City cycling

It’s Corpus Christi today which means that most people left Warsaw yesterday to make it a long weekend and enjoy the good weather in more picturesque parts of Poland. For those who stay in Warsaw, the city becomes an altogether much more pleasant place to spend time, as all the traffic disappears and the city becomes eerily quiet.

We hit the swimming pool with the boys first thing this morning at 0930, and pretty much had it all to ourselves which was absolute bliss! No queues for the slides and as much splashing and throwing children around without having to watch who you’re throwing them at as you like – a rare event indeed. After a short break at lunch, we hitched the child seats to the bikes and headed towards the River. To give you an example of how quiet the roads were at 1430 today, here’s a photo of the junction of Idzikowskiego and Sobieskiego, one of the main routes into the city from the south and more often than not, queues of traffic move down here at a snail’s pace.

Photo 1

Our main aim was to reach the Siekierkowski Bridge which provides great views of the city centre and is easily accessed by well-marked cycle paths. For a city renowned for its terrible roads and cracked pavements, the cycle paths are surprisingly well maintained and in great condition.

The Siekierkowski Bridge, opened in 2002, is 500 m long and 33 m wide and supports six lanes of traffic. Warsaw has a total of 7 bridges which span the River Wisła connecting various districts on the east and west sides, but this one is the newest.

Photo 2

The city skyline can be seen to the north-west of the bridge, but unfortunately we arrived at a time when it wasn’t at its most photogenic. The sun was overhead, creating a haze which prevented any clarity – but here’s the photo I took anyway which gives quite a nice perspective with the calm, but notoriously turbulent River in the foreground.

Photo 3

On our return journey, we crossed a different bridge further towards the centre, which although not as impressive to look at, gave a great view of Warsaw’s only beach. Yes, there is one and topless sunbathing is apparently commonplace when the temperature soars. Today obviously wasn’t hot enough for this (I didn’t have my zoom lens attached anyway), although it still seemed quite popular as a place to relax, switch off and enjoy listening to the mellow sound of traffic rumbling over the bridge.

Photo 4

No bike ride, walk or drive past is complete without a short stop at Malinova. By this time, the kids had been asking about ice-cream for approximately two hours and myself and L were ready for a break as well. Here’s yet another picture of an ice-cream from Malinova. Seriously, if you live in Warsaw and you haven’t visited this place yet, you really should. And then go on a bike ride to burn the calories off…

Photo 5

Here’s our general route, with the majority of it being on cycle paths or normal footpaths. Quite a nice circular route if you live in Mokotów, and with Warsaw being as flat as it is, not particularly strenuous. The blue numbers refer to the location of the photos taken above.