1936 On the Continent

very hilly and picturesque, with two rivers meandering through the city, and with a most peculiar ghetto—completely preserved from the times when there was a real Jewish quarter. Incredibly narrow and winding streets make up a labyrinth inhabited by Jews in their medieval robes and skull caps, with long hair and longbeards, looking as if transported there bodily from another age. Buttresses and arcades try to prevent the house-tops from touching each other, which they certainly might do, the streets being sometimes only two or three yards wide.
    It all closely resembles old Florence, but the extraordinary stamina of the race is revealed by the carrying on of the open-air system of trading in a severe northern climate just as it is done under the warmer skies of Salonica or Tangier.
Gdynia
    The ghetto is, however, only one part of Wilno and not the most remarkable. There are many examples of the finest Renaissance and Rococo architecture in that city, so far north from Rome, to which it has always owned religious and artistic allegiance. The county of Wilno has hundreds of lakes, sprinkled here and there among wooded hills, a charming countryside. The Narocz Lake, the largest in Poland, is fast increasing in popularity as a centre of all the nautical sports—especially of yachting.
    Even if the visitor does not enter or leave Poland by sea, that is through Danzig or Gdynia, he would miss one of the most significant sights in the country if he fails to visit the Polish sea-coast. It is quite short, and therefore more valued and loved by the Poles, who have a great attachment to the Baltic Sea and to Pomerania, the county which gives them access to it and which is also one of the cradles of the Polish State.
Go to Hel!
    There is the Hel peninsula, a long and narrow sandy finger pointing the way to the north, with splendid beaches of pure light sand, full of bathers during the summer season. It would be a mistake to believe that the Baltic beaches are any colder than others in the summer. On the contrary, the whole of Poland is very warm in the summer, often warmer than England—and the colds only come during a few winter months. Even then the cold is of the dry variety, which is much less biting and unpleasant than damp cold. Winter is a sunny season, during which people spend a great deal of time out of doors for pleasure—practically everyone under thirty, and many older people spend several hours a day skating—as there are naturalskating rinks almost everywhere, and all the schools have them.
    Besides the many seaside resorts there is the city of Gdynia, the pride of Poland. Pride is in this case not unjustified, because this town of more than 50,000 inhabitants and its port, the largest in the Baltic, have been built in the relatively short period of about eight years. It is interesting to compare the wooden cabins of the fishermen, of which the Gdynia of 1924 consisted, with the modern concrete buildings of the Gdynia of 1936.
    Everything had to be built from the ground up, from nothing, and this permitted of greater efficiency than would have been possible if it had been a matter of developing an old harbour. After seeing Bialowiea and Polesie, the primitive parts of Poland, it is well to see also Gdynia, where the modern creative tendencies of the nation find expression, and thus complete one’s picture of the country.
    There are also industrial districts in Poland, the cotton mills of Lodz, the collieries and foundries of Silesia, the oil wells of Boryslaw, and many others, but they present an interest mostly to those who want to do business there, and they will probably be able to find them without my assistance.
    Gdynia, on the other hand, while it is an important business centre, has also other attractions to offer. The beach, the casino, the cabarets are only one side of the picture and by no means the most important. A visit to the harbour, to the immense coal-loading cranes and truck-tippers may be interesting, and there are the fishermen whose lives have many peculiar features. The whole of Gdynia is a reflection of modern Poland, with all its merits and with its faults, just as it is. If you want to see Poland, and for want of time intend to choose only one part for your inspection, why not see this faithful miniature, Gdynia?
Arts and Crafts
    Some of Poland’s industries may be something of an attraction even for the ordinary tourist. For instance, the artistic crafts of rug and carpet making,