The first Ecotopia was held in 1989 in Cologne. The Biketour didn't exist at that time, so the participants came by bus. They felt very uncomfortable with their unecological way of travelling to such a special place. They started looking for an alternative and (Can you believe it?) they came to the conclusion that the bike is still the most ecological method of transport. Slow enough to connect with nature but fast enough to feel you really are travelling every day. And we guarantee that it's the most exciting way of travelling to Ecotopia!

Ecotopia Biketour has already happened 15 times (with a one-year break in 1997) and has always been organised by volunteers. It promotes cycling as an alternative and sustainable way of transport and tourism. For the 15th time we were demonstrating against the fast growing car-culture in Europe. The culture of global progress has already occupied Eastern European countries, but people still cannot see the counter-effects and costs which they will have to pay. The mistakes Western Europe made because of its ruthless development, are now being copied by eastern countries. We want to raise the public awareness to change this way of development. 

In the herstory-section we will collect all the online remains of past biketours, we can get hold of. please  contact us, if you know more than displayed here:

Part I: 3 really long biketours:

1990: First Ecotopia-Biketour: "Take a bike to Ecotopia (take a car to hell)"

The first biketour connected with ecotopia, i. e. the first Ecotopia-Biketour took place in the year 1990. It started with the UNSAID-festival in Bergen (Norway) in the middle of May 1990. And it ended two and a half months later in the beginning of August 1990 in Bugac-puszta in Hungary.

Route: Bergen (Start 16. 5. 1990) - Oslo - G�?¶teborg - Malm�?¶ - Kobenhavn - R�?¶dby - Puttgarden - Blekendorf - L�?¼beck - Hamburg - Hannover- G�?¶ttingen - Kassel - Erfurt - Bamberg - Regenburg - Passau - Linz - Wien - Bratislava - Budapest - Ecotopia (Bugac-puszta, 1. 8. 1990).

The whole distance was about 3300 km!

Conclusion: long biketours starting quite early in the year are possible!

Note: All this was possible without email, internet and mobile phones!!!

some highlights of this biketour: there was a biketour-booklet with 84 pages and partly in two languages (english and german),...to be continued...

Further comments: this biketour was very well organised, everything was prepared, including the food, which was cooked by Rampenplan. This Dutch kitchen-collective was accompanying the biketour with a big bus (the famous dragonbus) and providing three meals every day. So life was really easy, but it was no 100% biketour, because of this bus.

There were really too many people at least at this part, where I joined bikrtour (in Austria), we were about 125 people!!! there were discussions in at least 4 languages and it was impossible to share all informations with everybody. After Bratislava the number of participants decreased below 100 people.

(to be continued)

1991: (Re)cycle around the Baltic Sea

The second Ecotopia-Biketour became even longer than the first one! It started in Scheveningen (Netherlands) on 17. 5. 1991 and ended in Ecotopia (Tudulinna, Estonia) on 4. 8. 1991.

Political messages: Lets not waste the Baltic Sea! (Re)cycle to Ecotopia! Mo more meter of motorways! Stop Scan-link bridges!

Route: Scheveningen (17. 5. 1991) - Deventer - Groningen - Leer -

- Oldenburg - Bremerhaven - Hamburg - L�?¼beck - Kiel - Flensburg - Odense - Kobenhavn - Malm�?¶ - Linneryd - J�?¶nk�?¶ping - Link�?¶ping - Norrk�?¶ping - Nyk�?¶ping - Stockholm - Grisslehamn - Aland - Turku - Helsinki - Lappeenranta - Vyborg - Zelenogorsk - Leningrad/St.Petersburg - Petrodvorets - Narva - Ecotopia/Tudulinna (4. 8. 1991).

The whole distance was more than 4.000 km, the longest Ecotopia-Biketour ever (so far).

1992: Follow the Danube by bike up to Ecotopia

From Freiburg (Germany) to Ecotopia (Reselets, Bulgaria) 12. 6. - 2. 8. 1992.
 

political messages: energy issues, ecological traveling, GATT, IMF and Worldbank, EU and ERT (European RoundTable of industrialists).

Route: Freiburg (12. 6. 1992) - Villingen - Ulm - N�?¼rnberg - Erlangen - Plzen - Praha - Telc - Brno - Bratislava - Gabcikovo - Gy�?¶r - Tatabanya - Budapest - Szolnok - Oradea - Alba Iulia - Sibiu - Brasov - Predeal - Bucuresti - Ruse - Svistov - Pleven - Ecotopia (Reselets, near Cerven Briag) (2. 8. 1992)

Part II: The Biketour is becoming shorter:

1993: International, ecological, flexible, historical .... and FUN!

This (4th) Biketour was rather short compared to the first three ones, starting in the Netherlands (Sittard) on 29. 6. 1993 and ending in Ecotopia (Chateau de Saint Barthelemy (near Durban), Pyrenees) on 7. 8. 1993.

Route: Sittard (29. 6. 1993) - Maastricht - Brussels - Gent - Lille - Amiens - Paris - Sens - La Charite sur Loire - Digoin - Lyon - Valence - Grignan - Nimes - Montpellier - Beziers - Narbonne - Carcassonne - Mirepoix- Pamiers - Le Mas d�?´ Azil - Ecotopia (Chateau de Saint Barthelemy (near Durban)), 7. 8. 1993

1994: Let�?´s bike to Ecotopia - in Transylvania

Biketour became very short this year: only about 2 weeks of cycling...

Route: Tiszaf�?¼red (21. 7. 1994) - Tokaj - V�?¡s�?¡rosnam�?©ny - Satu Mare - Valea Chioarului - Gilgan Almasului - Gilau - Cheile Turzii - Tirgu Mures - Sovata - Bucin - Gheorgheni - Lacul Rosu - Ecotopia (Ardeluta) (5. 8. 1994).

whole distance: about 900 km.

1995: Ecotopia Biketour �?´95

nearly the same time but a little bit longer distance than 1994.

Route: Budapest (21. 7. 1995) - Esztergom - Gy�?¶r - Rajka - Bratislava - Breclav - Nove Mlyny - Dukovany - Moravsky Budejovice - Slavonice - Nova Bystrice - Chlum - Trebon - Ceske Budejovice (Rudolfov) - Temelin - Milevsko - Sedlcany - Praha - Kralupy nad Vltavou - Doksy - Mimon - Liberec - Zawidow - Lesna - Ecotopia (Wolimierz) (5. 8. 1995)

whole distance: a little bit more than 1000 km. This year we had some days with more than 100 km distance.

1996: Ecotopia Biketour 1996

political issues: Transport in Central Europe, diverse environmental issues, and the nazi-concentration camp in Terezin.

Route: Sarospatak (13. 7. 1996) - Holloh�?¡za - Rakaca - Aggtelek(i nemzeti park) - Radnovce - Hnusta - Cierny Balog - Zvolen - Banska Bystrica - Cerveny Kamen - Zlin - Brno - Nedvedice - Hlinsko - Malesov -

- Konojedy - Praha - Velvary - Rip - Roudnice nad Labem - Terezin - Lovosice - Duchcov - Ecotopia (Libkovice)(4. 8. 1996)

1997: The Gap...1998: Cycle Flight to Ecotopia

political issues: transport in Central Europe, promoting bikes, nuclear power (Wackersdorf, Germany)

Route: Wroclaw (Poland, 15. 7. 1998) - Karpacz - Trutnov (Czech Republic) - Miletin - Nymburk - Praha - Karlstejn - Rokycany - Plzen - Domazlice - Wackersdorf - Ingolstadt - Augsburg - Oggelshausen - Tuttlingen - L�?¶ffingen - Ecotopia (Freiburg)(Germany, 1. 8. 1998)

 
whole distance about 1.000 km

 1999: Amsterdam - Weimar - Praha - Wien - Zagreb - Ecotopia /Bogda (Romania)

still online page in the web: www.britskelisty.cz/9906/19990629o.html (only in czech, maybe somebody can translate this...)

Route: Amsterdam (10. 6. 1999) - Utrecht - Ahaus (Germany) - M�?¼nster - G�?¼tersloh - Eisenach - Erfurt - Weimar - Gera - Johannesgeorgenstadt/Potucky (Czech Republic) - Karlovy Vary - Zlutice - Praha - Tabor - Slavonice - Znojmo - Wien (Austria) - Katzelsdorf - F�?¼rstenfeld- Murska Sobota (Slovenia) - Maribor - Krsko - Zagreb (Croatia) - Bjelovar - P�?©cs (Hungary) - Szeged - Timisoara (Romania) - Ecotopia (Bogda)(2. 8. 1999)

2000: Krakow - Turku

polish text from Olek: still online: www.zm.org.pl

 
Route: Krakow - Warszawa - Vilnius - Riga - Tallinn - Helsinki - Turku

2001: Balkan Unity Ride

2002: Celtic Safari Biketour

2003: Warsow - Krakow - Ternopil - Kolomeja

great pictures still online!

see: biketour2003.wz.cz/biketour/windex.php

2004: Bread & Water Tour

Photos  1  2  3  4  5  6  7

2005: Banja Luka - Belgrade - Sibiu - Iasi - Chisinau diary