Until 1989, the hostile military blocks of the Warsaw Pact and NATO faced each other on the Saale, between Hirschberg and Blankenstein. The Iron Curtain separated East and West, tearing families and friendships apart. With the European Green Belt project, the GDR’s death strip became a lifeline for strictly protected animal and plant species. Today there are lynxes, wolves, deer, kingfishers, ospreys, red kites, cormorants, gray and great egrets and since 2019 also the beaver in the area.Especially for former members of the US Army and international travelers, but also for German guests, this tour offers a breathtaking insight into the past and present, combined with the experience of a vital river, the Saale, already used by the Greek geographer and Argonaut Strabo ( 67 BC - 23 AD) was described in his Geographica.
