along the limes

Posted on April 5, 2023 by Christoph Rehage

the dam

I had been dreaming about walking on the EuroVelo 6 for a long time. After years and years on shitty roads with only very limited space to walk on, I felt as though the European bike way was going to be just what I needed: an unbroken, well-maintained, dedicated bicycle path without any motorized vehicle traffic, connecting cities and towns and villages along the shores of the Danube. Quiet. Peaceful. Picturesque.

But there was a problem: the EuroVelo 6, at least judging from what we had seen so far, was often just an isolated line of asphalt on top of an elevated embankment. It was like walking on a dyke, looking at villages and houses from the distance, mostly without ever touching them.

Of course it was still awesome to be sheltered from the noise and the stress of the road, but it left us with a feeling of isolation.

Roman walls…

After a while, near the village of Iza, we reached a reconstructed Roman tower. It looked disturbingly modern, but it conveyed the idea that there used to be Roman fortifications here. They were part of the Pannonian Limes.

Many of the rulers of the Roman Empire, just like their counterparts in the Chinese Empire, were obsessed with the idea of securing their borders with fortifications. They didn’t rely on actual stone walls or earth walls as much as the Chinese, though. They built palisades and road networks, stationing garrisons at strategic points.

…and fortifications

Then we reached a very tall flagpole with a shiny blue Unesco flag at the top. There were some ruins next to it. They were called Celemantia, and they belonged to what used to be one of the biggest Roman garrisons in the region. Sadly, they had been reduced to their foundations.