In Warsaw there are tree-covered districts and places which, for different reasons, look like a rocky dessert. In recent years I have watched with pleasure the tendency to create plazas and make green infrastructure around new investments. Maybe in the future every district will feature a park. We may enjoy the increasing revitalization of existing areas of recreation.
One of the green user-friendly districts of Warsaw is old Ochota. It is close to the city centre and at the same time far away enough to avoid distractions which make life difficult. There is everything you need: convenient public transport, shopping plazas, and small convenience stores. The undersized townhouses aren’t beautiful, but are surrounded by old trees.
An indisputable attraction of this district is Szczęśliwicki Park. Few people know that the park was built in the 1960s on the site of a rubble landfill and the place of clay extraction for the Oppenheim brothers brickyard. Due to the fact that this place didn’t belong to the city, it was a stopping place for Roma caravans. The contemporary name of the park derives from Szczęśliwice village, which has existed here since the XVI century.
After the clay extraction finished, reclamations were made for the lands and they were rebuilt into water tanks. The rubble dumps were covered with earth, creating Szczęśliwicki Hill. After years of neglect, the park received protection and now it grows more beautiful every day. Greenery is attended and new park benches and tables have appeared. Surprisingly, it is also tidy. Only dog-owners who forget about picking up after their dogs are a drawback, but I hope they will change with time.
In the 1980s a yearlong ski slope was created on the hill with two ski lifts: a drag lift and chairlift. In the winter the ski slope is covered with snow or artificial snow, and in the summer water is poured over a special surface, which allows people to have a lot of fun skiing. On the park grounds there lies a swimming pool complex. For a long time the swimming pools were in a state of disrepair, with bushes growing from the bottom of the pool. In 2010 they were rebuilt and now entice people to swim in the clean water and enjoy the new infrastructure. This is nice, all the more so because swimming is quite forbidden in the lake.
Adult and junior amateurs of the active lifestyle can find in the park outdoor gyms, fitness trails, outdoor basketball and beach volleyball courts and a bike path going around the whole park. Near the Szczęsliwice bus terminus there is a bike rental place (Veturilo). The custodians of the park did not forget about children. The park is equipped with three playgrounds. In winter every hillock covered by snow becomes a fun toboggan run.
In the park and in the neighbourhood there are a lot of restaurants: Włoska Robota with excellent pizza; Pekin Duck, whose speciality is Peking duck; Meltemi, which I visit for delicious asparagus; New West Side with a scenic view of the lake; and Stara Kuźnia, which in the summer entices us with the smell of barbecued dishes. Lovers of sweets can find something for themselves. Bakery Ciastkowo.pl offers tasty cakes, crispy cream roles, ice cream, and delicious hot chocolate in the winter.
On working days in the park there are a lot of mums and grandmas with prams. At the weekend the park belongs to bikers, rollerbladers and runners. One of them at 5-6 o’clock in the morning is my husband. Drivers can park their cars along Drawska Street, Bohaterów Wrzesnia Street or Przy Parku Street. Regardless of the fact that there are a lot of people in the park, especially on sunny, warm days, I like to spend my spare time here.