The flowing borders of the gentle Morava

With its segment along the border of Slovakia, the Morava is considered one of the oldest border rivers in Austria. As the crow flies, the river spans just 50 km from its arrival in Austria until its confluence with the Danube. However, the waterways, including many meanders, almost double that length. The border between Slovakia and Austria likewise displays a curvy contour, aligning itself in broad sweeps with first one river bank and then the other. Perhaps the border adapted itself to the calm and cosy Morava. For canoeists the Morava is a wonderful border river. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the river has been once again traversable. The national border is now less perceptible in the landscape; at the most a few nuances become visible: the Slovakian bank is flatter and in a more natural state, while the Austrian side is steeper and earthier. The natural borders between the Morava and its branches, marshes, and wetlands flow gently, such as near Ringelsdorf. The evolution of the landscape can be seen at its fullest extent from the position of the canoeist in the middle of the river. This is a wide-angle perspective that the cyclist along the Iron Curtain Trail unfortunately does not have. There is a similar allure to the Morava wetlands, with a green glimmer during the early summer. The unbounded views of the blue sky point to the fact that a broad region of fine weather above Central Europe will continue to provide soft and gentle flows to the Morava.