A few kilometres west of the town the Morava became the Iron Curtain: after 1948 the whole strip along the river was a closed military zone with wire, ploughed strips and watchtowers, and people were shot trying to cross it. Villagers needed a permit to reach their own fields. There is one unintended consequence anyone can see today — because nobody was allowed in for forty years, the Morava floodplain was never drained, straightened or built on, and it survives as wet meadow, oxbow and flood forest. It is now among the best birdwatching country in Slovakia, and it is wild because it was forbidden.Pár kilometrov na západ od mesta sa Morava stala železnou oponou: po roku 1948 bol celý pás pri rieke uzavretým vojenským priestorom s drôtmi, zoranými pásmi a strážnymi vežami a ľudí, ktorí sa pokúsili prejsť, strieľali. Dedinčania potrebovali povolenie, aby sa dostali na vlastné polia. Jeden nezamýšľaný dôsledok vidí dnes každý: keďže tam štyridsať rokov nikto nesmel, moravskú nivu nikto neodvodnil, nenapriamil ani nezastaval a zachovala sa ako mokrá lúka, mŕtve ramená a lužný les. Dnes patrí k najlepším vtáčím územiam na Slovensku — a divoká je preto, že bola zakázaná.
