When Columbus, in his roughly 20-metre-long small ships, was searching for America, 40-metre-long barges rode the current of the Wisła River with the agility of surfboards and at speeds often exceeding those of engine-powered wooden boats of today.
The golden age would probably not have dawned on Poland if it had not been for the Wisła, the only thoroughfare of the time by which timber, grain, and other goods were floated on barges, scows, and dubases. They went to Gdansk and then around the world. The Wisła and its tributaries are the bloodstream of our country.
Since prehistory, it was along river banks that the first inhabitants settled, the first settlements were established, and the most important cities of our country were built and developed…