Crossing borders on the Elbe Cycle Path: From the Iron Curtain to the Green Belt
The Elbe cycle path: Today you cycle around 1.300 km from the source of the Elbe in the Czech Giant Mountains near Spindleruv Mlyn to the mouth of the Elbe near Cuxhaven on the North Sea. The Elbe runs through four Czech regions, across the German-Czech border and through seven German federal states. It meanders through a unique mix of natural and cultural landscapes that truly transcends borders. Borders are geographically or historically based; they run along rivers or through mountain ranges. The Elbe was once the border area between Germanic and Slavic peoples in the Middle Ages and part of the river later formed the Iron Curtain between 1945 and 1989, dividing Eastern and Western Europe into two hemispheres. Areas of this historic border area are now a nature reserve and a connecting biotope through the middle of Europe, called: “The Green Belt”.
Enjoy the nature
Thanks to the European Union, border lines in Europe are no longer trade barriers or customs barriers. You can cycle across the border from the Czech Republic to Germany on the Elbe cycle path without passport control. And so you actually only feel the differences on the bike path based on the language or currency. Nature in this section doesn't care about boundaries either. Bohemian and Saxon Switzerland form a bizarre natural structure made of Elbe sandstone on both sides; the Elbe simply flows on without any obstacles to the North Sea and shows that it has always known how to cross borders.
