Currency: Polish Zloty (PLN) (1 USD = 3.84 PLN)

Languages: Polish

Telephone Dial Code: 48

Gdynia ( gə-DIN-ee-ə; Polish: [ˈɡdina]; German: Gdingen (currently), Gotenhafen (1939-1945); Kashubian: Gdinio) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 246,348, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdansk. Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdansk, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the Tricity (Trojmiasto) with around 800,000 inhabitants. Historically and culturally part of Kashubia and Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia for centuries remained a small fishing village. By the 20th-century it attracted visitors as a seaside resort town. In 1926 Gdynia was granted city rights, after which it enjoyed demographic and urban development, with a modernist cityscape. Until 1939 it was located in the narrow Polish Corridor, between the Free City of Danzig and Germany. Many of its residents were displaced or evicted during the Second World War. The post-war period saw an influx of settlers from Warsaw and other parts of the country as well as Poles from Vilnius and Lviv. The violent protests of December 1970 contributed to the rise of the Solidarity movement in nearby Gdansk. The port of Gdynia is a regular stopover on the cruising itinerary of luxury passenger ships and ferries travelling to Scandinavia. In 2013, Gdynia was ranked by readers of The News as Poland`s best city to live in, and topped the national rankings in the category of `general quality of life`.