danube connects – the magazine for the danube countries, 1/2014

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danubethe magazine for the danube countries

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Travelling differently!Sustainable tourism along the Danube

connects

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Editorial

DDear Readers,

oes the topic of sustainable tourism play any role at all along the Danube? What we found out is: yes! It may be far from playing a major role, but for our new issue, we have collected numerous interesting examples that show what is happening in the Danube countries in this regard.

From Farmhopping in Bulgaria (p. 20) and the Transdanube project of the Danube Office Ulm/Neu-Ulm (p. 8) to the Da-nube parks (p. 16) or river cruises on the Danube (p. 4): All participants stand up for tourism in the Danube countries that is as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible. That’s also what the tour operator “Lustwandeln” has com-mitted itself to: the passionate hikers Angelica

and Günther Krämer have long been offering guided hiking tours in Ro-mania and along the German Danube. And if it’s impossible to continue on foot, they rely on the bus or train (p.18).

A lot of time will pass before this topic will finally dare to leave its niche. Time will also be needed before travellers’ conscience changes and sustai-nable tourism is also offered by large tour operators. To this end, convin-cing will have to be done in a lot of places, and a lot of understanding for each other will be required. But the most important thing is: a start has been made.

We wish you much pleasure reading this issue.

Sincerely,Andrea Toll & Sabine Geller Editors in chief and initiatorsdanube connects

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16A RIVER OF OPPORTUNITY FOR ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENTHow sustainable and environmen-tally friendly is river cruising?.........4–6

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN SERBIAThree questions for Vladimir Djumic.....6

SHARING THE DANUBE COMMON HISTORIC AND CULTURAL HERITAGE.........................................7

TRANSDANUBE – SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY IN THE DANUBE REGIONThe EU project promotes train, bus, bike and boat traffic....................................8–9

SHAPING CHANGEIs the aim of the project Donau-wandel between Black Forest and Black Sea.......................................10–11

I FEEL DANUBIANThe Danubiana network wants to raise understanding for the Strategy for the Danube Region.................................12

“THE WANTED DANUBE”From Donaueschingen to Sulina, 2857 km of ribbon are being crocheted..........................................13

THE DANUBE’S TREASURESWWF fights for the protection of Danube floodplains and sustainable ship traffic.......................................14–15

HOW MUCH HUMAN PRESENCE CAN NATURE BEAR?Asks Magdalena Wagner of the Donauauen Nature Park...16–17

IN ROMANIA, HIKERS ARE EXOTIC For Angelica and Günther Krämer, it’s hikers’ paradise....................18–19

LIVING AND WORKING WITH BULGARIAN FARMERSAn internet platform brings togethercity dwellers and farmers.................20

BICYCLE TOURING IN BRATISLAVABratislava Bike Point rents bikes to tourists.......................................20–21

TAKING THE WORLD’S LAST FORESTRY RAILWAY THROUGH THE CARPATHIANSThe Vaser Valley Railway is a special attraction in Maramures‚ ..................21

“YOU DON’T YET KNOW ALL THAT I AM LEAVING YOU”The oeuvre of Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncus‚i,...................22–23

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the magazine for the danube countries

Tel. +49 (0)731 153 75 05Fax +49 (0)731 153 75 [email protected]

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We offer information and images from the international press on politics, tourism and culture in the Danube region. Furthermore, we keep you on track about the Danu-be Strategy and the various events alongside the Danube. Come and take a look!

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Just send a link to [email protected].

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In 2012, 1.2 million passengers took part in cruises between Passau and Vi-enna, the busiest stretch of the Danube. Along with the Rhine, the Danube is Europe’s most popular river for cruis-ing. This isn’t likely to change in the near future: More and more tourists, especially from the USA, book trips on the Danube, thus raising the over-all number of bookings, and new ships are built. “The Americans fill these ships, there’s no slackening of demand in sight”, says Helge Grammerstorf, director of IG River Cruise; the asso-ciation of the leading European river cruise companies covers 85 percent of the European market.During the 2014 summer season, the leading German tour operator TUI is expanding its choice of Danube cruis-es, which now includes 75 trips on the river. The company wants to modern-ise the image of cruises on the Danube and attract a younger clientele, like it has done for ocean cruises.

Demand among 41 to 55-year-olds is already rising.“The Danube remains the most popu-lar river among our customers”, says Anna Lüftner of Lüftner Cruises in Austria, one of the most important ship-owning companies on Europe’s rivers. For 2015, Lüftner is planning to construct an additional ship for its high-class AMADEUS fleet in order to meet increasing demands. Early this year, the booking situation for 2014 was considered to be “very satisfying”, with occupancy rates varying between 70 and 90 percent, not including book-ings from the traditionally important months of January and February. TUI also reports a “constantly high de-mand” for river cruises on the Danube.The countries along the Danube benefit directly and indirectly from this trav-el boom on the river, even if there are no accurate statistics. According to IG River Cruise’s experience, services like excursions and sightseeing are usually

purchased from local tour operators or bus companies. Ship-owning compa-nies that use their own buses for trips ashore seem to be an exception. Full board, often with more than three meals per day, is a standard feature on most ships. But where does the kitchen buy the ingredients and beverages for the menus? That depends, for special ship outfitters, some of them registered in Hamburg, supply the river cruise ships with non-perishable food. “Many ship-owners try to buy fresh produce locally”, reports Helge Grammerstorf of IG River Cruise – and he doesn’t

only mean fruit and vegetables, but also wine. After all, the regions along the Danube include wine production areas worth discovering, from the Austrian Wachau to Romanian Wal-lachia. Wine lovers are particularly happy about the fact that ambitious young wine-growers have adopted a promising strategy of quality in Balkan countries like Serbia. More and more wine-growers have the opportunity of presenting their wines personally on board, which has a special advertising

Interview

The Danube has become increasingly popular as a destination for river cruises – even far from the Atlantic. But do more tourists and more boats also bring more income for the cities along the Danube and more jobs for the local population? What about the environmental impact and sustainabi-lity of cruises on the Danube? Let’s have a look at the Danube as a European river of opportunity for economy and environment.

appeal. By the way: the ships also stock up on fuel along the Danube.Above all, more passengers and more ships mean more staff. While the hotel managers on board tend to be Germans, Austrians or Swiss, the cabin stewards, cleaning personnel and non-skilled workers mainly come from Eastern Europe. TUI states that the hotel crew and the nautical staff primarily come from Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Serbia. Already, a shortage is becoming apparent, particularly among captains, pilots, seamen and the staff in the en-gine room. “Where will we find new personnel?” IG River Cruise wonders and immediately provides the answer: “We’ll search all over Europe, focus-ing on Eastern European countries like Hungary and Bulgaria.” Together with other associations, IG River Cruise has launched a Europe-wide initiative to promote the training of nautical personnel. Grammerstorf concludes: “There are excellent job opportunities along the Danube.”What about the sustainability and en-vironmental impact of a Danube riv-er cruise? IG River Cruise has a very pragmatic point of view: “The river cruises depend on conveying beautiful holiday experiences in an intact natu-ral environment.” Operators owning their own fleet, like TUI or Lüftner, seem to be very aware of this insight. Both see themselves as pioneers and can state reasons for this opinion: As early as 1990, TUI appointed an envi-ronmental agent; it compensates the CO2 emissions of flights, certifies ho-tels and, as of late, river cruise ships as well. TUI reports that its most recent ships, TUI Allegra and TUI Melodia, meet the requirements of the “Green Globe Standard”. Green Globe is one of the world’s leading certification bodies for sustainable tourism and a subsid-iary organisation of the UNO World Tourism Organisation. The ships in

the AMADEUS fleet of Lüftner Cruises also bear the Green Globe certification label. It requires verifiable energy and water saving measures on board as well as a sense of ecological responsi-

bility in corporate routine. Each ship is examined carefully by independent in-spectors every two years to make sure it actually implements the certification criteria.At an average, 250 people per ship, including staff, produce garbage

and wastewater every day. The most modern ships have an on-board sew-age treatment plant and cold storage rooms for the waste. But the harbours along the Danube still lack a sufficient number of waste collection stations; this concerns greasy waste from vessel operation, but also common domestic waste, packaging and leftovers. Fur-thermore, there is not yet a Europe-wide standardised hose coupler system at the disposal points, like the one inter-nationally implemented on the Rhine. The cross-border project WANDA (Waste Management for Inland Navi-

gation on the Danube) and its cur-rently running follow-up project CO-WANDA (Convention for Waste Management for Inland Navigation on the Danube) are developing prac-tical solutions for a regulated and environmentally safe waste disposal along the Danube. The lead partner is the Austrian Waterway Company viadonau. From June to September 2013, 160 ships participated in a pilot test of an electronic vignette system. After an online registration, the ships received a vignette free of charge and could dispose of their oily and greasy ship waste at predefined waste collec-tion points in Austria, Hungary, Cro-atia, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia. The technical solutions ranged from

suction vehicles in Austria to fixed collection sites in Slovakia and mo-bile collection boats in Romania and Bulgaria. In the Romanian har-bours Galati and Tulcea, a web inter-face for booking the waste collection service in a non-bureaucratic way was tested in October and November 2013. The pilot actions in Hungary con-centrated on information transfer (Riv-er Information Services) between ships and disposal stations. In Serbia, the aim is to develop an application that makes controlling ship waste disposal easier for authorities and helps to pre-vent illegal waste disposal. Currently,

A River of Opportunity for Economy and Environment

Great job opportunities on board for staff from the Danube countries“The Danube remains the most popular river among our customers.”

“The river cruises depend on conveying beautiful holiday experiences in an intact natural environment.”


Apatin’s long-term municipal deve-lopment strategy is clearly oriented towards sustainable conservation of natural resources and the further deve-lopment of tourism destinations in the border areas of Upper Danube. Apart from being an important navigation and tourist site, Apatin has also been known as one of the most attractive lo-cations for freshwater fishing since the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

Together with the local public company for forest preservation that is responsi-ble for land and property management, a regional project called the Danube Museum has been prepared with the aim to preserve and valorise the rich cultural, natural and ecological heritage in this part of Europe, along the Danube connecting the neighbours Croatia and Serbia. The intention is to create a regio-nal cultural institution as a meeting and permanent exhibition point of the natu-ral and cultural heritage linking the hi-story and present of the people living in this area of the Upper Danube.

Therefore, the goal is not only to collect, conserve, scientifically process and dis-play historic artefacts, but even more to enable the Danube Museum to operate as a modern information and training centre offering a wide range of educa-tional and touristic programmes that familiarise the widest public with the natural and cultural heritage of the Up-per Danube. To this end, initial contacts have already been established with po-tential partners in adjacent cross-border areas, protected biosphere reserves and

similar museums along the Danube – in Germany (Ulm), Croatia and Hungary.

The establishment of the Danube Mu-seum in Apatin was brought forward as the result of the co-operation with the Ulm Museum as an interested and potential partner in creating a Euro-regional network of the Danube muse-ums, whose main mission would be to preserve and cherish the rich historic and multicultural heritage of the Danu-be basin. Evidence shows that as early as 1748, the first German settlers came to Apatin and left significant traces of their economic activities in the muni-cipality. Useful knowledge share and cross-Danube contacts have been esta-blished with Slovenian and Croatian lo-cal governments in order to implement similar projects. A particular emphasis lies on creating a partnership for the collaborative application of European funds. In many ways, the Danube Mu-seum in Apatin would further contri-bute not only to preserving the cultural

and natural heritage of the area, but also to strengthening the participation of the local self-government in various Europe-wide co-operation programmes in which Serbia is also included: the European Heritage Days, Days of the Danube, the World Museum Day, Na-tional Night of Museums, International Festival of the Danube Region, Apatin fishermen nights, Sculpture meetings “Meander”, International Fair “Traditi-on for the Future“ and others.

Ms. Radmila Savčić, curator and art histo-rian, Apatin and Ms. Snežana Milešević, Head of the Local Economic Development Office, Municipality of Apatin.

the results from the pilot actions are being evaluated and will provide a ba-sis for CO-WANDA’s work. The ambi-tious aim is to develop an International Ship Waste Convention on the Danube.How can the passengers themselves contribute to sustainable and envi-ronmentally sound cruising on the Danube? Lüftner Cruises provides an example worth imitating: In coopera-tion with the climate protection organ-isation atmosfair, guests of the AMA-

DEUS ships can compensate their CO2 emissions during the cruise with a donation of 2 euro per day and cabin. The company supports the project with an additional donation of 25 percent of the amount paid by the guests. A small personal contribution for a great cause.

Thomas Zehender,journalist, Ulm

In strong demand: captains on the Danube

What exactly is sustainable tourism in your opinion? Djumic: Sustainable tourism for me is a minimalistic concept – simple but qual-ity service, accommodation, food and sightseeing, for a realistic price – com-bining local players and local values and resources. It is nowadays a very frequently used word, but very few people are sure about the meaning of sustainable tourism.

Which tools or models help to achieve a sustainable tourism?There are no unified or universal mod-els. Every local community should develop its own according to their geo-political and socio-economic situa-

tion. The best way is to learn as much as possible about a local community and its possibilities, capacities, levels of knowledge and then start with com-bining all of that in order to create one competitive product they can sell on the open market and constantly edu-cate people about the possibilities and follow the best practice and examples from similar areas.

What are the major challenges for sus-tainable tourism in Serbia?Lack of knowledge and corruption. As knowledge is growing it is obvious that there are more and more people who started with organic food produc-tion, or at least human production, and

small animal husbandry. When more and more people will learn about the possibilities for relaxing weekends in the villages, 100 km radius from bigger cities, more and more people will real-ise that it is a chance for them to become small manufacturers and more and more people will move from big cities to villages in order to live a better life. Corruption is a problem because there is no extra money in sustainable tour-ism; it is a program for people, but the decision makers, unfortunately, favour bigger projects, expensive construction works on hotels and resorts, and are not willing to support small scale projects because they cannot “fit in”.Kata Toth, journalist

Djumic works as an expert at „JustGo“, mostly as a consultant in tourism and marketing, runs the Camping Associa-tion of Serbia, and recently finished his contract as project manager in the Na-tional Tourism Organisation of Serbia.

According to the Unesco „Tourism is one of the world’s fastest growing industries and is a major source of income for many countries. Being a people-oriented indus-try, tourism also provides many jobs which have helped revitalise local economies. A special part of tourism is sustainable tourism. It is becoming so popular that some say that what we presently call ‚alternative‘ will be the ‚mainstream‘ in a decade.“ danube connects asked Vladimir Djumic about sustainable tourism in Serbia.

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN SERBIA

The Danube can be described from so many different perspectives: geographic, economic, historic and certainly from a cultural viewpoint. In order to help valorise the cultural dimension and make public the rich cultural he-ritage of the Danube, the municipality of Apatin has initiated a regeneration programme for an old fishing factory located at the river bank, the aim being to transform it into a Danube Museum. The main purpose of the programme is to get interested institutions and organizations together so as to transform the dilapidated facility into a new meeting point for an intercultural Danube Euroregion and contribute to the Danube Strategy priorities.

Sharing the Danube’s common historic and cultural heritage

Culture

Apatin - plans for the old fishing factory -transformation into a Danube museum.


Apatin’s long-term municipal deve-lopment strategy is clearly oriented towards sustainable conservation of natural resources and the further deve-lopment of tourism destinations in the border areas of Upper Danube. Apart from being an important navigation and tourist site, Apatin has also been known as one of the most attractive lo-cations for freshwater fishing since the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

Together with the local public company for forest preservation that is responsi-ble for land and property management, a regional project called the Danube Museum has been prepared with the aim to preserve and valorise the rich cultural, natural and ecological heritage in this part of Europe, along the Danube connecting the neighbours Croatia and Serbia. The intention is to create a regio-nal cultural institution as a meeting and permanent exhibition point of the natu-ral and cultural heritage linking the hi-story and present of the people living in this area of the Upper Danube.

Therefore, the goal is not only to collect, conserve, scientifically process and dis-play historic artefacts, but even more to enable the Danube Museum to operate as a modern information and training centre offering a wide range of educa-tional and touristic programmes that familiarise the widest public with the natural and cultural heritage of the Up-per Danube. To this end, initial contacts have already been established with po-tential partners in adjacent cross-border areas, protected biosphere reserves and

similar museums along the Danube – in Germany (Ulm), Croatia and Hungary.

The establishment of the Danube Mu-seum in Apatin was brought forward as the result of the co-operation with the Ulm Museum as an interested and potential partner in creating a Euro-regional network of the Danube muse-ums, whose main mission would be to preserve and cherish the rich historic and multicultural heritage of the Danu-be basin. Evidence shows that as early as 1748, the first German settlers came to Apatin and left significant traces of their economic activities in the muni-cipality. Useful knowledge share and cross-Danube contacts have been esta-blished with Slovenian and Croatian lo-cal governments in order to implement similar projects. A particular emphasis lies on creating a partnership for the collaborative application of European funds. In many ways, the Danube Mu-seum in Apatin would further contri-bute not only to preserving the cultural

and natural heritage of the area, but also to strengthening the participation of the local self-government in various Europe-wide co-operation programmes in which Serbia is also included: the European Heritage Days, Days of the Danube, the World Museum Day, Na-tional Night of Museums, International Festival of the Danube Region, Apatin fishermen nights, Sculpture meetings “Meander”, International Fair “Traditi-on for the Future“ and others.

Ms. Radmila Savčić, curator and art histo-rian, Apatin and Ms. Snežana Milešević, Head of the Local Economic Development Office, Municipality of Apatin.

the results from the pilot actions are being evaluated and will provide a ba-sis for CO-WANDA’s work. The ambi-tious aim is to develop an International Ship Waste Convention on the Danube.How can the passengers themselves contribute to sustainable and envi-ronmentally sound cruising on the Danube? Lüftner Cruises provides an example worth imitating: In coopera-tion with the climate protection organ-isation atmosfair, guests of the AMA-

DEUS ships can compensate their CO2 emissions during the cruise with a donation of 2 euro per day and cabin. The company supports the project with an additional donation of 25 percent of the amount paid by the guests. A small personal contribution for a great cause.

Thomas Zehender,journalist, Ulm

In strong demand: captains on the Danube

What exactly is sustainable tourism in your opinion? Djumic: Sustainable tourism for me is a minimalistic concept – simple but qual-ity service, accommodation, food and sightseeing, for a realistic price – com-bining local players and local values and resources. It is nowadays a very frequently used word, but very few people are sure about the meaning of sustainable tourism.

Which tools or models help to achieve a sustainable tourism?There are no unified or universal mod-els. Every local community should develop its own according to their geo-political and socio-economic situa-

tion. The best way is to learn as much as possible about a local community and its possibilities, capacities, levels of knowledge and then start with com-bining all of that in order to create one competitive product they can sell on the open market and constantly edu-cate people about the possibilities and follow the best practice and examples from similar areas.

What are the major challenges for sus-tainable tourism in Serbia?Lack of knowledge and corruption. As knowledge is growing it is obvious that there are more and more people who started with organic food produc-tion, or at least human production, and

small animal husbandry. When more and more people will learn about the possibilities for relaxing weekends in the villages, 100 km radius from bigger cities, more and more people will real-ise that it is a chance for them to become small manufacturers and more and more people will move from big cities to villages in order to live a better life. Corruption is a problem because there is no extra money in sustainable tour-ism; it is a program for people, but the decision makers, unfortunately, favour bigger projects, expensive construction works on hotels and resorts, and are not willing to support small scale projects because they cannot “fit in”.Kata Toth, journalist

Djumic works as an expert at „JustGo“, mostly as a consultant in tourism and marketing, runs the Camping Associa-tion of Serbia, and recently finished his contract as project manager in the Na-tional Tourism Organisation of Serbia.

According to the Unesco „Tourism is one of the world’s fastest growing industries and is a major source of income for many countries. Being a people-oriented indus-try, tourism also provides many jobs which have helped revitalise local economies. A special part of tourism is sustainable tourism. It is becoming so popular that some say that what we presently call ‚alternative‘ will be the ‚mainstream‘ in a decade.“ danube connects asked Vladimir Djumic about sustainable tourism in Serbia.

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN SERBIA

The Danube can be described from so many different perspectives: geographic, economic, historic and certainly from a cultural viewpoint. In order to help valorise the cultural dimension and make public the rich cultural he-ritage of the Danube, the municipality of Apatin has initiated a regeneration programme for an old fishing factory located at the river bank, the aim being to transform it into a Danube Museum. The main purpose of the programme is to get interested institutions and organizations together so as to transform the dilapidated facility into a new meeting point for an intercultural Danube Euroregion and contribute to the Danube Strategy priorities.

Sharing the Danube’s common historic and cultural heritage

Culture

Apatin - plans for the old fishing factory -transformation into a Danube museum.


Transdanube

15 partners from nine Danube countries have got together to further develop tourism on the Danube through sus-tainable mobility, establishing the river as an attractive destination for tourists. What are Transdanube’s practical goals? “Based on a detailed situational analysis, our partners develop all-in-clusive tourism offers for their region. In doing so, they focus on ships, trains, buses and bikes as means of trans-port”, Dippold explains. In May, the first products should be ready to book, combining different elements of tour-ism with the use of sustainable means of transport. Many interesting destina-tions in the Danube region are still only to be reached by car, including nature parks. “That’s why it would be desira-ble to be able to get there with sustaina-ble means of transport”, says Katzorke. In a project on the scale of Transdanube, light bulb moments are bound to occur sooner or later. “We realized that many Danube countries still have a complete-ly different understanding of mobility than we have, say, in Germany or Aus-tria”, reports Petra Katzorke, who coor-

dinates the project with Petra Dippold: “When people in Romania ride a bike, that is more likely to mean they can’t afford a car rather than that they see biking as a sporting activity.”

Cooperation with “Lustwandeln”

Other than the project partners, the Dan-ube Office does not focus on develop-ing tourist offers, and yet, a cooperation with the tour operator “Lustwandeln” has arisen from the project. During the International Danube Festival in Ulm, Transdanube and “Lustwandeln” will offer a guided hiking tour in the Lone valley in combination with bus and rail-way (for more information on “Lust-wandeln”, see page 18).

Interactive Map of the Danube Region

What are the tasks of the Danube Of-fice? Besides presenting Transdanube at international events, it is in charge of creating an interactive map of the Danube region. “What‘s new about the

map is that it offers both information on sightseeing highlights such as mu-seums and historical monuments, and at the same time information about how to get there and on-site mobili-ty, including routing and links to the websites of matching transportation providers. That allows visitors of the site to find out quickly and clearly how they can reach their destination by ship, train, bus, bike or on foot”, Petra Dippold explains. “Like that, Danube tourists can plan their tour along the river in an optimal way.”

Data from Open Street Map provides the basis for the sightseeing and mobil-ity spots. Additionally, the partners en-ter information about sights and trans-portation. “Currently, some data is still missing, but the map works flaw-lessly, so that we can start the online version at the beginning of March”, Katzorke clarifies the state of affairs. A rating system will be introduced to control which spots on the map have insufficient or out-dated descriptions. “If spots often receive bad ratings, we

In Germany and Austria, it’s slowly, but surely becoming a trend – in other Danube countries, it’s still in its infancy: sustainable mobility in tourism. The EU project Transdanube aims at promoting travel by train, bus, bike and ship in the Danube region, and thus soft mobility in tourism along the Danube. Project coordinators Petra Katzorke and Petra Dippold of the Danube Office Ulm/Neu-Ulm told danube connects about the state of affairs.

TRANSDANUBE – Sustainable Mobility in the Danube Region

know that something is wrong and our partners have the opportunity to make corrections accordingly”, says Petra Dippold.

On the Road with the Tour Book

What‘s more, visitors to the map can create a tour book. “That‘s a situation everybody knows: You‘ve spent hours surfing the net, but can‘t remember what exactly you‘ve looked at. With the tour book, users have a practical re-sult of their research on hand that they can use for their tours”, Petra Katzorke explains the basic idea of the tour book, which is scheduled to be available as of May.

The project coordinators realize that there‘s a lot of development potential for the map. “But it‘s quite evident that we won‘t be able to put all ideas into practice during the project, which only lasts from October 2012 to September 2014”, Dippold emphasizes and Kat-zorke adds: “It‘s really important to us that the map always stays up-to-date and is further developed even after the end of the project.”

A follow-up project is already in prepa-ration. For it will take years to make real the vision of establishing sustaina-ble mobility as a part of tourism in the Danube region. Katzorke and Dippold hope that many cooperation partners in the whole Danube region will join forces to make this area an interesting travel destination that all tourists can access and experience with innovative types of mobility.

Andrea Toll, danube connects

Main Aims and Results at a Glance

n State-of-the-art report on sustainable mobility in the Danube regionn Regional action plansn Practical sustainable transport offers and packagesn Digital map as a transnational information systemn Marketing strategy for sustainable mobility in tourism in the Danube region

Facts and FiguresSupport programme: Interreg IVB South East EuropeLead Partner: Environment Agency (AT)Project partners: 15 from 9 countriesProject duration: October 2012 to September 2014Project budget: 2,37 million Euro

www.transdanube.euwww.donaubuero.de/trandanube-dewww.facebook.com/Transdanube · www.donautour.eu

Transdanube meeting in Vidin


When people talk about the Danube as a European river, they often mean more than just its geographical lo-cation. In his poem “Am Quell der Donau” (At the Source of the Dan-ube), Friedrich Hölderlin points out that rivers are connecting elements between different culture and lan-guage areas.

Almost three centuries later, the author Claudio Magris calls the Danube the only truly European river: “It reflects domes, cathedrals and synagogues, baroque and Ottoman splendour.” Magris’ idea of what is European also targets diversity. But as a link between culture areas, the Danube is only a symbol. Exchange between the cul-tures within this region must be sought and carried out actively by people. That is what the project Donauwandel is all about.

Where along the Danube are there processes of change and where do they present an opportunity? In 2012,

these questions marked the beginning of the project, which is funded by the Agapedia, Liebenau and Baden-Würt-temberg foundations. The main goal is to encourage and support coopera-tion and networking among local ini-tiatives, above all in social affairs and in the area of youth exchange. “Our motive was to activate people along the Danube to communicate with each other and get to know the natural and cultural environment”, project coordi-nator Tobias Faltermeier summarises.

To discover the Danube region as an area of participatory processes, the participants met in several forums in cities along the river. The first of these forums took place in Ulm in the sum-mer of 2013; Osijek in Croatia, Novi Sad in the North of Serbia and Bulgari-an Ruse followed. The central topics of the meetings were social entrepreneur-ship, education and youth work, con-centrating on practical experience and insight into local projects.

Different solutions for similar problemsRaimar Wagner of the Diakonisches Werk (the social welfare organisation of the Lutheran Church) Romania ex-plains how such an international ex-change can ensure the survival of civil organisations. As a representative of the network of Romanian social NGOs, he is also familiar with the problems that local initiatives face. Accessing EU sup-port programmes is a challenge, espe-cially in young and new accession coun-tries. For instance, Serbia’s planned EU accession in 2020 forces many projects to restructure their finances because direct national sponsorship will fall away. In all four cities in which the forums were held, Wagner met with representatives of social projects from each respective region. “A lot of creativ-ity and ideas are needed, particularly when it comes to obtaining EU funding. The problems are similar, but there are different approaches to solving them. Exchange in this area was truly inval-uable.” In this context, Donauwandel

Shaping change

Donauwandel

sent a strong signal to the EU to inte-grate more social aspects into its Dan-ube Strategy and to make funding ac-cessible for local projects.

Civilian engagement depends on iden-tification with one’s own living en-vironment. In this context, ecology, conservation and revitalisation of nat-ural areas always play a role. The pro-gramme of Donauwandel also reflects these topics. In Ruse, Srdjan Stankovic presented the Serbian project Super-natural, which lobbies for the rehabil-itation of the ecosystem on Ada Huja. The former island was connected to the mainland through large-scale waste dumping. It has since been used almost exclusively as an industrial site. In con-trast, Stankovic and the NGO he leads advance the vision “from dump to park” for the area. The organisation has already started to revegetate parts of the terrain. The project further includes a festival in summer, which is sup-posed to raise awareness for the issue.

Building bridgesFor Donauwandel project coordinator Faltermeier, the fact that civil society initiatives like Supernatural play a role in a Europe-wide context is nothing

new. “Although the term ‘civil society’ has only recently appeared on the polit-ical agenda, active citizens have existed for a long time. Historically, it was civil society that pushed the system change in Eastern Europe.” But still, civil in-volvement along the Danube has dif-ferent characteristics – and different levels of political support. In Bulgaria, where Faltermeier has been living and working for five years, only one social foundation existed in 1989. “A few years ago, many people here seemed resigned. But lately, the population has become increasingly active, a develop-ment proven by current political devel-opments in Bulgaria.” Since 2013, there have been continuous protests in the capital Sofia against corruption, a wide-spread phenomenon in Bulgaria.

Donauwandel’s pilot phase will end in summer 2014. Until then, two fur-ther forums will take place. In May, there will be a meeting in Romania, the project thus reaching the estuary of the Danube. Later, all stakeholders will once again gather in Furtwan-gen for a large forum of reflexion and planning about the continuation of the project. One of the long-term goals is establishing a Danube Youth Forum,

the foundation of which has already been laid. In the Serbian town of Kač, the participants visited a project that is converting an old mill into a youth centre. Exchange with the initiators in-spired Croatian Breza, a Donauwandel participant mainly working with social-ly disadvantaged children in Croatia, to start a similar project. For Europe’s much-quoted diversity currently also means different levels of prosperity, which result in problems especially for the younger generation. By bring-ing together the young generation and strengthening the civil potential on na-tional level, Donauwandel contributes to highlighting diversity and at the same time bridging unequal opportu-nities.

Carolin Krahl, journalist

The project Donauwandel “Danube change”roams the region between the Black Forest and the Black Sea, searching for civil society initia-tives that promote positive change in the region and accompany it sustainably.

www.donauwandel.eu

A project of Agapedia-Stiftung,supported by

Donauwandel

Donauwandel: meeting in Ruse, Bulgaria


The strengthened regional approach of the European Union is seen as a possible way to increase the owner-ship feeling of citizens towards their closer environment they live in and the European community in general. In our understanding this is the main goal of these strategies: to bring the European Union closer to the citizens through concrete policies and interna-tional cooperation.

Currently the implementation of these strategies is mainly done through the governments of the participating mem-ber states. The goal of the Danubiana Network, which is a civil society project supported by the European Commis-sion, is to complement this top-down government-led process through a bot-tom-up approach and add a personal touch of civil society organisations to it through the organisation of different ac-tions with the involvement of citizens.

Currently the Danubiana Network has civil society members from nine EU member states (Austria, Bulgaria, Croa-tia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Serbia) and the goal is to expand the network to Bosnia

and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montene-gro, Slovenia and Ukraine to include all 14 countries of the EU Danube Region Strategy. The project runs throughout 2014 until early 2015 to increase the vi-sibility and public understanding of the Danube strategy. The different activities include a 2-week volunteer exchange programme, the monitoring of the im-plementation of the Danube strategy on national level, the holding of Danube classes in schools, and an interactive geocaching game.

Activities are assisted by communi-cation tools including a collection of fishing places and jazz clubs along the Danube river, in a guide, a publication on Danube identity – European iden-tity, an insert in the Danube Connect magazine and different leaflets and po-sters. Coordinated by European House, a Hungarian organistion, the Danubia-na Network seeks to establish connec-tions with the civil society collaborators of the Baltic Sea and Adriatic-Ionian strategies and compare the experience of the strategies and analyse the exi-sting practice of government-civil soci-ety cooperation from our own perspec-tive. As regionality gains increasing

importance in the European Union the question of identity becomes more rele-vant too. Consequently the Danubiana project also conducts a research on the different identities of EU citizens. Our starting point is that for most the con-nection between national and European identity is not obvious, but the notion of a regional identity might assist their peaceful co-existence and complemen-tarity. It is in this context that the project aims to explore the question of Danubi-an identity for citizens to realise: they also feel Danubian.

Miklos Barabas, coordinator Danubiana Net-work, Director European House, Budapest

www.danubiananetwork.eu

I feel DanubianCivil Society Cicil Society

There is a growing tendency to strengthen regionality within the European Union. This is manifested in the growing number of macro-regional strategies including one for the centre (Danube region), one for the north (Baltic Sea), which already exist and the one for the south (Adriatic-Ionian) which is in the making.

Participatory Project connects People from the Danube Countries

Whether they be young or old, scien-tists, students, housewives or mecha-nics: Since January, more and more people between Donaueschingen in the Black Forest and Sulina on the Black Sea have been crocheting a rib-bon. The idea is to make leftover yarn in all Danube countries into chain stitch ribbons that, put together, are as long as the Danube itself: 2857 ki-lometres.

In mid-February, a first part was com-pleted: The crocheted ribbons collected at different stations in and around Ulm had a total length of over 100 kilome-tres. And more and more people are finding the enthusiasm for the action contagious, as initiator Carmen Stadel-hofer reports. That way, the ribbon will be colourful in many ways. It expresses the bond between the countries, people and cultures along the Danube. It is also a sign of international understanding, the willingness to cooperate in Europe and to pull in the same direction. The project “Die gewollte Donau” (Ger-man: The woollen or wanted Danube) enables people to participate and get together without sharing a common language. It gives incentives to discover the people and cultures, the history and politics along Europe’s second-longest river. What is more, the project for the first time allows many people from dif-ferent backgrounds to contribute to a highlight of the International Danube

Festival 2014: At this occasion, squares knitted from the crocheted ribbons will be assembled into a giant carpet in the shape of the Danube’s course in front of the Ulm Minster. The individual ele-ments of this collective work of art will be sold by auction. The revenues will be used to invite guests from civil society organisations in Southeast Europe to the Danube Festival and to support so-cial, ecological and cultural initiatives along the Danube. That’s because the participatory project aims at sustainabi-lity: It’s about aiding civil society initi-atives in the Danube countries and cre-ating links between them – before, after and during the Danube Festival 2014.In many locations, the crocheting ac-tivities are accompanied by events on literary, musical and political topics. Classes from all types of schools take part, as do senior and intergenerational clubs; grandmas crochet together with their grandchildren. For every meter counts!

The project is coordinated by the asso-ciation “Institute for Virtual and Real Learning in the Area of Adult Educa-tion at Ulm University” (ILEU). It is funded by the Ulmer Bürgerstiftung (Citizens’ Foundation Ulm) and the Baden-Württemberg Foundation.www.diegewolltedonau.de

Barbara Hinzpeterjournalist, Ulm

“The wanted Danube” Danubiana project launch event “Building Bridges of Democracy“ in Budapest in October 2013

European politics from below – Hungarian civil introduction to the EP elections in 2014

The crocheted Danube on the cathedral square in Ulm


T

MAMA DUNA7. Internationales Donaufestin Ulm und Neu-Ulm27. August - 5. September 2010

Kontakt und Information:

donau.büro.ulm · Tel. 0049 (0) 731 / 88 03 06-0

www.donaubuero.de · [email protected]

„Von mir, der Donau, kannst du die Lektionen des ewigen Lebens lernen.“ György Konrádfestdonauulm neu-ulm

The 1,000 km of the upper Danube in Germany and Austria have lost much of their natural features, altered with dykes and dams. Nevertheless, notable stretches remain, including between Straubing and Vilshofen in Germany as well as the Wachau and Danube Flood-plain National Park in Austria.

The river’s greatest jewels lie further downstream, on the 2,000 km of the river before it spills into the Black Sea. “Europe’s Amazon” is found where the Drava meets the Danube. Each year, the area, which is shared by Croatia, Hungary and Serbia, is transformed by the spring floods into a wetland para-dise, a hotspot for rare birds, including white-tailed eagles.

From the dramatic Iron Gates, the breathtaking canyon where the river forces its way through the southern hook of the Carpathian Mountains be-

tween Romania and Serbia, the Danube flows the last 1,000 km unhindered to the Black Sea. The line of islands that the river creates and pushes downriver are important habitats and resting are-as for birds and other animals as well as spawning areas for fish, including the 7-meter Beluga sturgeon.

The river saves its crown jewel for the end, at the spectacular delta it has formed over millennia as it pushes into the Black Sea. The Danube Delta is a vast wetland wilderness, the world’s largest area of reed beds and a globally significant resting and feeding area for fish and fowl, including the Dalmatian pelican and red-breasted goose. Beyond the river itself, the broader area of the basin, including large parts of the Carpathian Mountains, is home to two-thirds of the continent’s populations of brown bears and other large carnivores as well as the greatest remaining areas

of virgin forests and wilderness areas outside of Russia and northern Scandi-navia.

WWF’s work in the Danube basinOver the past 150 years, the Danube has been much abused. Dikes, dams and dredging have straightened large sec-tions of the „blue river“. More than 80 percent of the Danube‘s wetlands have been lost, and with them the rich diver-sity of fish and other species on which they depend.

Fortunately, over the past 20 years much has changed for the better. Water

Tourism and nature

The Danube’s treasures

quality is improved thanks to tougher environmental standards, much of it pushed by the European Union. The International Commission for the Pro-tection of the Danube River and the EU Water Framework Directive have given the world‘s most internation-al river an exemplary framework for governance and integrated river basin management.

At the same time, however, EU and government plans anticipate construc-tion of hundreds of small hydro plants as well as diking and dredging that could have massive impacts on the health of the river and the benefits and services it provides.

Against this background, WWF‘s ef-forts in the Danube region focus on the protection and restoration of wetland and floodplain areas, especially on the Lower Danube and Danube Delta as well as valuable areas on the Tisza, Drava, and Morava tributary rivers and sub-basins. We also promote more sustainable approaches to navigation and generating hydropower, seeking to preserve the Danube as a living riv-er. Across the broader river basin, we are also active in promoting the pro-tection and sustainable management of forests as well as protected areas.

To achieve these objectives, we use a mixture of model field projects, aware-ness raising, capacity building and policy work. We actively engage with governments and authorities, especial-ly in the framework of the Internation-al Commission for the Protection of the Danube River and the Carpathian Convention, as well as with the private sector.

Tourism and nature conservationTourism has great potential both for good and for bad. Depending on how it is done, tourism development can hold the key to preserving natural and cultural treasures, both by giving local communities the means as well as the

appreciation and incentive to preserve their natural riches. But done wrongly, tourism can also easily do more harm than good, killing the proverbial goose that lays the golden eggs.

Ecotourism, which tries to develop tourism that benefits from while sup-porting nature conservation, is grow-ing in currency in the Danube in recent years. After years of promoting only mass tourism, the Romanian govern-ment has recently launched an ecot-ourism destinations programme that promotes tourism connected with se-lected natural treasures, like the Rete-zat National Park. The seven countries that share the Carpathian Mountains are currently finalising a common strategy for developing ecotourism as part of the tourism protocol un-der the Convention for the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathian Mountains. The Danube Competence Centre in Belgrade is co-ordinating a number of tourism initi-atives related to the Danube’s natural heritage, including cycle tourism.

WWF has been working with a number of partners to explore opportunities for linking tourism development with nature conservation. The environmen-tal organization is working with tour operators, including Hofer Reisen and Explore Travel, to develop tours to are-as including the Rusenski Lom Natura Park in Bulgaria and the area of Mar-amures in northern Romania. In both areas, WWF has supported local stake-holders to establish financing schemes whereby a percentage of income from local tourists goes to support local pro-tected area management – i.e. a scheme to ensure that tourism not only deliv-ers livelihoods for local people, but also takes care of the “goose that lays the golden eggs”.

Beside river the Danube: Rusenski Lom

Tourism for nature in Rusenski Lom Nature Park

Rusenski Lom Nature Park in northern Bulgaria is a pioneer in harnessing tour-ism for nature conservation. The park, which stretches along the canyons of the Rusenski Lom River, the last right tribu-tary of the Danube, has much to conserve. The breathtaking canyons and rock peaks

include beautiful chapels and caves that medieval hermits carved into the rock. They also are home to a rich store of natu-ral treasures. The area is home to 70 of the country’s 90 species of mammals as well as Egyptian vultures, Black storks and oth-er endangered bird species.

For a number of years, WWF has been working with the park administration and local stakeholders to find ways to generate incomes for the 35,000 people in the area in a way that conserves or even enhances the area’s chief selling point – its natural and cultural heritage. In addition to promoting nature friendly agriculture, sustainable forest management and marketing local-ly produced food, WWF has supported local residents and businesses to establish a conservation fund. A percentage of in-come from tourist services goes into the fund, which provides the park administra-tion with additional resources for manag-ing visitors and supporting conservation activities, e.g. for the endangered Egyptian vulture.

The “Blue Danube” is usually connected with culture and cuisine and the ma-jor cities on its banks, from Vienna to Budapest and Belgrade. But it is beyond those cities where the river’s greatest treasures are found. Indeed, the Danube includes many of Europe’s – and even the world’s – greatest natural riches.

Andreas Beckmann, Managing Director of the WWF Danube-Carpathian Programmewww.panda.org/dcpo

WWF Danube watcher


A canoe glides silently over a calm branch of the Danube. The shores are so overgrown they look like a jungle, nothing disturbs the silence, all you can hear are birdcalls and the gentle splash of the paddles. Up ahead, there’s a Grey Heron sitting on a branch in the water! You pull out your camera, and the bird takes off. You press the trigger – a great shot! Are you sure?

Behind the scenes, it looks different: the Grey Heron is raising its chicks. Its nest lies further into the forest, high up on a tree top. All day long, the adult bird moves between the nest and the water, constantly busy searching food for its young. Now it is being bothered by the boats with tourists. Every time it flies up, escapes and settles again a hun-dred metres further along the shore to hunt in peace, the boat reaches it again after only a few minutes. The bird gets stressed, has less success hunting, and its chicks are hungry.

This snapshot is only one striking ex-ample amongst many illustrating how-man’s presence disturbs fauna and

flora along the Danube. If only a few people have got too close to its nest, the White-tailed Eagle leaves it at the beginning of the breeding season and may not breed at all during that season. Attractive flowers – like different or-chids on dry grassland – are picked and cannot reproduce or serve as food for insects. To create new paths for tourists, upright dead trees have to be chopped down as they might fall over any time – that means fewer habitats for countless insects, birds or bats.

Protected areas as refuges andrecreational spaceNational parks, landscape conservation areas and biosphere reserves protect the last natural habitats of domestic animal

and plant species; with them, refuges of biodiversity are created. At the same time, it’s important to make people enthusiastic for natural diversity and dynamics and to keep the natural areas usable for recreational purposes.

In order to reconcile both objectives, there are codes of conduct in protected areas: Only non-motorized boats are allowed in just a few designated areas, swimming is not authorized on all river shores, there are designated spots for camping and lighting a fire, and hikers should always stay on marked paths.

How much human presence can nature bear?

Now that humans already take up so much formerly natural space, nature should be able to grow freely in its last refuges – national parks, nature parks and other protected areas along the Danube. At the same time, conservation areas have an important recreational function for people and give them the opportunity of expe-riencing nature first-hand and understanding it better. These contrary interests are compatible – thanks to guiding measures and educational offers.

Danubeparks

Guided toursA guided tour is most exciting: the rangers accompany visitors to obser-vation spots, where they can observe White-tailed Eagles, herons, cormo-rants and many other animals at rest without disturbing them. The tourists don’t only notice blooming orchids, but also many inconspicuous little plants, because the rangers can tell interesting stories about their role in the ecosystem or their traditional use. And because visitors get so much new information in a small area, they eventually don’t care anymore about the fact that there are no paths leading to big parts of the reserve. Our largely mapped and devel-oped world needs a bit of inaccessible mystery.

Magdalena Wagner,Danubeparks

More information: www.danubeparks.org

Danubeparks

1717

The DANUBEPARKS networkSince 2009, protected areas along the Danube have been cooperating in the DANUBEPARKS network. Today, 17 nature reserves collaborate in the network; a few more could join in the next few years. Important topics are river morphology, wildlife conservation and habitat management, as well as nature tourism and envi-ronmental education.

A survey on the ecological viability and possible solutions to the conflict between protection of the environment and recreational use is currently being done, led by the Donau-Auwald Neuburg-Ingolstadt (Germany) and the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (Romania). In the future, a data base of particularly endangered species is supposed to help Danube protected areas find appropriate solutions to reconcile the different interests: In addition to identifying the main disturbances and reactions of the species to them, the data base lists examples of best practice drawn from other reserves or literature, so that experiences are passed on and can be adapted and implemented.

Further activities in tourism and education:Training for rangersDevelop new boat and bike toursPrepare a common action plan on nature tourismCompile facilities of environmental educationDevelop quality guidelines for environmental educationDevelop offers for disabled people (Donau-Auwald Neuburg-Ingolstadt, Germany; in progress)

The International Danube Festival of Danube Protected Areas has already taken place several times in different lo-

cations: After Hungary, Austria and Romania, the next stop-over is Serbia. It will take place in cooperation with the Bodrog Festival in Baki Monostor in the protected area Gornje Podunavlje on August 9 and 10. Visitors will have the occasion to meet repre-sentatives of all DANUBEPARKS partners, gather information on holidays and nature conservation in their regions or simply learn more about the diverse nature of the Da-nube through games, a quiz and information material directly on site. All around, the Bodrog Festival features modern and traditional Serbian music as well as delicious food – including a fish soup cooking contest at the opening on Friday evening.

Experience DANUBEPARKS!

Space for people and nature


“I’ve always been on the road”, Günther Krämer replies and laughs when asked at what moment he dis-covered his passion for hiking. First in the Alps and later as a student in the Orient. Then the 64-year-old had what he calls a “jungle phase” in Africa and Latin America. After 1990, he explored Eastern Europe afoot, going as far as the Ukraine.

Today, he and his wife Angelica like hik-ing in Romania and along the German Danube best. Since 2010, the two hiking experts have been offering guided tours for small groups up to ten participants that mainly appeal to ramblers of 50 years and older. “Many of our partici-pants are regulars, to be precise: 43 per-cent”, Günther Krämer rejoices.

The Krämers see themselves as amblers, and so they called their company Lust-wandeln (ambling). This year, they will lead a tour to the hiking paradise Buk-ovina (Carpathian Mountains) in June before treading on uncharted paths in mysterious Maramures and through the Southern Carpathians near Brasov in August. “The Carpathians are an in-sider tip for hikers. They never fail to inspire us with their nature, hospitali-ty and Romanian specialties”, Krämer reports. And what about communica-tion? “No problem at all”, says Angelica Krämer, for she was born in Romania and is responsible for translating during the hikes. Moreover, the Krämers or-ganise the complete trip: getting there, accommodation, food, programme and hiking route. “Like that, the participants don’t have to worry about anything and can enjoy the hike”, Angelica Krämer explains. While some things were un-

familiar when the couple first launched their own business, they have now de-veloped a certain routine in organising their tours. Many things are handled by e-mail. Whenever that’s not possi-ble due to missing internet connections, e.g. when booking accommodation in remote villages, Angelica Krämer sim-ply phones. The Krämers know by ex-perience that in Romania, it’s important to book bindingly. “Or else, you might find yourself with no place to spend the night”, she knows.

Hiking tourists are exotic in Romania, and yet, they always encounter open and cordial hospitality. “Romanians can’t understand why one would want

Lustwandeln

Günther Krämer has always most enjoyed exploring the world on foot, and he has always organised private hiking tours for small groups. In 2010, he turned his passion into a profession. Ever since, he and his wife Angeli-ca have been offering hikes for everyone in the Carpathian Mountains and along the German Danube.

to walk long distances”, Krämer ex-plains, “for in Romania, the car is the main means of transportation. Every-body drives, and the railway network is getting smaller every year.” But the Krämers still try use public transpor-tation when they need it during their tours – sometimes, this can mean taking a horse-drawn vehicle.

“For years, we’ve been trying to convince decision-makers in politics and tourism in the region that the hiking trails in the Carpathians have enormous potential for the development of gentle tourism”, Krämer underlines. So far without suc-cess. According to Krämer, this is due to the fact that many Romanians don’t think in a business-oriented way and don’t work systematically. “The paths could easily be certified as premium trails, which would attract hiking enthu-siasts from Switzerland, Germany, Lux-embourg, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland.” The region needs this kind of sustainable tourism to survive. “The farmers maintain this beautiful cultural landscape, and they need a livelihood through tourists which they lodge and

feed”, says Krämer, who is member of the German Hiking Institute. In addi-tion to his activity as a hiking guide, he also develops high-quality hiking paths for local authorities and tourist organ-isations. This is where we come to the Danube.

In 2008, the Krämers spent several weeks planning and exploring a hiking trail along the Danube, commissioned by the consortium German Danube (ARGE Deutsche Donau). There is no continuous marking, but the route can be downloaded as a series of maps, de-scriptions and GPX data. Today, hiking tours along the German Danube are part of Lustwandeln’s offer of guided hikes. The couple organises hiking trips from the Black Forest to Passau and hikes in the Danube canyon. Those who prefer hiking by themselves to walking in a group will find a lot of information on everything concerning hiking on the website of Lustwandeln, or they can ask to be advised individually by the two hiking experts.

Andrea Toll, danube connects

In Romania, hikers are exotic

At the hay harvest in Bukovina The folk dance festival „Hora de la Prislop“

www.lustwandeln.euwww.deutsche-donau.de


Doubly Sustainable:Living and Working with Bulgarian Farmers

The idea of Farmhopping is surpris-ingly simple: bring Bulgarian farmers and city dwellers together via an in-ternet platform.

That way, small rural farms can find new supporters interested in preserv-ing sustainable agriculture. These sup-porters are called Farmhoppers because they do not only purchase vegetables, fruit or cheese directly from the produc-ers in rural areas. For several days or weeks, they visit “their farm” and par-ticipate in everyday work and life – farm holidays that are doubly sustainable!

Farmhopping was developed by Rossi Mitova, who calls herself a “city girl”. After studies of investment and risk management at the renowned Cass Business School in London, she first worked for nine years in investment banking in London before implement-ing her know-how and experience in Bulgaria. Eight years ago, she founded the platform Farmhopping as a start-up together with two partners. The project has been developing well and currently involves 16 farms working in a sustain-able manner in Bulgaria. Farmhopping is now also gaining ground in the USA, Egypt and India.

It all began during a trip to the moun-tains close to Kresna (150 km south of Sofia), when Rossi Mitova and Mihail Stanchev discovered the Perun farm. Here, Todor Georgiev breeds (amongst others) the endangered Karakachan sheep and fights against the competition of large, non-sustainable businesses. Mihail started supporting the breeding of two sheep with a monthly donation. The Perun farm has since become a member of Farmhopping. Today, Todor Georgiev says: “When I joined Farm-hopping, I had almost abandoned hope for my dream of agriculture. But thanks to this platform, I have met people who want to help.”

Thomas Zehender, journalist, Ulm

www.farmhopping.com

The idea of Farmhopping is surpris

Farmhopping

Will the Bratislava Bike Point (BBP) remain a provisional arrangement in the second year of its existence? Since April 2013, bicycles are being rented out to tourists in a leased container next to the new bridge over the Dan-ube (novy most).

The four part-time employees of the BBP provide information, help bikers with breakdowns and offer safe storage for bike tourists who want to discover the historic centre on foot and without luggage. The BBP is managed by the

travel organisation Luka Tours with the support of the tourist office and the mu-nicipality of Bratislava. Originally, the provisional container was supposed to be replaced by a constant establishment close to the UFO restaurant near the new bridge over the Danube – in spring, ear-ly enough for the bike season 2014. At the end of January, BBP disclosed that the construction had not yet started, so that a container might again be installed. Nonetheless, the Bratislava Bike Point is expecting an increasing number of bike tourists, for both the European cycle

Bicycle Touring in Bratislava: Opportunities Thanks to EuroVelo 6 and 13

The world’s last forestry railway with a steam locomotive runs on a route network of about 60 kilometres. The sinuous route leads over bridges and through tunnels, following the water flow to a wildly romantic Carpathian valley. The train makes it possible to access a gigantic forest area that pos-sesses neither roads nor villages, but instead is home to bears and wolves. The lumber resources started to be used at the beginning of the 18th cen-tury under the rule of the Austro-Hun-garian Empire. German-speaking colonists began exploiting the old-growth forests and floated the tim-ber down to the sawmills of Vișeu de Sus. The construction of the forest rail

way started in 1932 and made it much easier to transport timber.

Vaser Valley Mocănița still serves its purposeAfter 1990, all forestry railways in Ro-mania were shut down because of the economic situation. They were disman-tled, their locomotives and wagons scrapped and sold. Only the Vaser Val-ley Railway in the Maramureș region re-mained. Today, it still serves its original purpose, as it is still used for transport-ing timber. Since 2000, the railway has received support from the association “Help for the Vaser Valley Railway”. With Swiss help, abandoned steam locomotives were put back into service,

new passenger wagons obtained, the lo-comotive depot and the historic railway station were restored. Since 2009, Ioana and Andreas Coman-Karlstetter have been in charge of tourist operations on the railway track. The industrial use is managed by the company CFF Vișeu de Sus. One year after the railway had been brought back into service, 13 000 tourists had already taken the Vaser Valley Railway through the mountain landscape of Maramureș. And more and more tourists come every year. 80 percent of passengers are tourists from Romania; the other 20 percent come from Switzerland and Germany. In the high season from the end of July to the end of August, two to three trains leave every day. Seats can be reserved on the internet. It’s possible to organise special voyages for groups. www.cffviseu.ro

Raluca Nelepcu, Banater Zeitung, Temeswar

route EuroVelo 13 (Barents Sea to Black Sea), also called the Iron Curtain Trail, and the extended EuroVelo 6 (Atlantic to Black Sea) pass through Bratislava. Furthermore, BBP cooperates with bike rentals in Vienna and Budapest, so that one part of the journey can be covered with a rented bike, and the way back by boat. According to the BBP, most of the bike tourists come from Great Britain, Italy, Ireland, Russia and Germany, fol-lowed by Canadians and Dutch.Bike Bratislava, another bike rental service, also reports that demand, in-

cluding by locals, has been growing for years. With over 100 kilometres of bicycle lanes, Bratislava and its sur-roundings offer various opportunities for day trips. For one-way rentals, Bike Bratislava takes matters in hand and brings bicycles back from Vienna or Bu-dapest itself. Together with partners, it can equip groups of 30 people and more with bikes.


www.bratislavabikepoint.comwww.bikebratislava.skwww.eurovelo6.orgwww.ironcurtaintrail.eu

The Vaser Valley Railway or Mocanit,a: tourists travelling through Northern Romania simply cannot ignore it. It’s the unrivalled main attraction in the Ma-ramures‚ region at the Ukrainian border. Under full steam, passengers are brought from Vis‚eu de Sus to the Vaser Valley/Valea Vaserului. An experience no traveller is likely to forget.

Forestry Railway through the CarpathiansTaking the World’s Last

Bratislava Bike Point at the new bridge


Doubly Sustainable:Living and Working with Bulgarian Farmers

The idea of Farmhopping is surpris-ingly simple: bring Bulgarian farmers and city dwellers together via an in-ternet platform.

That way, small rural farms can find new supporters interested in preserv-ing sustainable agriculture. These sup-porters are called Farmhoppers because they do not only purchase vegetables, fruit or cheese directly from the produc-ers in rural areas. For several days or weeks, they visit “their farm” and par-ticipate in everyday work and life – farm holidays that are doubly sustainable!

Farmhopping was developed by Rossi Mitova, who calls herself a “city girl”. After studies of investment and risk management at the renowned Cass Business School in London, she first worked for nine years in investment banking in London before implement-ing her know-how and experience in Bulgaria. Eight years ago, she founded the platform Farmhopping as a start-up together with two partners. The project has been developing well and currently involves 16 farms working in a sustain-able manner in Bulgaria. Farmhopping is now also gaining ground in the USA, Egypt and India.

It all began during a trip to the moun-tains close to Kresna (150 km south of Sofia), when Rossi Mitova and Mihail Stanchev discovered the Perun farm. Here, Todor Georgiev breeds (amongst others) the endangered Karakachan sheep and fights against the competition of large, non-sustainable businesses. Mihail started supporting the breeding of two sheep with a monthly donation. The Perun farm has since become a member of Farmhopping. Today, Todor Georgiev says: “When I joined Farm-hopping, I had almost abandoned hope for my dream of agriculture. But thanks to this platform, I have met people who want to help.”


www.farmhopping.com

Farmhopping

Will the Bratislava Bike Point (BBP) remain a provisional arrangement in the second year of its existence? Since April 2013, bicycles are being rented out to tourists in a leased container next to the new bridge over the Dan-ube (novy most).

The four part-time employees of the BBP provide information, help bikers with breakdowns and offer safe storage for bike tourists who want to discover the historic centre on foot and without luggage. The BBP is managed by the

travel organisation Luka Tours with the support of the tourist office and the mu-nicipality of Bratislava. Originally, the provisional container was supposed to be replaced by a constant establishment close to the UFO restaurant near the new bridge over the Danube – in spring, ear-ly enough for the bike season 2014. At the end of January, BBP disclosed that the construction had not yet started, so that a container might again be installed. Nonetheless, the Bratislava Bike Point is expecting an increasing number of bike tourists, for both the European cycle

Bicycle Touring in Bratislava: Opportunities Thanks to EuroVelo 6 and 13

The world’s last forestry railway with a steam locomotive runs on a route network of about 60 kilometres. The sinuous route leads over bridges and through tunnels, following the water flow to a wildly romantic Carpathian valley. The train makes it possible to access a gigantic forest area that pos-sesses neither roads nor villages, but instead is home to bears and wolves. The lumber resources started to be used at the beginning of the 18th cen-tury under the rule of the Austro-Hun-garian Empire. German-speaking colonists began exploiting the old-growth forests and floated the tim-ber down to the sawmills of Vișeu de Sus. The construction of the forest rail

way started in 1932 and made it much easier to transport timber.

Vaser Valley Mocănița still serves its purposeAfter 1990, all forestry railways in Ro-mania were shut down because of the economic situation. They were disman-tled, their locomotives and wagons scrapped and sold. Only the Vaser Val-ley Railway in the Maramureș region re-mained. Today, it still serves its original purpose, as it is still used for transport-ing timber. Since 2000, the railway has received support from the association “Help for the Vaser Valley Railway”. With Swiss help, abandoned steam locomotives were put back into service,

new passenger wagons obtained, the lo-comotive depot and the historic railway station were restored. Since 2009, Ioana and Andreas Coman-Karlstetter have been in charge of tourist operations on the railway track. The industrial use is managed by the company CFF Vișeu de Sus. One year after the railway had been brought back into service, 13 000 tourists had already taken the Vaser Valley Railway through the mountain landscape of Maramureș. And more and more tourists come every year. 80 percent of passengers are tourists from Romania; the other 20 percent come from Switzerland and Germany. In the high season from the end of July to the end of August, two to three trains leave every day. Seats can be reserved on the internet. It’s possible to organise special voyages for groups. www.cffviseu.ro

Raluca Nelepcu, Banater Zeitung, Temeswar

route EuroVelo 13 (Barents Sea to Black Sea), also called the Iron Curtain Trail, and the extended EuroVelo 6 (Atlantic to Black Sea) pass through Bratislava. Furthermore, BBP cooperates with bike rentals in Vienna and Budapest, so that one part of the journey can be covered with a rented bike, and the way back by boat. According to the BBP, most of the bike tourists come from Great Britain, Italy, Ireland, Russia and Germany, fol-lowed by Canadians and Dutch.Bike Bratislava, another bike rental service, also reports that demand, in-

cluding by locals, has been growing for years. With over 100 kilometres of bicycle lanes, Bratislava and its sur-roundings offer various opportunities for day trips. For one-way rentals, Bike Bratislava takes matters in hand and brings bicycles back from Vienna or Bu-dapest itself. Together with partners, it can equip groups of 30 people and more with bikes.


www.bratislavabikepoint.comwww.bikebratislava.skwww.eurovelo6.orgwww.ironcurtaintrail.eu

The Vaser Valley Railway or Mocanit,a: tourists travelling through Northern Romania simply cannot ignore it. It’s the unrivalled main attraction in the Ma-ramures‚ region at the Ukrainian border. Under full steam, passengers are brought from Vis‚eu de Sus to the Vaser Valley/Valea Vaserului. An experience no traveller is likely to forget.

Forestry Railway through the Carpathians Forestry Railway Forestry RailwayTaking the World’s Last

Bratislava Bike Point at the new bridge


DMAMA DUNA7. Internationales Donaufestin Ulm und Neu-Ulm27. August - 5. September 2010





Born 1876 into a poor family in the south of Romania, Brâncuşi worked hard to make ends meet even as a child. As an adolescent, he succeeded in trav-elling to Paris, where he became known for his new style of sculpture. This style combined archaic tradition with very modern forms. He was an apprentice to Rodin and won his esteem, but soon left his master to find his own way to an original oeuvre. Later, Modigliani painted his portrait. With Picasso, he designed joint exhibitions. James Joyce asked him to create his portrait. His studio at the Centre Pompidou in Paris is evidence of his genius and influence on modern art. Shortly before his death (1957), Brâncuşi made the following statement about his works: “You don’t yet know all that I am leaving you.” With these words, he said goodbye to his art. He gave away many of his sculptures, for he was generous, and then created them again. There are sev-eral versions of almost all of his works.

Ruse - Bulgarien

“You don’t yet know all that I am leaving you!”

The Endless Column, 1937–1938

Travel and art

When he was asked to create a tomb for Petre Stănescu in Buzau, Romania, he designed a weeping woman kneel-ing in front of a bust of the deceased set on a pedestal. “How could I erect the sculpture of a naked woman in a cemetery? The solution was a prayer, a synthesis of deepest mourning”, said Brâncuşi. The sculpture The Prayer il-lustrates his new way of thinking: Be-cause the woman is anonymous, the sculpture’s meaning becomes univer-sal. The statue is neither a symbol of composure in the face of death, nor is it stuck in a traditional, realistic style.

His many magical birds (Măiastra) were supposed to sublimate the idea of flying – the abstract idea per se. They are now to be found in museums in New York, London, Chicago and Paris. The Gate of the Kiss has its roots in Târ-gu Jiu, in the Gorj region of southern Romania, where it can be admired out in the open. It stems from the idea to “create a sculpture that does not com-memorate a specific couple, but all human couples who have loved each other and lived on earth; each of my works is born from this sentiment”, is how Brâncuşi describes this sculp-

ture. Next to the gate of the house and at the heads of the tombs of a married couple, two trees are planted. Their in-tertwined crowns represent the eternal unification of the spouses. Man and woman cannot be distinguished from each other. The Gate of the Kiss evolved from the original sculpture The Kiss.

The Endless Column, a signal of victory and immortality, and The Table of Silence are also located outdoors in Târgu Jiu. Both are universal works that bring Brâncuşi’s genius back from the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, home to his birthplace, to his roots. The Craio-va Art Museum, Romania, harbours a part of his 250 works. Others can now be seen in the world’s great museums. They bear witness to his genius: The Wisdom of the Earth, Mademoiselle Pog-any, The Prayer, The Newborn, Sleeping Muse.

Visit Brâncuşi, his Romanian soul, em-bodied in those of his works standing out-of-doors.

Dr. Monica Vlad,journalist, Romania

Craiova Art Museum

The sumptuous neobaroque palace that houses the museum was completed in 1896, following the plans of the French architect Paul Gotereau, who also built the CEC building in Bucharest. The main attraction of the museum is the art gallery dedicated to Romanian-born Constantin Brâncus‚i, exhibiting six of his early sculptures (including variants of his best-known works): The Kiss (1907), Vitellius (1898), Wo-man Torso (1909), The Vainglory (1905), Boy‘s Head (1906), Mademoiselle Po-gany (1902). Brâncus‚i’s ‘studio’ has been recreated in the museum.

Love, the secret of Brâncus‚i’s art. Love, the magical formula of the universe of great art. “It is less important to be lo-ved than to love with all one’s strength and being.” That is how Brâncus‚i de-scribed his sculpture Adam and Eve.

Brâncus‚i in his studio

The KissDifferent forms


MAMA DUNA7. Internationales Donaufestin Ulm und Neu-Ulm27. August - 5. September 2010





Born 1876 into a poor family in the south of Romania, Brâncuşi worked hard to make ends meet even as a child. As an adolescent, he succeeded in trav-elling to Paris, where he became known for his new style of sculpture. This style combined archaic tradition with very modern forms. He was an apprentice to Rodin and won his esteem, but soon left his master to find his own way to an original oeuvre. Later, Modigliani painted his portrait. With Picasso, he designed joint exhibitions. James Joyce asked him to create his portrait. His studio at the Centre Pompidou in Paris is evidence of his genius and influence on modern art. Shortly before his death (1957), Brâncuşi made the following statement about his works: “You don’t yet know all that I am leaving you.” With these words, he said goodbye to his art. He gave away many of his sculptures, for he was generous, and then created them again. There are sev-eral versions of almost all of his works.

Ruse - Bulgarien

“You don’t yet know all that I am leaving you!”

The Endless Column, 1937–1938

Travel and art

When he was asked to create a tomb for Petre Stănescu in Buzau, Romania, he designed a weeping woman kneel-ing in front of a bust of the deceased set on a pedestal. “How could I erect the sculpture of a naked woman in a cemetery? The solution was a prayer, a synthesis of deepest mourning”, said Brâncuşi. The sculpture The Prayer il-lustrates his new way of thinking: Be-cause the woman is anonymous, the sculpture’s meaning becomes univer-sal. The statue is neither a symbol of composure in the face of death, nor is it stuck in a traditional, realistic style.

His many magical birds (Măiastra) were supposed to sublimate the idea of flying – the abstract idea per se. They are now to be found in museums in New York, London, Chicago and Paris. The Gate of the Kiss has its roots in Târ-gu Jiu, in the Gorj region of southern Romania, where it can be admired out in the open. It stems from the idea to “create a sculpture that does not com-memorate a specific couple, but all human couples who have loved each other and lived on earth; each of my works is born from this sentiment”, is how Brâncuşi describes this sculp-

ture. Next to the gate of the house and at the heads of the tombs of a married couple, two trees are planted. Their in-tertwined crowns represent the eternal unification of the spouses. Man and woman cannot be distinguished from each other. The Gate of the Kiss evolved from the original sculpture The Kiss.

The Endless Column, a signal of victory and immortality, and The Table of Silence are also located outdoors in Târgu Jiu. Both are universal works that bring Brâncuşi’s genius back from the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, home to his birthplace, to his roots. The Craio-va Art Museum, Romania, harbours a part of his 250 works. Others can now be seen in the world’s great museums. They bear witness to his genius: The Wisdom of the Earth, Mademoiselle Pog-any, The Prayer, The Newborn, Sleeping Muse.

Visit Brâncuşi, his Romanian soul, em-bodied in those of his works standing out-of-doors.

Dr. Monica Vlad,journalist, Romania

Craiova Art Museum

The sumptuous neobaroque palace that houses the museum was completed in 1896, following the plans of the French architect Paul Gotereau, who also built the CEC building in Bucharest. The main attraction of the museum is the art gallery dedicated to Romanian-born Constantin Brâncus‚i, exhibiting six of his early sculptures (including variants of his best-known works): The Kiss (1907), Vitellius (1898), Wo-man Torso (1909), The Vainglory (1905), Boy‘s Head (1906), Mademoiselle Po-gany (1902). Brâncus‚i’s ‘studio’ has been recreated in the museum.

Love, the secret of Brâncus‚i’s art. Love, the magical formula of the universe of great art. “It is less important to be lo-ved than to love with all one’s strength and being.” That is how Brâncus‚i de-scribed his sculpture Adam and Eve.

Brâncus‚i in his studio

The KissDifferent forms

danube connects – the magazine for the danube countries, 1/2014

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Transcript of danube connects – the magazine for the danube countries, 1/2014