Day 4.
For today I had booked myself once again on an Insider Walking tour, this time a daytrip to Potsdam a town about 40 minutes south west of Berlin. I met the group as before by the Zoo Station and this time our guide was Jamie who was originally from the Isle of Wright. We went straight to the Station and boarded a train for the 35 minute or so ride to Potsdam. Potsdam was designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1990 and it’s not difficult to understand why, as the city is very picturesque and has a fascinating history being the summer home of Frederick the Great and the place of the Potsdam Conference after WWII where Churchill, Stalin and Truman met.
We walked from the Station in Potsdam into part of the town where our guide Jamie told us some of the history and how many of the buildings are being re-built in the old style, and the ugly buildings from the 60’s are being pulled down. We then caught a tram that took us along to our next stop, the Glienicke Bridge (aka, the Bridge of Spies) where a number of exchanges of spies took place during the Cold War. My husband was quite jealous that I got to see this I think as he had just seen and enjoyed the Bridge of Spies movie starring Tom Hanks.
The Glienicke Bridge
From the bridge we walked through the Neuer Garten, part of which runs parallel to where the Berlin Wall was. At intervals along where the wall ran there are memorials to those who lost their lives trying to get over the wall during the Cold War. We arrived at the Schloss Cecilienhof which was once the manorial residence of Germany’s last Kaiser, and which was also used to host the Potsdam Conference in 1945. Our guide Jamie gave us some insight into the conversations which were held here by Stalin, Churchill and Truman which were to seal the fate of Cold War Europe.
Schloss Cecilienhof.
From the Cecilienhof we caught a bus back into the centre of the city where we broke into smaller groups for a quick bite to eat for lunch.
Potsdam Street
I grabbed a coffee and a small but delicious sandwich at Fahland Bakery and sat with a few of the tour members while I ate and we chatted a little.
The streets in this part of town were quite quaint with lots of character, there even was Potsdam’s own version of the Brandenburg gate!
The Potsdam Gate
After finishing our lunch, we walked through this part of town and over to the grounds of the Sanssouchi Palace.
The Sanssouchi Palace was the favourite residence of Frederick the Great and is set in beautiful parkland. We entered by the church and walked through the park to Sanssouchi Palace, all the while Jamie was giving us lots of the history and information. The Palace is set atop a hill, with a number of steps up to it, each of those terraces has multiple doors along it, each one containing a Fig tree that the door can be closed on to protect it. The building it’s self is only on one level, so isn’t as imposing as some other palaces appear I thought.
Sanssouci Palace
We walked up the steps and off to the right is the burial site of Frederick the Great himself, and I was amused to see that the stone marking it was covered with Potatoes. This apparently is because Frederick the Great introduced Potatoes to Germany and promoted the eating of them.
Frederick the Great’s gravestone with Potatoes.
By now it was time to head back to Berlin, so we caught the bus back to the train station and took the train back to Berlin. This was a lovely tour which I had really enjoyed, so I thanked Jamie for a great and informative day and walked quickly back to the hotel as I was due to go with my husband to a boat tour and dinner on the Spree River through Berlin which was sponsored by the company he was meeting with.
By now it was a damp dreary evening, so we dressed warmly and walked to the U-Bahn station to ride the few stops to get to the river meeting point, at the east end of Museum Island. We boarded the boat and sat by the window, but with the slight rain that was now falling and all the raindrops on the windows, it was hard to see too much especially as the sun went down. We enjoyed the snacks and drinks that were served and were able to see a bit as we cruised down the river for a way, before turning and returning the way we came. The weather wasn’t ideal, but it was still a nice end to the day.
View out the front of the River cruise boat – you can see the Berlin Cathedral.