Belgium 2.5 Euro Coin 2023 “Cycling experience in Belgium” BU in Coincard FR

Belgian Bicycle Satisfaction is rising every year! Respondents in the 2022 FietsDNA survey indicate that they find cycling financially attractive, flexible and fast. Improvements in (local) cycling infrastructure also contribute to the climate goals of several municipalities. But the bicycle has long ceased to be only an environmentally friendly and sporty mode of transport. The difference between functional and recreational cycling is fast disappearing. And that makes sense in such a beautiful cycling country as Belgium.
 
Did you know?

• The bicycle has been around for more than 200 years?
• The bicycle has meant a lot for the emancipation of women?
• Several Belgian cities have cycling schools and/or cycling classes for adults? Because cycling has an emancipating, empowering and integrating power. Cycling changes lives and prevents transport poverty.
• Cycling makes you sharper, clearer and ensures a better memory?
• There are also bicycle ambassadors?
• There are also bicycle taxis?
• There is a cycling route named after Eddy Merckx?
• Share bikes are very popular in Belgium?
• There are several 'cycling landmarks' in Belgian Limburg such as: Cycling through the Water, Cycling through the Tree Tops and Cycling through the Heath over a monumental cycle bridge.
• One can cycle over an old railway line? The Vennbahn is a cycling experience that takes one through three countries, 125 km long over and along a railway line on which for more than a century, coal and iron ore were mainly transported.
• That Belgium does love cycling? Between January and October 2023, more than 300 races will be organized!
• Mountain bikers also get away very well in Belgium with more than a hundred fixed mountain bike routes?
• People in Belgium celebrate Slow Road Day every third weekend of October? Especially for hikers, cyclists and horse riders, there are known and unknown trails and activities in nature and through town that weekend.

 
A coin of 2½ euro
as an incentive to cycle around the block
 
The obverse of the coin features a sporty cyclist whizzing along a spoked path through the Belgian landscape. It is surrounded by the text: EXPÉRIENCE CYCLISTE EN BELGIQUE en FIETSBELEVING IN BELGIUM and two miniature bicycles. The reverse shows the usual graphic elements such as the value, the year and the European map. A colourful and cheerful bicycle-inspired coincard packaging provides the finishing touch. 
The coincard in which the coin is encased shows graphic and colourful elements of bicycles and bikes in different settinings.