The Mighty Danube River
By Gabi. Filed in Austria, Germany |
The 2,850 km river kicks off in Germany’ Black Forest and flows eastwards through 10 countries to the Black Sea . It once was part of the Roman’s Empire border against the barbarians to the north and also played vital roles to contending armies during WWI and II. It has always served as a traffic route for goods between all the nations on it’s banks, and will probably increase this role in the new enlarged Europen Union. We were surprised that there really was a lot less boat traffic on the Danube than for example, on its cousin, the Rhine. It’s immediate banks are primarily used for entertainment. You can see hundreds of bikers, riding short or long sections of the path, nordic walkers, walking with their “ski” walking poles at a brisk pace, roller bladers, zipping by at astonishing speeds, the occassional joggers, huffing and puffing along the way and the people of various ages, just sitting and admiring its hypnotizing flow. The River is alive with festivals occuring at various times throughout the year in every little town or major city , that juts this mighty river.
For the next week the Danube was to be our companion , on our bike journey. Even though it isn’t blue, as Johann Strauss claimed in the title of his famous waltz Blue Danube, it is a majestic sight to see.
Tuesday, May 31st 2005 at 12:05 am |
The Danube in Vienna is all about fun too. Remember the Donauinsel? And I don’t remember seeing that many cargo ships on it, but then again that could be because I didn’t live in that part of town.