Post by kaima on Jan 9, 2011 18:56:04 GMT -7
NY Times
17. Sopot and Gdansk, Poland
Poland’s Baltic coast welcomes party hoppers and soccer fans.
Every country with a coastline has its version of the Hamptons. In Poland, it’s Sopot. In the summer, the small city — with its white beach, fin-de-siècle villas and lively cafe- and club-lined boulevard — is packed with young party hoppers from all over Poland and Scandinavia, dancing at flashy venues like the new Dream Club. Vladimir Putin has been known to stay at the palatial Sofitel Grand, which looks over the sea and nearby pier, the longest on the Baltic.
Sopot and the neighboring city of Gdansk (formerly known as Danzig) are gearing up for the 2012 European soccer championships, which will take place throughout Poland and Ukraine. Already there has been a flurry of openings, including a new boutique-style Hilton in Gdansk’s historic center, the Ergo Arena between Sopot and Gdansk (Lady Gaga was one of the first to perform), and a symphony hall with a stylish restaurant in Gdansk that was formerly a power plant. But the biggest debut is further off: the reopening of the beloved Forest Opera, an amphitheater in Sopot, which by 2012 should have 1,000 additional seats and a new roof.
— GISELA WILLIAMS
www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/travel/09where-to-go.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=homepage&src=me
17. Sopot and Gdansk, Poland
Poland’s Baltic coast welcomes party hoppers and soccer fans.
Every country with a coastline has its version of the Hamptons. In Poland, it’s Sopot. In the summer, the small city — with its white beach, fin-de-siècle villas and lively cafe- and club-lined boulevard — is packed with young party hoppers from all over Poland and Scandinavia, dancing at flashy venues like the new Dream Club. Vladimir Putin has been known to stay at the palatial Sofitel Grand, which looks over the sea and nearby pier, the longest on the Baltic.
Sopot and the neighboring city of Gdansk (formerly known as Danzig) are gearing up for the 2012 European soccer championships, which will take place throughout Poland and Ukraine. Already there has been a flurry of openings, including a new boutique-style Hilton in Gdansk’s historic center, the Ergo Arena between Sopot and Gdansk (Lady Gaga was one of the first to perform), and a symphony hall with a stylish restaurant in Gdansk that was formerly a power plant. But the biggest debut is further off: the reopening of the beloved Forest Opera, an amphitheater in Sopot, which by 2012 should have 1,000 additional seats and a new roof.
— GISELA WILLIAMS
www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/travel/09where-to-go.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=homepage&src=me
