The greenest of the six Old Town islands, Słodowa (Malt Island) a favourite for outdoor lounging and summertime concerts, and there’s even an assortment of bar barges, including Barbarka. The island’s development started in the 13th century with the founding of two watermills collectively known as St. Clare’s Mills, named after the owner, the Order of St. Claire. The mills went through several iterations due to burning down in fires, and were eventually purchased by city authorities in 1939, who converted them to youth hostels. After the war the buildings stood empty until they were blown up in 1975 by a bomb disposal unit doing their communist “social deed”, a voluntary-compulsive task which was done on days off without pay. Vigorous protests did nothing to stop the mills’ demise, and the fact that 1975 was deemed “Year of Landmark Conservation” added a heaping dose of irony to the whole ordeal. In the 1990s the mostly empty island was cleaned up and turned into parkland.