- published: 01 Sep 2009
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The Vistula Lagoon (Polish: Zalew Wiślany; Russian: Калининградский залив or Kaliningradskiy Zaliv; German: Frisches Haff; Lithuanian: Aistmarės) is a brackish water lagoon on the Baltic Sea roughly 56 miles (90 km) long, 6 to 15 miles (10 to 19 km) wide, and up to 17 feet (5 m) deep, separated from Gdańsk Bay by the Vistula Spit. It is now known as the Vistula Bay or Vistula Gulf. The modern German name, Frisches Haff, is derived from an earlier form, Friesisches Haff.
The lagoon is a mouth of a few branches of the Vistula River, notably the Nogat, and the Pregolya River. It is connected to Gdańsk Bay by the Strait of Baltiysk.
The Poland–Russia border runs across the lagoon.
Localities on the lagoon include Kaliningrad, Baltiysk, and Primorsk in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast and Elbląg, Tolkmicko, Frombork, Krynica Morska in Poland. The Polish port of Elbląg used to see a substantial amount of trading traffic on the lagoon, but that has declined owing to the current border situation. Kaliningrad and Baltiysk are currently major seaports on the lagoon.
The Vistula (/ˈvɪstjʊlə/; Polish: Wisła [ˈviswa]) is the longest and largest river in Poland, at 1,047 kilometres (651 miles) in length. The drainage basin area of the Vistula is 194,424 km2 (75,068 sq mi), of which 168,699 km2 (65,135 sq mi) lies within Poland (splitting the country in half). The remainder is in Belarus, Ukraine and Slovakia.
The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in the south of Poland, 1,220 meters (4,000 ft) above sea level in the Silesian Beskids (western part of Carpathian Mountains), where it begins with the White Little Vistula (Biała Wisełka) and the Black Little Vistula (Czarna Wisełka). It then continues to flow over the vast Polish plains, passing several large Polish cities along its way, including Kraków, Sandomierz, Warsaw, Płock, Włocławek, Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Świecie, Grudziądz, Tczew and Gdańsk. It empties into the Vistula Lagoon (Zalew Wiślany) or directly into the Gdańsk Bay of the Baltic Sea with a delta and several branches (Leniwka, Przekop, Śmiała Wisła, Martwa Wisła, Nogat and Szkarpawa).
Kadyny Country Club, Vistula Lagoon, Poland
Sound Of Vistula Lagoon – Kaliningrad, Russia
Port in Piaski on the Vistula Lagoon
Vistula Lagoon Zalew Wiślany Калининградский залив
Sailing Yachting Vistula Lagoon Калининградский залив Zalew Wiślany 29.05.2010
At the Vistula Lagoon in Kaliningrad
In the Vistula Lagoon with nothing but my swimming trunks and a camera!
An evening at the Vistula Lagoon
Frombork very nice town at Vistula Lagoon - Poland
Baltiysk, Vistula Lagoon (2015 07 17 17 16 29)