarchs. No Polish king ever stayed in the building, but Lech Wałęsa had his office here before moving to the European Solidarity Centre. The gate leads to the Green Bridge, which spans the Motława River and which used to be raised to stop the riff-raff from getting into the Old Town. Following careful renovation, the gate now bears an uncanny resemblance to Amsterdam's central train station, and hosts the Modern Art Gallery and the Gdańsk Photo Gallery.

Twisting cobblestone lanes and iron street lamps. Gothic spires and medieval markets. Cappuccino and Wi-Fi. This is the city's famous Old Town. If you're looking for that mix of historic ambience and cutting-edge culture that defines Tallinn, you'll find it here. Built up from the 13th to 16th centuries, when Tallinn – or Reval as it was known then – was a thriving member of the Hanseatic trade league, this enclosed neighbourhood of colourful, gabled houses, half-hidden courtyards and grandiose churches is, quite rightly, the city's biggest tourist draw. And the fact that it's all neatly packaged within a mostly-intact city wall and dotted with guard towers gives it an extra dose of fairytale charm. It’s small, compact, and very easily explored on foot.

Solidarity is a Polish non-governmental trade union, began on August 14, 1980, at the Lenin Shipyards at its founding by Lech Wałęsa and others. In the early 1980s, it became the first independent labor union in a Soviet-bloc country. Solidarity gave rise to a broad, non-violent, anti-communist social movement that, at its height, claimed some 9.4 million members. It is considered to have contributed greatly to the fall of communism. The square, named after this union is marked by the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers of 1970. The monument was unveiled in 1980 to commemorate the events of 1970 when 45 people died during street riots protesting against the communist regime.

For several long centuries the largest Lutheran church in the world was St. Mary’s Church in Gdansk – an enormous structure built from brick in Gothic style. The interior vault supports 37 windows, over 300 tombstones and 31 chapels. It can hold up to 25,000 people, which was useful during the period of martial law between 1981 and 1983 when members of the Solidarity movement sought refuge here. Of note is the enormous astronomical clock dating from 1464. Its complex dials show the time and date, phases of the moon, the position of the moon and sun in relation to the zodiac signs, and the calendar of saints. According to legend, the clock's creator had his eyes gouged out so he'd never make a clock to better than this one. The 78-metre tower, which involves climbing 405 steps, houses a viewing platform with cracking views of Gdańsk Old Town.

Stutthof was a Nazi German concentration camp established in a secluded, wet, and wooded area near the small town of Sztutowo 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig in the former territory of the Free City of Danzig. Stutthof was the first Nazi concentration camp set up outside German borders in World War II, in operation from 2 September 1939. It was also the last camp liberated by the Allies on 9 May 1945. It is estimated that between 63,000 and 65,000 prisoners of Stutthof concentration camp and its subcamps died as a result of murder, epidemics, extreme labour conditions, evacuations, and lack of medical help. Some 28,000 of them were Jews. In total, as many as 110,000 people were deported there in the course of the camp's existence. About 24,600 were transferred from Stutthof to other locations.

It is said that the Town Hall of Vilnius stood in its current location already in the second half of the 16th century. The fires in Vilnius destroyed the building of the Town Hall many times, and the tower failed to withstand all challenges of the passing time. Famous Vilnius architect Laurynas Gucevičius tried to save it, although it was leaning, but the tower fell down and the management of the city decided to rebuild the Town Hall according to the cheapest and simplest architect’s design. The hall of the merchants’ society, the treasury, several shops, the guard and even a prison – everything was contained in this building. Concerts began to be organised in the Town Hall in early 19th century. This tradition has remained to date.