How It's Used

"The former border is part of a European green belt 4,200 miles long. If the European Union gets its way, the entire interlinking nature reserves will stretch for 4,250 miles, starting at the Arctic Sea, running along Finland's border with Russia, through the Baltic states and Poland to Germany, then skirt Austria's border with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary before following the Danube to the Black Sea."

"It has created a treasure trove of wildlife, including black storks, wild cats and winchats, a range of rare mosses and wood grouse. The newcomer is the lynx, which has been successfully reintroduced to the region since the border came down.

"In four days we hiked around 100km of the green belt, starting at the Torfhaus visitor centre in the Harz national park, just outside the picturesque former mining town of Goslar. It was organised for us by the Harz tourist board and the Green Belt initiative, who will arrange guides, luggage transfers, routes and accommodation, allowing you the freedom to concentrate on the surroundings. Alternatively you can do the hikes alone. The paths are well marked and the local tourist offices on the route are stocked with plenty of maps and information about activities."

"July saw the opening of the new wing of the Schlossmuseum (Castle Museum). The original south wing was destroyed 200 years ago during fires that tore through the city. Its glass-steel replacement will host the European Green Belt exhibition, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain, until January 2010."

"Well before communism collapsed, German nature lovers noticed thriving wildlife along a different Cold War border -- that between East and West Germany -- where no roads, factories or farming had disturbed the calm for decades. So on a snowy December morning in 1989, a month after the Berlin Wall fell, environmentalists from East and West met in a Bavarian border town hoping to turn the region into a conservation area. Today, much of it is a protected zone called the Green Belt."

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