The Danube
Island is known to most visitors to Vienna as a RECREATIONAL
MECCA with countless bars, restaurants and nightclubs, a wealth
of sports opportunities from rollerblading to canoeing and a
beach that looks and feels so Carribbean that it's been nicknamed
the "Copa Cagrana".
Few, however, know that it's also a highly sophisticated FLOOD
PROTECTION SYSTEM stretching for 21 km: a second bed for the
mighty river Danube was dug out in the area of the city of Vienna,
throwing up a strip of land in between which is now the Danube
Island. Tested for real it saved Vienna in 2002 from being as
drastically flooded as many other Austrian cities.
Once a year, the Donauinselfest,
a spectacular open air event, takes place at Danube Island.
