Berlin Off the Beaten Path: Why Visit Erkner?

On my way back from Frankfurt/Oder, on the way by train to the Central Station we passed a colourful small harbour packed with colourful small boats. I had a short look at the name of the station - Erkner - which at the time didn't tell me anything. After giving the landscape a couple of more careful seconds from my time, I instantly included on the list of the 'places to visit' for a short getaway near Berlin: I spotted a lot of green areas, and the water and some interesting buildings too.

Back home, I've spent some time doing intensive research at the end of which I got even more reasons to visit this place soon: a spa place until the end of WWII, a literary destination for those interested in mapping the German Nobel prize winners as here Gerhard Hauptmann spent a couple of years, and also a little nature paradise.

You can easily arrive there using the ABC S-Bahn ticket from Zoo, with Erkner the final destination.

Although less than one hour away from Berlin, there is a certain countryside quiet mood which predominates, with couples strolling the main street and family with kids heading in groups to some nature walks. The cityhall, the former summer residence of the Gotha-born worldwide piano maker Carl Bechstein, smoothly integrates into the modest urban landscape. The park on the back of the cityhall, with a view over the Dämentzsee and Flockensee make it as a relaxing way to spend your Sunday afternoon.

More interesting for me is the geometrical games shaped by the blocks of houses bordering the narrow main street.

A mechanical flower clock keep it up with the time and the times, a bizarre combination between humble nature and human advanced technology.

Newly painted Art Nouveau fassades give to the streets some touch of elegane and noblety. As a spa place, for its fresh air and high concentration of natural areas, Erkner was a holidays and relaxation spot. The architecture typical for spa centers can be still spotted once in a while if you have an eye for it.

One of Erkner's famous residents is the 1912 Nobel prize winner Gerhard Hauptmann. He spent here only 4 years - between 1885 and 1889 - but was a reason enough to make him the VIP of the place. Alternatively, Erkner was also named Gerhard Hauptmann City, and a museum featuring his works and life is hosted in the elegant Villa Lassen. 

On Fürstenwaldestrasse, colourful murals featuring the life and nature of Erkner are a different way to introduce this city to Germany and the world.

It may be a small place, but it has its own quiet lifestyle and local traditions.

And its residents, more or less famous, might just call it a day when they can jump in their boats and make a tour around the lakes.

Before we are trying to see if possible to go on a boat tour, a healthy - or at least foodie - stop is required. At the Bürgerli you can meet on a Sunday with your friends, neighbours and every other visitors in Erkner like us. It is buzzing with life - and literally with bees - and the crepes covered in strawberyy jam and ice disappear from the plate in the blink of an eye.

Arriving by boat to your office? Why not? In Erkner you can just step out your home and ride your bike - why not - as far as Berlin.

Not in the best physical shape after returning from Buckow, I am using this opportunity of some more action. The 1900-meter long Wanderweg zum Botterschen Gräben, a settlement created in the second half of the 18th century is the perfect spot.

Easy to walk around, especially in comfy shoes, you may meet once in a while some locals walking their dogs or also, like you, looking for some nature battery boost. Bikes and solid baby prams are also welcomed.

Embracing the silence, I am happy with the moment and the blessing of moving my feet on the way to the unknown paths.

Hidden behind big green trees, a small countrymen house is hosting a local museum, featuring the story of Erkner, its traditions and personalities. At the Heimat Museum I discovered another local literary personality which spent some time here, the poet Helga M. Novak.

If you visit Erkner with children, besides the nature walking, there are also a couple of small parks where the little ones can use their energy climbing and jumping around. A former attraction, a petting farm - Bauernhof - was recently closed, although local directions still include it among the things to see here.

Hopefully, we have even more walking paths and lakes to discover. Near the former spa park, there are some easy paths to follows, or the Hohenbindener Weg, leading to am Karutzsee.  All quiet and neat, if not for a lady approaching every new coming people to tell them how everything is so dirty nowadays, compared to decades ago - in the GDR times, as Erkner was on the red side of the wall, as a monument to Soviet soldiers near the Hartmann Museum reminds.

As the trip is over, I am happy that I've decided to spent a lovely summer afternoon in a place rarely mentioned on the Berlin's To Do List. Not sure when will return, but at least we put on the map a simple green gem of this city that never ceases to amaze me. I bet I'm not the only one!

Can you spot the horses?

At the Military History Museum in Gatow

The Museum at Berlin Gatow Airfield is an interesting experience for anyone passionate about recent history, particularly the Cold War military episodes. As a child who grew up in a communist country, where the daily media propaganda included frequent mentions about Pershing 2 missiles or outlining the power of MiGs airplanes, who at the end of the Cold War were falling down from the skies given the lack of technical updates, the visit was a real-time experience of observing from close the remains of the military stockpiles of a war who never happened

Regardless of your location in Berlin, it takes more than one hour to arrive there. I took from Rathaus Spandau S+U Bahn the 135 bus, direction Alt Kladow. From the bus station Seekorso, there are another 20 minutes of walking, through an elegant one-storey villas, following some big direction signs leading to the place.

The access to the overwhelming museum area - most of it open air - is free. Berlin Gatow Airport was built in 1934, being part of the general military buildup in Germany, being used as a major Luftwaffe secret pilot training complex. In July 1945, the airport was took over by the British occupation forces, being intensively used during the Berlin Airlift in 1948/49. During those times, approximately one third of the Allied aircraft used those premises.

Since 1994, the site is operated by the Bundeswehr, that created here a learning center for Bundeswehr soldiers in addition to the exhibition area. 

The museum is a branch of the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden, with a special focus on air warfare. With an impressive collection of around 500,000 exhibits, it is considered the depository of the largest collection of aerial assets from the Cold War worldwide.

It mostly offers exhibits from the two Germanies, but also covers 'allied' Eastern countries, such as the then Czechoslovakia. Actually, given the pact that the countries members of the Warsaw Pact used exclusively Soviet-made weapons, browsing the museum offers a good approximation of the military capacities of the USSR at the time. 

The impressive exhibition space is organised based on various military divisions and specialities: air transport, nuclear weapon carriers, radar, air defence artillery, training aircraft, fighters, electronic combat and reconnaissance aircraft, fighter bombers and ground-attack aircraft etc.

A special section is dedicated to the episodes of the Berlin Airlift, when for almost one year the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' access to the sectors of the city under their control causing a dramatic humanitarian crisis.

The explanations of various types of weapons or missiles are extensively offered mostly in German, but there are enough materials available in English which can offer additional information.

Most of the exhibits are installed outside, with some hangars where also temporary exhibitions are hosted. People can come there by car - with a big parking space available near the main entrance - but also by bike, with plenty of space to move fast in between rocket launchers and MiGs.

Although it looks like a very specialized museum which is not accessible from the popular areas, the place was full of people, from all over the world, keen to catch on camera spectacular views of times which hopefully will never return. 

As a history lover, I've refreshed some stories and concepts about the Cold War and I also had the chance of a better understanding of that period of time. If you are like me, you will definitely consider worth spending a full half-day here, because it can be better than one full week spent in the library.