We are driving a motorhome around north-eastern Europe, and had just been through 5 beautiful towns in northern Germany. Then we headed east, with our first stop there being pretty Potsdam, a fairy-tale city of beautiful architecture.
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| Marg at Sanssoucci Palace, Potsdam (UNESCO) |
Potsdam, a 30-minute train ride from Berlin, is known for its palaces, parklands, and huge number of historic buildings. Collectively, these are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and we were excited to be visiting there.
We found a nice camping park in Potsdam. It had not been our first choice of park, as we’d visited one earlier in the day in Berlin city. However, that one turned out to be next to the airport and was far too noisy, so we drove 30 minutes out of Berlin to Potsdam.
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| Marg relaxing at Potsdam camp, Potsdam |
The Potsdam camp was much better, with superior facilities, no loud noise, and great views of Templiner See (Lake), so we settled in for a few days.
Later, we touched base with Simona, a Berliner who we first met in New Zealand through our friends Sue and Liz, and arranged to meet her in Potsdam the next day. We decided we could cycle to our meeting, so the following day, we unpacked the bikes from the back of Vanni, and cycled off.
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| Marg in the Dutch Quarter of Potsdam (UNESCO) |
We weren’t meeting Simona until late afternoon, so on the way to meet her, we did a little sight-seeing in compact Potsdam. We visited the Dutch Quarter with its red brick buildings; Sanssoucci Park and Palace; Charlottenhof Palace, and more.
After that we crossed a bridge in the historic centre, an amazing place with an abundance of grand buildings, rode a narrow track that took us through the Babelsberg Park, then followed the Havel River to our meeting place at Café Wirtshaus Moorlake. The café was lovely and we had a great time chatting and eating.
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| Leigh at Café Wirtshaus Moorlake, Potsdam |
Simona introduced us to spargel (white asparagus), a German delicacy. It has a more delicate and sweet flavour than our NZ green asparagus. Later, we decided to meet again on Monday for a “Simona special” cycle tour of Berlin. Before long we realised it was late and cold, so we said our goodbyes and jumped on our bikes to get back to camp.
On the way, we rode past the Große Neugierde, an historic rotunda, and Glienicke Villa and gardens, an Italian inspired casino and now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
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| Marg beside Glienicke Bridge/Spy Bridge, Berlin |
Just past there, we cycled over the Spy Bridge, so called because it formed the border between West Berlin and East Germany, and was used several times in the exchange of captured spies. We finally arrived back at our campsite, and slept very well that night after our long cycle and delicious food.
It was an early start for us on Monday to ride 10 kms to the Potsdam Haupbahnhof (main train station) and catch the 9am train to Berlin. We paid a little extra to take our bikes on the train, and there were designated areas to travel with them.
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| Marg and Simona at the Reichstag, Berlin |
Simona, along with her little dog Lucy (who sits in a basket on Simona’s bicycle) met us at Berlin’s Tiergarten Station and off we went. One of our first stops was the Reichstag, the German Parliament building. It was very impressive with its columns and huge glass dome.
This city is known for its huge range of landmarks such as the Reichstag and we were looking forward to seeing more.
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| Simona and Lucy at Bundeskanzleramt, Berlin |
Nearby, is the modern Bundeskanzleramt Federal Chancellery building where Lucy went for a swim. Even from the beginning of our cycle tour, we could see that the city is awash with historical buildings, sitting comfortably beside modern buildings. It was all so interesting.
While at the Chancellery, we saw Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, coming out of the building and boarding a helicopter – then off she flew – what a way to trave!
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| Simona and Marg outside the Berlin Cathedral (UNESCO), Berlin |
Another stop was at the impressive Museum Island in Berlin’s historic centre. Museum Island, as the name suggests, is home to several impressive museums, some of which are the oldest in the city. A number of other buildings are also located there such as the beautifully ornate Baroque-Renaissance style Berlin Cathedral.
We cycled right around the island, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, enjoying its architecture and history.
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| Part of the Berlin Wall, Berlin |
Cycling on, we visited the Berlin Wall and stopped to look at the paintings on what is left of the Wall. The original Berlin Wall was a huge guarded concrete wall surrounding West Berlin and beyond. It was built in 1961 to stop people from East Berlin defecting to the freer West Berlin.
In 1989, the wall was pulled down and eventually, remnants of it we painted or designed as art monuments to freedom and conciliation. We visited the East-side Gallery which is where the Wall has been transformed into the largest open-air art gallery in the world.
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| Marg, Simona and Lucy with Gabriel’s painting on Berlin wall |
At East-side, we admired a painting done by Gabriel Heimler who we had met at home in Wellington last year. Gabriel is the artist who did the wonderful painting on Wellington's Museum Hotel, so it was great to see his work in Berlin.
Berlin is such a big and diverse city with so much to see and do. Some other key places we visited include the Holocaust Memorial, Tiergarten, Charlottenburg Palace, Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche, Unter den Linden, Oberbaumbruecke (Red brick bridge), and so much more.
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| Sunset, with Marg and Simona at the Brandenburger Tor, Berlin |
Nearing sunset, we made a quick dash up to Victoria Park where we had a lovely view over the city, then cycled back through the famous Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate).
Then we all realised it was 8pm and the day had just flown by. It had been a brilliant day of cycling through a city full of interesting sights, and on cycle paths where cars give way to you!
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| Farewell Simona, thanks for a great day in Berlin |
So, we sadly said goodbye to Simona and Lucy and headed towards the railway station. We had seen so much of Berlin with Simona – much more than we would have seen if we’d done it by ourselves. It was great to have such a wonderful guide.
The next day we packed up and headed for our next stop which is in Poland, but that’s in the next blog.
This blog describes part of our 6-month motorhome trip around northern and eastern Europe, which began in Prague.