the team of transdanbube travel stories wishes you a Merry christmas and happy new year! 

Welcome to the 1st Newsletter of the Trandanube Travel Stories project. In this Newsletter you can find more information about the project, our events and our culutre routes. 

about the project - What ARE Transdanube Travel stories?

The Danube region is rich in cultural and natural heritage. Whereas there are already many initiatives dealing with conservation and research, the project recognises sustainable tourism as another important option to use and preserve this heritage. European Cultural Routes and the other networks represented in this project set first steps to valorise these assets in that direction.
Recognizing the vast cultural and natural heritage, the project Transdanube Travel Stories aims at supporting sustainable tourism in the Danube region by implementing innovative promotion concepts (new narratives) and sustainable mobility management tools.

Read more about the Transbanube Travel Stories partnership and project HERE. 

Kick-Off Conference

On 22nd September 2020, the EU-funded project `Transdanube Travel Stories - Sustainable mobility linking Danube Travel Stories’ officially started with an online Kick-Off Conference. Around 40 participants of the seven partner countries learnt more about the main aim of the project to support sustainable tourism in the Danube region by implementing innovative promotion concepts (new narratives) and sustainable mobility management tools.

Read more about kick off conference: HERE

THE DANUBE TOLD IN A NEW WAY

Kick-off workshop for EU project "Transdanube Travel Stories“

10 partners from seven countries are jointly engaged in the new EU project "Transdanube Travel Stories" for sustainable tourism in the Danube region and want to promote the the Danube with new stories and experiences by implementing new, innovative strategies.

Read more about workshop: HERE

WHAT IS CULTURAL HERITAGE?

Cultural heritage shapes our everyday lives. It surrounds us in towns and cities, natural landscapes and archaeological sites.

What does this mean?

It means literature, arts and monuments, crafts learnt from our ancestors, the stories we tell our children, the food we enjoy.

Created representations of our cultural heritage have a social value for people. This value may be cultural, artistic, historical, archaeological, or anthropological. The deliberate act of safeguarding  cultural heritage of the past and present for the future is also known as conservation.

Read more about that get know our culture route HERE.

saint martin of tours route

Let us introduce a cultural route participating in our project: the
Via Santic Martini  

One of Europe’s most popular saints, Saint Martin (AD 316/317 – 397), was born in the Roman town Savaria in Pannonia, today Szombathely in Hungary, and died in Tours in modern-day France. Saint Martin of Tours has been a part of Europe's collective memory since the fourth century and symbolises the universal value of sharing.

Saint Martin’s whole life was spent in the spirit of love, mercy, humility and courage, and by the time of his death as bishop of Tours in France, he had already been worshipped as a thaumaturgic saint. His spirit is very much “alive” today: he is known and respected greatly in Austria, Slovakia, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, and in of Croatia. He is a historical figure, “a European hero of folklore and legend”.

After 1989, Saint Martin’s cult has been revived in Hungarian cultural public life - thanks to local civil activities and he is now a town symbol again, including local authorities, municipal institutions and civil non-governmental organisations. Based on international cooperation effiorts, the Council of Europe passed a decision in 2005 about European Cultural Route between Tours and Szombathely that links many locations which were part of the life of Saint Martin. This long stretch of cultural trail covers more than 5,000 kms across Europe and bears the name Via Santic Martini. Overall, the Saint Martin route connects more than 10 European countries.

The following video shows a few hidden cultural treasures in Szombathely city, and its surroundings and we even meet a real pilgrim along the way!  HERE