The Iron Curtain trail becomes cycling trail of the year 2021

The nearly 400km long cycling trail was picked for a unique theme that cyclists can experience in three countries.

(Source: bratislavskykraj.sk)

The Iron Curtain Trail, known as EuroVelo 13, running through Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, has become the cycling trail of 2021.

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The award-granting ceremony took place on April 23, 2021 during the online cycling tourism fair Fiets en Wandelbeurs, the Bratislava Region reported on its website.

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The trail was rewarded for its unique theme, which cyclists can experience in all three countries: Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Passing through a diverse environment

The approximately 400-kilometre-long trail starts in Gmünd in Waldviertel, Austria, and runs through the Czech Republic all the way through the Slovak capital of Bratislava.

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Its Slovak section was marked for the first time by the Slovak Cycling Club in 2010, in cooperation with the Bratislava Self-Governing Region.

The cycling trail passes through diverse nature and city scenery, connects historical and natural monuments with historical cities and villages, runs along various cultural and technical monuments, and is in close proximity to castles, manors and palaces.

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"It is hard to believe that until 1989, this idyllic environment was surrounded by fences and watchtowers that prevented people from passing the borders," said Bert Sitters, the chairman of the jury and cycling journalist.

The transition of this area into a cycling paradise is all the more admirable, he added.

Since 2014, the Slovak cycling club has been in charge of marking the cycling trails as the national coordinator of the EuroVelo trails in Slovakia. The Interreg "Culture and Nature on the Green Strip" project launched new websites, www.ev13.sk, www.ev13.eu, and a mobile app where all visitors can find all the information they need about the cycling trails.

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