A Journey of Baltic Heritage, Wondrous Waterways & Port Town Rhythms

Klaipėda is one of Lithuania's most historically significant cities and remains one of its most important sea ports -- it's the only Lithuanian port that has the capacity for modern mega-ships. The city has an historic Old Town with a number of culturally significant landmarks and sights as well as a modern downtown area with lots of shops, restaurants and more, making it a well-suited destination for a variety of travellers.

Think Gdańsk and think the home of Solidarity: the labour union that struck a shipyard and started a movement that eventually led to the fall of Communism in Poland and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

Over the years, Gdańsk was dominated by Prussians and Hanseatics, and was one of the most important ports in the Baltics. For a time after World War I, the city was known as Danzig. The Nazis were here for five years during World War II and battles to liberate the city in 1945 resulted in its near-total destruction. Miraculously, the historic centre, known as Main City, was rebuilt during the post-war Soviet era with great reverence -- literally brick by brick -- and today it is a lovely architectural venue. Entering the historical quarter is like walking back into history -- in this case, a medieval merchant settlement. Gdańsk was once Europe's major centre for grain trade.

Huge stone towers are located at the entrances to the city. Solidarity leader Lech Walesa's offices are in the tower known as the Green Gate (there's a plaque out front) and the main square is full of colourful, Dutch Renaissance-style mansions. St. Mary's Church in Main City is reputedly the largest brick church in the world and can hold 25,000 for services. The seven-story Great Mill on the waterfront (on Motlawa River) was once the largest mill in medieval Europe. It's amazing to stand on Long Street (ul Dluga) and imagine that what you see now was all rubble after the war. More recently, after the shipyard strikes in the 1970s and 1980, and a 1980 agreement, 10 million Poles (out of about 36 million at the time) joined Solidarity, and Walesa went on to become the first democratically elected president of modern Poland.

Although Gdańsk is not the capital of Poland (that is Warsaw to the southeast), it is Poland's largest northern city -- origins dating back to the 10th century -- with a population of 465,000. Gdańsk, together with Gydnia and the resort town of Sopot, is known as the Tricity. Gydnia, where the big ships dock, is a former fishing village turned major seaport. It was a Nazi stronghold during the war (a major Naval port where Hitler once planned to build 100 subs before his plans were scuttled by major bombing by Allied Forces and the end of the war). Today it's an industrial and naval town. Sopot, located between Gydnia and Gdańsk, is a resort town popular with Poland's jet set.

Relax and enjoy the facilities and entertainment onboard your ship. If the weather is good take some sun and sunbathe on the pool deck. Otherwise explore below deck the wide range of activities that will be available during the day. Perhaps you prefer to find a quiet spot and catch up on your reading.

A visit to Berlin is simply not to be missed no matter how long the trip is from a ship docked at Warnemünde (near Rostock). Since the wall was pulled down in 1989, the city has a new lease on life. It's no longer isolated in the middle of Communist East Germany. Now, it's the capital city of a new Germany. What had been such a contrast -- West Berlin vs. East Berlin -- has now been largely erased. In fact, the former East Berlin side is where you will want to spend most of your precious time. It was, and is again, the soul of the city that follows a band running east from the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag (Parliament) along Unter den Linden, the city's handsome boulevard, to Museum Island, Berlin Cathedral and Alexanderplatz. Several intriguing neighbourhoods are just a few blocks to the north and south of this line.

Few monuments, apart from a couple of churches, are truly old. Berlin itself is not an ancient city like Rome, and so much of what was historic was largely destroyed during World War II. With many churches, government buildings and landmarks rebuilt in the original 18th and 19th-century styles, the city again presents itself as monumental, well laid out and, happily, with a minimum of intrusive high-rise skyscrapers.

While 3.4 million Berliners live in an area nine times the size of Paris, sites that a visitor will want to see are confined to a relatively small, mostly walkable area. The first-timer may want to join a standard city tour to take in as much as possible in the limited amount of time available. That way you will get to see the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Hauptbahnhof (the spectacular new main railway station), Holocaust Memorial, Potsdam Platz, Unter den Linden, the German and French cathedrals facing Gendarmenmarkt, Museum Island, Berlin Cathedral, Nikolai Church, Checkpoint Charlie and a piece of the wall, Kaiser Wilhelm Church, and Charlottenburg Palace. That's not all, by any means, as other sights further afield and lots of neighbourhoods are also worth exploring. If you are intrigued by Berlin the first time around, come back for a longer stay.