Eurovelo 13 – Culture and Nature on the Green Belt

The so-called Iron Curtain, which stretched from the Barents Sea at the border between Russia, Norway, and Finland all the way to the Bosphorus between Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, divided Europe for nearly 40 years. It was a political, ideological, and physical barrier. In 2004, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) launched the Green Belt Initiative to encourage partners to initiate and coordinate projects in the regions of the former Iron Curtain. This curtain had inadvertently contributed to the preservation of key ecosystems and valuable natural environments. According to the vision of the initiative, the Green Belt, stretching from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea, could form the backbone of an ecological network – a symbol of cooperation among neighbouring countries in the fields of nature conservation and sustainable development. Tourism can undoubtedly play an important role in this process.

In the Czech Republic, the route begins at the tripoint near Aš in the Karlovy Vary Region and continues through the historic town of Cheb. Another historical landmark on the route is the 1989 Iron Curtain Cutting Memorial near Nové Domky and the Iron Curtain Museum near the Rozvadov border crossing. The route continues, partly along a former military road known as the "signálka", through the Český les (Bohemian Forest). At Bayerisch Eisenstein, the trail enters the Šumava National Park, where, in addition to beautiful nature, you'll also find an open-air Iron Curtain exhibition. After traversing the Šumava Mountains, the route leads along the Schwarzenberg Navigational Canal followed by a descent into Vyšší Brod. After crossing the Czech Canada region, you'll reach South Moravia beyond Slavonice and continue all the way to the Baltic Sea.

Source: www.greenways.cz