For 3 years, Gdansk - a 3 hour train ride away - was the nearest place that I could buy tobacco and cigarette papers : There's a kiosk at the main railway station which stocked Drum. Of course, the city's a bit more famous for being the birthplace of Gunter Grass and the setting for the novel and film 'The Tin Drum', back in the days when it was German territory. (In best Basil Fawlty tradition, when in Gdansk it's best not to mention the war.) All trains to the south pass through Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot, of which Sopot is the most stylish. Bag snatchers work very hard on the trains round here, so keep your wits about you and if you can't, make sure your luggage is tied to you. The dockyard cranes of Gdansk tower over the skyline with heavy political portent, the Coca Cola factory on the outskirts serves as a reminder of the spoils of capitalism and the reliable, rattling tram and rail network puts the British transport system to shame. The ferry terminal can be reached by rail or high speed dash in a friend's car. Just make sure that you know the current immigration / visa law, as the uniformed gentlemen who examined my passport hadn't heard of the latest amendments and erroneously informed me that if I left on the ship to Sweden, I wouldn't be allowed back into Poland. Fortunately, my polite insistence at his ignorance paid off and he released me, seeing the error of his ways.

Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia, Poland's three cities that together boast an impressive one million people for a mostly rural populace. The Trojmiasto (TriCity) is summer attraction for tons of disenfrachised German who try to recapture some of the glory of the ir beloved Danzig. The Old town of Gdansk, proudly boats one thousand year old architecture, as well as beutifully designed buildings which are reminiscent of Amsterdam. The old town or (Stare Miasto) is filled with shoppes and restatrants that caotr to virtually all paletes, and are still relatively cheap compared to prices in Warsaw and Krakow. During the summer months you have the Jarmark Dominikanski, a fare in which peddlers come from pretty much all over, and some real bargains can be found (I bought a collection of African carvings form one man, who claimed he was from Ghana). Moving on to Nightlife, Gdansk itself doesent boast too many evening establisments, theres Crystal in the neighbourhood of Wrzeszcz which cators to the more affluent, Sopot is spotted with meager attempts at quality western establishements, and the "university dico's" are usually packed but oftern hot and steamy, and filled with the average share of flatheads (a recent central-eastern European, fashion trend) All in all the time to go is during the sumemer when German and Finnish tourists conglomerate on the northern coast of Poland. I would give the city a total of 3/4 for a quick 3 day vacation, anything more and the blatant poverty of the Polish coast line begins to enter ones scope of vision.