Fertod / Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape
Posted by: 
Tafari
N 47° 43.157 E 016° 43.363
33T E 629200 N 5286537
The Fertod/Neusiedler Lake area has been the meeting place of different cultures for eight millennia. This is graphically demonstrated by its varied landscape, the result of an evolutionary symbiosis between human activity and the physical environmen
Waymark Code: WM5MW
Location: Burgenland, Austria
Date Posted: 01/04/2006
Views: 125
Neusiedler Lake is not
only Austria's biggest lake, in geographic terms it is also the easternmost lake
and, at the same time, the lowest point of Austria, as the water level is only
115 m above the level of the Adriatic Sea.
East of Neusiedler Lake, the Small Hungarian
Plain begins in Seewinkel, an area in which numerous saline ponds called
Zicklacken are embedded. Many of these ponds dry up in summer, leaving behind
extensive salt crusts. Seewinkel and Neusiedler Lake constitute a geographical
unit in the east of Austria, the Neusiedler Lake region.
In particular, the unique fauna and flora of this
area make visitors experience the outstanding beauty of nature. Neusiedler Lake
and its environment are a protected landscape. The stamp shows a typical scenery
of Neusiedler Lake.
In 1972, the Unesco
General Conference adopted a Convention on the Protection of the World's
Cultural and Natural Heritage. The objective was to select cultural and natural
monuments with particular international significance for the whole of mankind
and secure their survival for the future. Following Hallstatt, Salzburg,
Schönbrunn and others, Lake Neusiedlersee has been declared part of World
Heritage, the result of a joint application by Austria and Hungary. The
protection covers the entire shore area, the lakeside villages from Mörbisch to
Illmitz, the listed old town of Rust surrounded by its town walls and parts of
the Seewinkel National Park, as well as the Fertod-Hanság National Park and Fertod
Castle in Hungary.
This most westerly of
Europe's steppe lakes, with an unusual flora and fauna, is unique in many
respects. It is 33.5 km long, 12 km wide but only 1.8 m deep and, together with
the areas of reeds, occupies an area of 285 km², almost 80% of which is in
Austria and the rest in Hungary.
The reed belt on the Austrian side alone occupies
roughly 100 km², and together with 45 ponds provides the ideal breeding grounds
for 300 bird species, including rarities such as avocets, spoonbills and
black-winged stilts.
The lake's water level fluctuates considerably,
and is home to over 30 species of fish, mainly eel, pike-perch, carp and pike.
There are also exotic creatures on land such as the south Russian tarantula and
the horned dung beetle.
More (tourist-)information you can get
here.
Take a Foto of you and the Fertod-Castle at N
47°37.185, E 016°52.308 for your log. If you find other interesting places in
that region, you can also take a foto there. Please post a little description
about the point of interest and add a waypoint to your picture! THX
Happy waymarking
Ras Tafari