Friends who had recently moved to Templin told us that the region around their new home is really beautiful, and when we saw pictures of the lakes and forests online, the decision was taken. The Uckermark is quite known for its amazing nature and for being one of Germany's nicest spots for outdoor holidays. Also, it's known because Angela Merkel grew up there.
We took the early morning flight from Basel to Berlin (again! and every time I ask myself why I keep doing this!), rented a car at the airport and a few hours later we arrived in Templin. The owner of the holiday home where we'd stay for the next week showed us the way there, and we knew instantly that we'd have a great time. Our tiny house was located about 300 metres from the lake (Lübbesee), and a rowboat (as well as two bikes) was included in the rent. The lake is absolutely beautiful, calm and surrounded by forest. There was a sandy beach, too (and we even went swimming twice!).
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| Our holiday home and breakfast table. |
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| At the lake. |
Templin is quite small, but still there are a few things to see and some places to visit. Fortunately, the weather was great when we were there, so we went running in the forest almost every morning, and we also invited friends from Berlin (and the ones now living in Templin) for a barbecue.We really enjoyed the quietness of the place, it's an incredible feeling to get up in the morning and walk down to the lake, breathing the fresh autumn air, watching birds and thinking about nothing but how beautiful this place is. We used the rowboat a few times, I loved being out there on the water, it's a good atmosphere for deep conversations.
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| Templin. |
One day Monsieur's parents came and we went to Lychen, where we rented kayaks and discovered the lakes in a unique way - a wonderful day with so many new impressions. We immediately decided to go kayaking more often from now on.
We also did two day trips, one to Greifswald, and one to Szczecin in Poland. In medieval times, both cities belonged to the Hanseatic League, were important places for trade in the region of the Baltic Sea. Szczecin, after being Swedish and German for a long time, is part of Poland since after World War II (the old town has been destroyed almost completely by the Royal Air Force in 1944).
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| Szczecin. |
Greifswald's old town would probably still look like it did in the early 20th century, if not for the town planners of the German Democratic Republic. They didn't like historic buildings, so until 1990, almost half of the old town has been demolished and partly replaced by typical GDR buildings.
Greifswald has a very nice harbour, we really enjoyed walking along the "Ryck", and we had lunch at the museum harbour - some of the ships are used as restaurants today, and we chose the "Pomeria". I ate a really nice Currywurst, while Monsieur - who is nordish by nature - had fish.
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| Greifswald. |
Leaving the lake and our little holiday home was not easy, I think I could very well get used to live by a lake. We drove back to Berlin, and on our way there we stopped in Eberswalde and Finow. While we had planned to visit the ship hoist (I didn't even know something like this existed!), the stop in Eberswalde was just out of curiosity - the huge water tower is impossible to miss, and when we found out that there's an elevator to bring people on top of it, we absolutely wanted to see it.
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| Water tower and copper house in Eberswalde. |
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| View from the top of the ship hoist. |
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| Insides of the ship hoist. |
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| Construction site - new ship hoist. |
It was a week full of adventure and interesting visits to cities and historic places, and at the same time a week full of relaxing hours in the garden, on the lake and at the fireplace. That's exactly my kind of holidays.
