Borders can have a major impact on people’s lives. Our history is fraught with events that have influenced country borders… Changing the future of communities for the better or worse.
Today’s route tells the story of the communities living in the Sopron region and those living around lake Neusiedl. You will experience the richness of the city of Sopron (due to its strong Roman city walls), you’ll learn why this region is bilingual. More importantly, you will see the remains of the Cold War. Old remnants from the Iron Curtain are still visible and new memorials have been erected to celebrate the downfall of this Curtain.

And of course, a good trip should always be accompanied by a good meal. Which will be no issue in this region famous for its delicious wines and foods.

Both your starting point and end point are in Sopron. This gives you the perfect opportunity to spend some time in the city and look around in the old Medieval city center. The city dates back to the Roman period. After the Romans left and the Hungarians arrived in the region, they strengthened the city walls once created by the Romans. These walls played a central role in keeping its inhabitants safe. During the Ottoman period, many Hungarians moved to Sopron in search of a safe haven.

After the downfall of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the region soon became part of Austria. However, early on in the 20th century, the community living in Sopron clearly expressed its interest to be part of Hungary. From then on, the city became known as Hungary’s most loyal town. People might have regretted this decision at a later stage: at the End of WWII the Soviets took over Hungary and its people were suppressed until the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989.

When you leave the city you will immediately start riding North, towards the Austrian border. Nowadays you can cross this border with relative ease. You no longer need to stop for a border check. However, please do stop for a moment. You’ll see memorials commemorating the Pan-European picknick. During the Cold War, with an “Iron Curtain” running in your backyard, people were heavily restricted in their freedom of movement. It made it difficult for people to travel to other areas in Hungary and near impossible for people to cross the border into West-Europe. There was a brief moment in 1989, where the communists allowed free movement between countries at this exact border crossing: an organized picknick took place here. Austrians and Hungarians were invited to join. And as the event took place on the Hungarian side, people were allowed to cross the border. Roughly 600 East German citizens took this opportunity to escape to the West. This event acted as a catalyst to the eventual downfall of the Berlin Wall 2 months later.

After crossing the border into Austria, you can glimpse into a more glamorous side of this region’s history: The Eszterházy Hungarian noble family. This family rose to prominence mainly during the Habsburg monarchy and Austria-Hungary, earning them the titles of counts and princes. With their growing wealth their landownership grew as well. The family has owned castles and palaces in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Germany. Today you can visit two of their palaces. The first one, Schloss Eszterházy in Eisenstadt, was built in the late 13th century. Due to several renovations and upgrades over the centuries, this palace is a mix of Baroque and Classical building styles. Today it is a popular destination for tourists. You can visit parts of the palace’s interior and wander around the immense garden.

The second castle is located in Hungary, just across your second border crossing today, in Fertöd. The castle you see today, was renovated and built during the 2nd half of the 18th century, originally dating back to 1720. It is called the Hungarian Versailles and was used intensively by its aristocracy for parties, ceremonies and galas. If you’d like to look around here, it’s recommended to view the castle from the outside and walk through the castle garden. Inside you can only look around with a mostly Hungarian-speaking guide.

If you aren’t planning to visit the Eszterházy Palace in Eisenstadt, you can take a nice break a little further down the route, in Purbach. This village is known for its wines and the mouth-watering “Heurigenlokale” (inns where local winemakers serve their own wines and delicious foods). You can park in the center of the village and from there decide which Heurigenlokal you will try out!

Today’s route makes a giant loop around Lake Neusiedl, given its size of 315km2. This lake is an endorheic lake, which means that it’s a drainage basin, not allowing any water to flow into external bodies of water, such as rivers or other lakes. Interestingly, the lake has “disappeared” numerous times throughout history. It has dried up at least a 100 times, most recently in 1949. Today, the lake’s waterbody is quite stable. When passing the lake, you will frequently see marshland, which gives home to a large variety of wildlife. Take your time to look around and stop where possible, to spot migrating birds or other wild animals.

You can have a break at the humble Grosse Neubruchlacke (0,31km2), near Lake Neusiedl. The Seebar is a nice, relaxing and informal bar to have lunch or a refreshing drink.

After this break, your route will take you over a dead-end road. This road is also known as the “Road to Freedom”. In 1956 the Hungarian revolution took place. There was a civil uprising against communist oppression. As time passed, it became clear that the uprising was slowly crushed and approximately 70.000 Hungarians crossed the Andau bridge into Austria. They walked the 9 kilometer long road to freedom, to the village of Andau, where the inhabitants welcomed, supported and took care of the refugees until they could move to other locations in Western-Europe, the USA and Canada. At the end of the road you can walk onto the reconstructed bridge and view 90 artworks representing this part of history.

After riding back to the main road, you will head back south again towards the Hungarian border. Again a relatively easy border crossing (border customs occasionally is present, checking passport and people entering the country). From here it’s a small stretch “home”. You will pass and abandoned construction site (nice for urbex photographers) and you can walk around the earlier mentioned Eszterházy castle.

Approximately 15 kilometers before the end of your route in Hidegség, you can deviate from the route. Turn left and follow the signs towards Nagycenk. In this village you can visit Széchenyi Castle and the Széchenyi railway museum. The castle is a barocque-style palace, once home to the famous Széchenyi noble family. It was home of István Széchenyi (“the greatest Hungarian”), who is known for his positive impact on Hungary’s economic, social and cultural development.

Via several small roads you will slowly zigzag back to Sopron, but not before saying a final goodbye to lake Neusiedl in the distance. Your route ends at Restaurant Puskás, where you can enjoy a delicious dinner before heading back to your hotel.