I finally made it to Ustka. They didn't lie that it was nice there. In central Pomerania there really is a small town that does not gouge the eye. More: it's an "eye bath" and not just because of the restored half-timbered houses, a hallmark of the town, which is being caressed, restored and reconstructed there. The city's space is governed by a coherent idea: from the refined bus and train stations, to the tourist center and parks, to the promenade and the beach. The streets there are transformed according to a single idea, the new houses in the port are of a good scale, you can see the care for greenery, the guesthouse district from more than a century ago does not lose its character, and the site of the former church lived to see a successful installation reminding its history.
Ustka owes much to the revitalization program launched in 2005, and proves how much forward thinking and consistency mean. Of course, it is not perfect, because here and there one can see some spatial excesses, with the awkward Grand Lubicz Hotel at the forefront, and there are also - probably unavoidable in Poland - enclaves of seaside trash. But it's good enough. And very good. Fortunately, Ustka has not slipped into Polish glamour à la Sopot and the resorts on Hel and the prices there. Nor has Ustka slipped into Międzyzdroje, with its beach hotel under construction (let its sand be light), or Pobierowo, with its Gołębiewski ziggurat. It didn't grow, into - excuse me - Mielno.
Admittedly, I was sitting in Ustka in September, when the number of balloons, plush geese, amulets and waffles per capita skyrocketed. So it was probably nicer than in high season, made even more pleasant by a language I had never heard before on the Baltic. Rumburak and Hrabal's speech mingled with the sound of waves and the cries of seagulls. So once again this year, it turned out that the news of the invasion of Czech tourists was not made up by the GPT chat room. It's really happening. I've heard a lot of Czech on the streets of Poznan, Krakow, Wroclaw and Warsaw lately. Now the Baltic Sea has arrived, which Czechs - as I have read in numerous articles - are now choosing over the Adriatic. So we no longer need to declare war on the Czech Republic and immediately surrender, which has been a wet dream of Polish Czechophiles for years. Lo and behold, the Czechs told the Croats to stuff their dumplings and moved into Poland themselves. They discovered, with considerable slippage, that we have reached countries that are as well put together as possible. Sometimes more so than the Czech Republic itself, as both Czech tourists and myself admit with amazement - after a recent vetting of several medium-sized Czech and Moravian towns. We have better roads, hotels, food and level of service (although it must be admitted that an angry waiter ready to hit a customer with a rag is also a species on the verge of extinction in the Czech Republic). Attention to historic architecture also varies.
Finally, the Czechs are way behind in their approach to cars. In the 100,000-strong Hradec Králové, the city's most important historic square is half a regular parking lot! That's like converting the town square in Bielsko-Biała or Gliwice into parking spaces in our country. Elsewhere, things are better, but still the communicative 1990s hang in the air, and pedestrians and cyclists don't have it easy even in the quite well-ordered Brno. When I was giving a tour of Poznań to a group of foreign doctoral students a year ago, it was a Czech who inquired with amazement as to what miracle, by trickery or violence, we had managed to clear Kolegiacki Square of parked cars. Fortunately, for the sake of balance, there was also a German in the group, who couldn't understand why we hadn't yet removed the city's highway, which had overrun historic parts of the city in the 1960s and 1970s.
The other thing is that in addition to Czechs and Germans, they like us more and more. Spaniards are voting with their feet, even Italians are arriving. For in addition to less scurrying, we have what is just beginning to fall apart or decline in their country: brand new road and tourist infrastructure and, at times, higher standards of service. Even PKP has finally taken a course to the level of German railroads before the collapse experienced by Deutsche Bahn today, and perhaps they will reach that level in twenty years. Of course, prices also play a big role, but not only them. Even Warsaw has received paeans in the foreign media. That interesting, diverse, lively and - clean. Which is not surprising, because the capital today and a quarter of a century ago is - despite its flaws - heaven and earth.
All because we are still trying, straining, curing complexes. It's funny sometimes, but it's rather okay: ambition helps. So long as in the investment fuss we do not destroy nature, heritage and landscape. So long as we think more prospectively and analyze before doing something on a hurricane. Let us not be lulled to sleep by the kind opinions of foreigners so fond of Poland. In spatial matters we have a lot of homework to do. Anyway, not only in urban planning, but also in housing, access to public transportation, revitalization of smaller cities, nature conservation. I'll mention health care, pensions, the judiciary, civil defense just for the sake of argument, because this is not this newspaper.
Finally, since we have civilized roads, streets, squares and parks as such, it is time to take care of ourselves as well. Poles have long been able to dress themselves, worse with familiarity. In renovated spaces he often behaves as if he were in the wild 1990s. Too loud, too sweeping, too wide, without looking at others. It may sound silly, but silly it isn't: some national coaching on learning how to walk on sidewalks and stairs, how to use restaurants, and how to take the streetcar, bus, train, and how to make quieter sounds with one's mouth (including barking doggies) would be useful. Finally, as has happily become a matter of public debate recently, maybe someone will put an end to jacked-up cars, their howling races and drivers murdering passersby for entertainment. That's not why we make these Ustkids, squares and streets, so that their ruler becomes a (pardon the classism, sexism, autophobia and farting) Murderous Seb in a Farting Furze.
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more: A&B 11/2024 - Soul of Europe, Soul of the City,
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