The "Alte Donau" (Old Danube) and "Wasserpark" (Water Park) - Vienna, Austria

The city of Vienna may not have beaches , though there is enough water that separates the 21st and 22nd districts (called Transdanubia) from the rest of the city. Our former house was located in the 21st district and when we relocated about a year ago, we stayed in the 22nd. We now live just about 1.5 km to the Donau-Auen National Park. In this post, I would like to share with you a flat body of water called *Alte Donau, it is a recreational park where the locals go in their leisure time.

A recreational area where you can do walking, sunbathing, swim, ride a boat , snorkeling, as well as simply observe nature. One of the buildings on the background is the UN Headquarters located in the 22nd District that is in the area of the tallest buildings in the vicinity, the DC Tower 1 and the Donauturm which has a revolving restaurant.

The cleaning of the water in the Alte Donau has been going on for years now to reduce the phosphorous content as well as the algae population of the water. So it is now safer to swim in there. You can read more here

These images were taken from a moving underground train passing the Station Alte Donau. Below is the United Nations Headquarters in Vienna located on the left side of this body of water which is right at the U Station 1.

This is the pathway reaching the long lakeside of the Alter Donau and at the end of this path is the Wasserpark in the 21st District called Floridsdorf.

Parallel to the Alte Donau, this road will get you to the end of the lake. The church below is named Pfarrkirche Donaufeld.

The "Alte Donau" is just one of the nice places to see in Vienna. If you ever visit here, I would suggest you go to the Innenstadt (Inner City) and see the city´s architecture and great Palaces and gardens.

"Wasserpark"

This is the area of the Wasserpark where the locals spend time with their families visiting the pigeons, swans and the ducks as well as other birds flocking the park. Some birds stay for a long time during winter here.

View from the other side of the lake... (above and below)

This is the Alte Donau from the other perspective and that is below the bridge that is separating the Wasserpark from the rest of the Alte Donau.

The view from the "Wasserpark"

The Grey Herons always come here in Springtime to build their nest. When I took this image, there were about a dozen nests with their young ones and the male Herons are guarding the whole area from intruders to protect their offspring from big birds like the hawk or eagles. I have observed that they change guards from the tree tops as well as below on the ground.

City is clean and crime rate, low...

It is clean everywhere and the crime rate is low. The infrastructure of the city is one of the best in the world and Vienna had been the nr. 1 liveable city in the world for 2018-2020. Because of the pandemic, tourists entry were restricted but will surely again gain top ratings when pandemic is eradicated.

All images were photographed and are owned by @mers.

GIF by @gremayo