Sightseeing Cruise around the Old Town of Gdansk

The Green Bridge connects the most magnificent part of the historic center of Gdańsk with the Granaries Island. It is an extension of the Long Market. Until the nineteenth century, it was partially wooden, and probably due to the color of the paint covering it, it was called the Green Bridge. After reconstruction into a steel structure, the original color disappeared, but the name remained. Until the end of World War II, the bridge was a drawbridge.

Granaries Island, surrounded by two arms of the Motława River, is almost 2 and a half kilometers long and only 300 meters wide at its widest point. For several hundred years, it served the residents of Gdańsk as an area for storing goods. Nearly 360 granaries, mainly for storing grain but also warehouses for wood, resin, ash, and many other materials traded by Gdańsk, were located on it.

Crane The most powerful of Gdańsk's water gates served both defensive and port crane functions. After expansion in the 15th century, the Crane was considered the largest structure of its kind in medieval Europe. The crane mechanism consisted of two pairs of large walking wheels mounted on common axes. The wheels were operated by workers walking inside them. One set of wheels could, with the help of multiple pulley ropes, lift a weight of up to two tons.

Sołdek Moored at the quay of Ołowianka Island is the s/s "Sołdek," the first Polish ship built after World War II in the Gdańsk shipyard. Today, few people remember that it was named after a worker, stevedore Stanisław Sołdek, a leading worker at the Gdańsk Shipyard. Sołdek is the prototype of a whole series of bulk carriers. The hull bears visible characteristic rivets used to join individual elements, totaling over 300,000

BRABANK The complex of modern residential buildings at the mouth of the Radunia Canal into the Motława River is called Brabank.

Polish Hook For centuries, the headland at the mouth of the Motława River to the Martwa Wisła has been called the Polish Hook. It was here that raftsmen set up their camps after long weeks of floating with grain to Gdańsk. Gdańsk merchants would come to the Polish Hook to inspect and purchase the imported grain. Townspeople also visited the headland for non-commercial purposes. Raftsmen singing, playing, and dancing around bonfires provided quite an exotic attraction.

Imperial Shipyard In the nineteenth century, a small corvette repair workshop operated in this area, established for the needs of the ship of the Gdańsk Navigational School. The workshop began to expand and build its own steamers, initially wooden but soon iron ones. Land was purchased, and additional workshops, warehouses, a forge, foundry, and office buildings were built. The former workshops were renamed the Royal Shipyard, and after the unification of Germany in 1871, it became the Imperial Shipyard