Dluga Street (ul. Dluga) Gdansk, Poland

One of the prettiest streets of architecture in Gdansk and probably the entire country of Poland is ul. Dluga or Dluga Street, generally called ‘Long Lane’ in English guides. The Dluga Street building facades along 550 meters from Green Gate to Golden Gate give the impression of walking through Poland’s ‘Amsterdam’ with its architectural style modeled on early 17th century canal houses.

Neptune Statue is authentic bronze cast from 1549, located in front of Artus Court on Dluga Targ (Long Market Square). Its fountain feature was added 75 years later in 1633.

Neptune Statue was hidden and preserved during World War II. The statue and fountain were reconstructed on Dluga Targ in 1954.

Green Gate is one end of Dluga Street at Dluga Targ.

Nearly every building on Dluga Street was destroyed in the final months of World War II. Some of the architecture dated back three to five centuries.

A massive post-WWII reconstruction project in Gdansk planned to rebuild a limited area of the historic city focused around ul. Dluga. Recreating the past beauty was considered by many an extravagance for a city in desperate need of housing for thousands of post-war residents.  Architectural restoration was guided by historical plans, records and photographs to recreate a representation of historic architecture.  As a consequence, the historic section of Gdansk consists of only buildings on ul. Dluga and several adjacent streets of historic Gdansk.

Photos of Gdansk 1945 hang in the inner archways of The Golden Gate on ul. Dluga.

Gdansk Town Hall (1346) on ul. Dluga pictured in 1945 (above) and June 2017 (below).

Dluga Street and the neighboring historic streets were crowded during our stay June 15-17, which happened to coincide with a Thursday national holiday long weekend.

Looking at my photos from a 2-day trip in March 2017, I can’t help but think fondly back to my peacefully quiet winter walks on ul. Dluga in Gdansk.

Golden Gate on ul. Dluga, Gdansk.

Walking ul. Dluga is eye-catching for its beauty and people watching.

One parallel street over from ul. Dluga is ul. Piwna or “Beer Streetâ€, which is thirst-quenching.

There are a dozen or more pubs in a small space along ul. Piwna.

 

Places like Old Gdansk Pub, where I drank a Lvivske 1715 beer from Ukraine and listened to a folk singer lead a Polish crowd in a sing along of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama.

Travel is a trip. What a trip.