Gdańsk, Poland

Gdańsk sits on the Motława river at Poland's Baltic coast with roughly 480,000 residents and operates as the country's largest port. The 1550 Main Town Hall houses a carillon of 37 bells, while the 1444 Crane (Żuraw) ranks as the largest wooden harbour crane in medieval Europe. The 1648 Neptune Fountain anchors Long Market in the reconstructed old quarter. At the Gdańsk Shipyard, founded in 1945, the Solidarity trade union was formed in 1980, and shots fired at the Polish Post Office on 1 September 1939 count among the first events of World War II.