10 Pictures to Make you Fall in Love with the Märkische Schweiz (and some hiking tips too)

My three weeks of rest and relaxation in Buckow, in the Märkische Schweiz went away - way too - fast, but my time was filled with good people, extraordinary views and a lot of good healthy food. Maybe too much food, hence the need to burn some of the extra calories through day-trips and many many more wanderings in the area. 
Blessed with a beautiful natural surrounding, Märkische Schweiz is a paradise for hikers. The difficulty level is easy to moderate and all you need is a pair of comfy shoes and eventually a great companion. Most of the paths are suited to bikers and dog walking through the forest is also a funny way for a day outdoors. If you want to take a little baby with you and you have a solid pram, don't hesitate to do it. Learning children from an early age to enjoy nature and spend time outdoors is one of the best gifts parents can give, as it learns them to be brave, to understand nature and develop independent skills. A Per Perego or Maxi Cosi type of pram will definitely cope more than decently to the task.
Some of the natural corners look like nothing happened from the beginning of the time. Wild forests, surrounding esmerald lakes where the small fish bubbles were the only visible sign of life arround. Moors that seems the perfect background for a sci-fi setting. 
Making a selection of (only!) 10 pictures, out of a little bit over 100 I made during my stay was a really hard work. It took me a week to decide, ponder and finally select those who really spoke straight forward to my soul and that will help me keep with me round the year all the good things that happened to me during that time.
 

The wandering opportunities around the Brecht-Weigel memorial house abund. Regardless what time of the day you are visiting, there is always a oasis of quietness with no cars and only the sound of the birds playing duets.


From there, you can start an adventurous, but worth the effort 7-km. Scharmutzelsee round trip which may last around 3 hours. Follow the TK10 sign and make a turn to Ferdinandhöhe. Close from it you will also arrive to a very romantic place called Love Island.


The path will for a short time intertwin with the public road and some streets, but will mostly take you around the lake, where you can read your book or just round up the last events of your life and get more energy for the next life challenges.


Starting your early morning with such a view is for me an overwhelming way of getting more power and breathing deep into the day.


I am not a very sporty kind of person and my main activites involve a lot of walking and hiking. The advantage of such a hobby is that instead of facing some white walls and sport tools for hour while doing my exercises, I have the chance of being faced with the most beautiful nature corners. 


Although you may encouter houses with generous yards every couple of hundreds of meters of hiking through the Märkische Schweiz, as well as other wanderers on the roads less travelled, the human presence remains modest. In the summer, when the happy owners of summer residences from Berlin and all over Germany are coming for holidays, the houses in the middle of the forests may look more animated, if you take it for the number of cars parked in the front and the views of children toys spread all over the yards. But there is nothing intrusive or bothering in it, and even when there are outdoors summer parties it looks like the sounds are muffled by the thick forests.


You are rarely warned about what to expect while hiking. If you are here for the first time and no local is accompanying you, you may stumble upon eerie outwordly natural highlights. 


The wandering paths are not only easy and hard to get lost into, but also offer corners where one can stop and stop the time. Who needs tomorrow when every single moment is worth living in its fullest spiritual sense?


If you are familiar with walking through the forests you might know already that it is not recommended to hike during rains and storms. Fallen trees all over the places were the proof that it is always safe to ask the experienced hikers and avoid stupid accidents. In a fight between humans and nature, nature will often win, because it has the force on its side. 
Another interesting hike we did for around 2 hours was up from Neue Promenade street. You need to follow the path through the forest and some directions and you can spend the rest of your afternoon going up and down the wandering paths.


Near the beach - Strand - there is another chance to explore some interesting natural corners and put your strength on trial. On the way to Bölesdorf, you can either go direction Weißentraube or Winzelfichte. Either of them has its own beauty and hiking charm, with many small rivers you can cross on narrow wooden bridges. The Poetenweg - Poets' path - which reminded me of the Heidelberg's Philosophen weg, but only in name. Poets are more inspired by nature and wilderness while philosophers seem to be rather challenged  by the struggle to reach to the top - of the reason, probably.

As I leaved Buckow coming back to my non-poetic and anti-philosophical daily life in Berlin, I've learned at least one important thing: spending time in nature, surrounded by beautiful people, while also tasting the silence once in a while, was the best present I could offer to myself. Luckily, I am living in one of Europe's greenest capital cities and finding a proper hiking corner in less than one hour is a reward that I fully deserve after a hectic working week.

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