On 10th April we went to the Danube wetlands where 80% of the territory is forest.
We spent the day on a stretch between Bratislava and Vienna. There is also a national park which reaches two km inland from the banks of the river.
Our guide told us that he had visited Spain in 11 days, and had travelled 120 km every day on his bike. He had liked our country very much.
On the bank of the Danube there was a large wooden boat, called Tschaike. We got on the boat and rowed. There were about twelve oars altogether. It was very difficult to row at the same pace, we counted one, two, three and started. Finally the owner of the boat, who had actually built it himself, switched on the engine. This type of boat was originally brought in by the Turkish 500 years ago. They also used the river to take soldiers from one side to the other and when a bridge collapsed or when there was no bridge they put a number of these boats side by side so that people could cross the river.
At this time of the year the water line of the Danube is one meter lower than usual because it is still very cold and the snow in the mountains has not melted yet.
In the Danube wetlands there are lots of beavers. In the past they were a rare species, but now there are many more.
The water of the Danube transports the stones to the ground so sometimes you can hear a hissing sound which is called “the song of the river Danube“. In the middle of the river there is a buoy and on the right side big ships go along the Danube.
On the bank of the river is a ship-mill, which is now used as a museum. The guide taught us how to grind the grain and make bread and then we ate it. Inside the mill there is a wooden oven to get the room warm. The advantage of this mill is that when the water goes up the water wheel goes up too.
The guide also told us that you must grind and sieve the grain three times to get the flour for the bread. It takes half a day to get one kilo of flour!
In the past the ship mill sank and it took 146 days to restore the building. The owner restored the house himself which had almost sunk.
Nerea
