The second day of our explorations around the Baltic Sea brought us to the historic Polish city of Gdańsk. National Geographic Explorer tied up at a wharf right beside Westerplatte, the site where the opening shots of the Second World War were fired on September 1st, 1939. During the day, we focused on the long history of Gdańsk and toured the medieval Old City. We admired the beautiful buildings that were completely rebuilt after being bombed into rubble during the war, visited museums focused on the war and on the period of the Solidarity union protests in the enormous Gdańsk shipyards, and enjoyed a delicious lunch at a gourmet restaurant in a medieval granary.