(Updated: 5 Oct 2026)

I’m currently in Torun, a town of about 190,000 on the Vistula River in north-central Poland, where it’s presently quite cold. To illustrate the point, I dragged my tripod out to the Vistula to get a few long exposure shots of the ice flows that are adding a majestic bit of life to the day’s otherwise gray and cold surroundings.

At 1,047km (651 miles) in length, the Vistula is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, and flows through some of Poland’s largest cities, including Krakow and Warsaw, before reaching Torun, from where it continues to Bydgoszcz and Gdansk where it empties into the Vistula Lagoon, or Gdansk Bay on the Baltic.

Settled in the 8th century, Torun is one of Poland’s oldest city’s and is the birthplace of Copernicus who at quick glance is omnipresent.

Updated on 5 October 2026 to include this image from the Copernicus Sentinal Satellite of the Vistula published today as its image of the day.

The captin reads:

This false-colour Copernicus Sentinel-2 image shows the Vistula winding through northern Poland towards its mouth near Gdańsk. Snow-covered fields and forests appear in cyan, while urban and agricultural areas are shown in warmer tones of red and green. The dark blue line of the river contrasts sharply with the wintry surroundings.

Copernicus Sentinel Satellite imagery is key for monitoring seasonal changes in land cover, mapping flood risks, and managing water resources.

Lead photos from 7 February 2017.