Templin in Uckermark

3 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Town Hall © Oktaeder

Town Hall © Oktaeder

Templin is a small town in the Uckermark district of Brandenburg. Though it has a population of only 17,127, it is with 377.01 km2 (145.56 sq mi) the second largest town in Brandenburg (after Wittstock) and the seventh largest town in Germany by area. The town is located in the south of the rural Uckermark region and its capital Prenzlau, north of the Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve. The town was first mentioned in a 1270 deed issued by Henry of Ostheeren, Bishop of Brandenburg. Then a possession of the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg, it appeared as a town in 1314 under Margrave Waldemar, who in 1317 concluded the Treaty of Templin here, ending the war against Denmark, Mecklenburg and the Duchy of Pomerania. Heavily devastated by Danish troops in the Thirty Years’ War, Templin from 1816 on belonged to the Prussian province of Brandenburg near the border with Mecklenburg-Strelitz.   read more…

Theme Week Potsdam – Sanssouci Palace

22 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

Sanssouci - Aerial view © Sven Scharr/cc-by-3.0

Sanssouci – Aerial view © Sven Scharr/cc-by-3.0

Sanssouci is the former summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, in Potsdam, near Berlin. It is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and is far smaller than its French Baroque counterpart, it too is notable for the numerous temples and follies in the park. The palace was designed/built by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff between 1745 and 1747 to fulfill King Frederick’s need for a private residence where he could relax away from the pomp and ceremony of the Berlin court. The palace’s name emphasises this; it is a French phrase (sans souci), which translates as “without concerns”, meaning “without worries” or “carefree”, symbolising that the palace was a place for relaxation rather than a seat of power.   read more…

The Lusatian Lake District

28 October 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  6 minutes

Lusatian Lake District map © Maximilian Dörrbecker/cc-by-sa-2.0

Lusatian Lake District map © Maximilian Dörrbecker/cc-by-sa-2.0

The Lusatian Lake Distric is a chain of artificial lakes in Germany, situated across the north-eastern part of Saxony and the southern part of Brandenburg. Through flooding as a part of an extensive regeneration programme, several decommissioned lignite opencast mines are in process to be transformed to Europe’s largest artificial lake district by 2018.   read more…

Kleinmachnow in Brandenburg

8 February 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Checkpoint Bravo © GBeckmann

Checkpoint Bravo © GBeckmann

Kleinmachnow is a municipality in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg. It is situated 19 km (12 mi) southwest of the centre of Berlin, immediately neighbouring the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, and 12 km (7.5 mi) east of Potsdam. The municipality encompasses the settlement of Dreilinden.   read more…

Tropical Islands Resort – Europe’s largest tropical holiday world!

15 September 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Bmalina

© Bmalina

Tropical Islands Resort is an artificial tropical resort in Briesen/Brand, part of Halbe in Dahme-Spreewald, Brandenburg, Germany, about 60 km (37 mi) south-southeast of Berlin. It is said to have the world’s largest tropical indoor pool which can accommodate up to 8,000 visitors a day. It is also the world’s largest indoor waterpark at 66,000 m² (710,000 sq feet).   read more…

Cottbus, capital of Lausitz and gate to the Spreewald

22 March 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Branitz Palace © Martinroell

Branitz Palace © Martinroell

Cottbus is a city in Brandenburg, Germany, situated around 125 km (78 miles) southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree. As of 2010, its population was 102,091.   read more…

The Elbe

16 September 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hamburg, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

Elbe River at Dresden © NetgutuDD

Elbe River at Dresden © NetgutuDD

The Elbe rises at an elevation of about 1,400 metres (4,593 ft) in the Krkonoše (also known as Giant Mountains or in German as Riesengebirge) on the northwest borders of the Czech Republic. Of the numerous small streams whose waters compose the infant river, the most important is the Bílé Labe, or White Elbe. After plunging down the 60 metres (197 ft) of the Labský vodopád, or Elbe Falls, the latter stream unites with the steeply torrential Malé Labe, and thereafter the united stream of the Elbe pursues a southerly course, emerging from the mountain glens at and continuing on to Pardubice, where it turns sharply to the west. At Kolín some 43 kilometres (27 mi) further on, it bends gradually towards the north-west.   read more…

Theme Week Potsdam – Studio Babelsberg, parks and palaces

23 April 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Berlin, Bon voyage, Sustainability, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  11 minutes

Berlin Observatory in Potsdam now hosts Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research © H. Raab

Berlin Observatory in Potsdam now hosts Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research © H. Raab

Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, 24 km (15 miles) southwest of Berlin city center. Potsdam has several claims to national and international notability. In Germany, it had the status Windsor has in England. It was the residence of the Prussian kings, and thus the German Emperors, until 1918. Around the city there are a series of interconnected lakes and unique cultural landmarks, in particular the parks and palaces of Sanssouci, the largest World Heritage Site in Germany. The Potsdam Conference, the major post-World War II conference between the victorious Allies, was held at another palace in the area, the Cecilienhof. Babelsberg, in the south-eastern part of Potsdam, was a major movie production studio before the war and has enjoyed increased success as a major centre of European film production since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Filmstudio Babelsberg is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world. Potsdam developed into a center of science in Germany from the 19th century. Today, there are three public colleges and more than 30 research institutes in the city.   read more…

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