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We shall discover “hidden places” and encounter contexts that not only make the history and culture of the Danube region accessible, but also elucidate our contemporary issues; contexts demonstrating that art and culture are not just for prestige, pomp and circumstance, but that beauty and sublimity have always contributed to making human life more tolerable, better and richer. All these contexts and phenomena will yield travel experiences that are worthy of the name. Sightseeing alone does not do justice. It’s about encounters, it’s about cuisine and music, it’s about people and customs; it’s about getting back to nature and sounding out multiple dimensions with all our senses. The Danube is neither a nature reserve nor a tourist leisure and pleasure ground. It is a living environment for people, and every journey should make this a palpable reality. It’s not about perfection but about improvisation. It’s about surprise and emotion, rather than quasi-industrial procedures that mass tourism tows in its wake every now and again.

The image of a symphony should always be our guide: forte and pianissimo, allegro and adagio, nature, culture, cuisine, architecture, folk culture, joie de vivre, but melancholy too, religion, and spirituality. The Danube is as many-faceted as its shades of blue.

Danube Europe - the discovery of a "liquid space"

The discovery of a “liquid space” - leading along the middle part of the Danube course, this trail invites you to discover a different Europe: the Europe of the Danube, which is obviously distinct from the Europe of the Rhine. On our route from Linz to Novi Sad and Timişoara, it reveals a “liquid space” in permanent transition. It includes destinations and POIs in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and Croatia, with views to the European Capitals of Culture Novi Sad in Serbia and Timişoara in Romania.

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Returning to the last danube: Nature and mankind

In the beginning was the Danube. Being Europe’s most significant river, it nourished, protected, enriched and connected different groups of people as early as prehistoric times, later providing bonds between countries and nations. The trail focuses on the lower section of the Danube (stretching from the Hungarian-Serbian-Croatian border to the delta) and shows just those treasures in 3 main destinations that are sought after by so many in remote Asian mountains or hot African sand: the promise of being able to return and reconnect to untouched nature and our own selves: Heart of the Danube presents the highly demonstrative master example of how man has coexisted with nature for centuries, the Iron Gate illustrates the constant clash of water and rocks as two elemental materials. The Danube Delta region reveals the original natural state, the world before man, in its most complete form.

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the danube adventure - legions heading for the danubius  -the river that attracted cultures

Legions Head for the Danubius - The Roman period of the Danube spans more than 450 years. During this era, a coherent system was built to defend the Imperium Romanum to the north while also being an area for border crossers, cultural exchange and a new culture to emerge. The trail encompasses heritage sites related to the first settler in the Danube region as well as a selection of destinations with the many cultural stamps the Roman left on the area, including Roman personalities with symbolic significance like Marcus Aurelius, or saints Martin and Florian, as well as traditions of winemaking and trade.

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Danube Trade - The exchange of stories and goods

The Danube is one of the oldest trading routes in Europe, and its merchants have known other cultures and countries better than most of the professions, especially in the past. The trail presents the history of trade, traditional riverside trade-towns, merchant dynasties, as well as the positive impacts and downsides of trade along the Danube with destinations and POIs in Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, and Romania.

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Danube for the soul

In many ways, the Danube region resembles a laboratory in which not only the history of Europe but also the entire spectrum of human forms of action, political organisation and social upheavals can be observed. Those who travel along the Danube with open eyes and an open soul can therefore also learn a lot about the relationship of people to the supernatural. The Danube region has produced its own religious practices, artistic expressions, myths, and legends, but also its own saints and religious figures of light, whose efforts for faith others took as an example and some still take today. The trail presents a colourful selection of cult sites and symbolic personalities of Christian and Jewish religions as well as Islam.

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'Cultural harvest' along the Danube: Art, Music and architecture - a look at formative eras and their influences, wealth, splendour, and landmarks

Art, Culture and Architecture - Experiencing formative Eras and their Creators - Wealth, Splendor, Landmarks - The cultural experiences that “Danubian Europe” can offer through a wide and rich variety of eras. Where else could travellers find the World’s oldest flute, listen to Medieval choirs next to the 17th-century parliament of a multi-national Empire, get absorbed in modern technology blending with art to revitalize a city that has changed its identity at least once every century, discover Chinese influences in Renaissance paintings, discuss literature, philosophy and psychology in a coffee house, marvel at the art and lifestyle of Baroque country life, explore the interconnectivity between “culture”, “religion” and “nation”, walk among the monuments of at least three fallen Danube Empires, discover the diversity of Art Noveau styles in art and architecture, walk from “Gibraltar” to “Athens”, cross bridges between “East” and “West” and return to the culture of everyday life with the river in a wooden house raised on stilts?

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