From City Centre to the sea:along Starowiejska Street - 100 years ago, a bumpy road led from a small railway station built in 1870 to the village and the sea (there is a brick house where a Polish patriot fighting for the Polish identity of the Pomorze Region, Antoni Abraham had lived his last 3 years until his death in 1923). At the junction of Starowiejska Street and Kaszubski Square there is a tiny monastery next to the chapel of the Sisters of Mercy, built over the period 1920-1929, next to which a hospital have been established. 10 Lutego Street - a street parallel to Starowiejska Street, it runs from the railway station directly to the sea. It was built across a field in 1904 as Spa Street which led visitors straight to the Spa Hotel on the Gulf. In the beginning, there were many houses along this street very few of which have survived. In 1920, the street was named 10 Lutego (10th of February), to commemorate the act of regaining access to the Baltic Sea after the 150-year-long partition of Poland among its neighbouring countries.Kościuszko Square - is entered by crossing Świętojańska Street. It was designed in the 1930s as part of the city's elegant district. In the very centre of the Square there is the Memorial Plaque devoted to Polish Mariners. It is in this square that all major celebrations take place. Al. Jana Pawła II - meets the end of Skwer Kościuszki. It runs along the Southern Pier over a distance of 626.5 m and was constructed in the 1930s in the water of the bay. The left bank of the pier is called the Pomorskie Quay - vessels which now serve as museums are moored here: the Polish destroyer "Błyskawica" and the frigate "Dar Pomorza". This is also the port for ferries and pleasure boats. The Joseph Conrad Monument, the work of Danuta and Zdzisław Koseda and Wawrzyniec Samp, unveiled in 1976, is Gdynia's tribute to Poland's most famous sea-faring author (born Teodor Józef Konrad Korzeniowski, 1857-1924), who hailed from Berdychiv in what is now Ukraine and who as far as anyone can tell had no connections with Gdynia. The monument sits splendidly opposite the city's Oceanographic Museum adding a touch of class to the pleasant concrete spit of land on which it is placed. The delightfully stylised monument is allegedly the only one in the world dedicated to the great man. Nearby is the Baltic Tourist Information Stand. On the bay side of the pier there is the Aquarium and the Faculty of Navigation of the Marine Academy. The marina 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) is behind the Marine Academy. 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 to the Navy Club which is housed in the former hotel "Polska Riwiera", constructed in 1922-23. On both sides of the Navy Club two modern structures, the Museum of Gdynia and the Navy Museum were completed in 2013. The 2 km long Bulwar Nadmorski is a 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 Kamienna Góra and Orłowo) is a forest reserve of the total surface of 127 ha. The boulevard comes as far as Polanka Redłowska. Tough wanderers may 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 the development of a fishing village into a city within a 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 - Maritime Office - Chrzanowskiego Street - Maritime Station. The Gemini Silver Screen Complex - it was constructed within the area once owned by one of the biggest fishing companies. At the other end of the Gemini Complex there is a pier with ferry quay and the vessel-museums: ORP "Błyskawica" and "Dar Pomorza".Waszyngtona Street - the magnificent building houses of 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 disappear 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 a coffee shop and a gallery have been arranged.At the end of the street, in the former district heating furnace building bordering on the shipyard there is a music club "Ucho".Tadeusza Wendy Street - the arched viaduct over the railway tracks and its vicinity make this 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 - close to a typical harbour support area. The street is crossed by many tracks of the feeder railway. Maritime Station - 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 passenger ship followed by its successor "Stefan Batory". It was here that the writer Witold Gombrowicz set off for his voyage to Argentina never to come back again. This event has been commemorated by a plaque inserted in the quay. In 1987, the transatlantic link ceased operating and the "Marine Station" wharf became deserted. At present, it is being renovated. In front of the building there is a monument devoted to the People of the Sea. It was constructed in 1965 and comprises four huge rocks recovered from the bottom of the sea whilst dredging the Gdynia port road. Next to it there is a building housing the office of the Harbour Master located on a kind of pier cutting into the water passage, a superb vantage point to look at passing ships on their way in or out of the port.There are convenient bus services from Dworzec Morski to the Railway Station and downtown Gdynia. Opublikowano: 31.07.2007 00:00 Autor: Marek Grześ