ESCAPADE TO POTSDAM
One-Day Trip From Berlin
You want to escape for a day from the agitated Berlin life? We have the little cheap tips for you!
Another suggestion is a day in Potsdam (Sanssouci excluded), the capital of the Brandenburg Land, 30km away from Berlin, 30min by S-Bahn (S7) or 20min by regional train (both are available with a ticket ABC, or if you already have a AB ticket, just take “Anschlussfahrschein” for 1,60€ and it is an extension). Don’t forget your student card to benefit from the attractive prices for the visits! And beware, in Germany, most of the museums are closed on Monday, and are closing rather early (as well as the churches).
Begin your day by reaching the bridge that will lead you directly to the city centre with the pink city hall (Landtag) that is a reconstruction of the previous bombed castle of Potsdam, that is why there is the sentence “ceci n’est pas un château” (this is not a castle). Then you will see the museum of the cinema in a previous stable. 3 places are very charming: New Market (Neuer Markt), Old Market (Alter Markt, with the impressive church of Saint Nicolas by the famous architect Schinkel) and Bassinsplatz in the amazing Dutch neighbourhood with the typical red houses with their bell-tower-shaped roofs (the number 8 in Mittelstrabe is open to visit, price of the entry: 2€). To go on, take the Brandenbuger Strasse, with its little shops, to reach the Brandenburger Tor (under construction sadly in the meantime). Don’t forget to see the mosque, that used to be a pump house for the Sanssouci fountains.
If you are in great shape and want to wander in Potsdam, go to the Nauener Tor, close to the Rathaus. You can rest at Café Heider, where the Apfelstrudel is excellent.
Further in the North, you will reach the Russian colony Alexandrowka which is small Russian village with 13 wooden little houses, built at the time for the singers of a Russian choir of the court. Two are still inhabited by the descendants, others are restaurants or museum. There is a really beautiful orthodox church on the top of the hill.
Continue your walk to the Belvedere of Pfingstberg which allows you to have a great panorama of Potsdam (Price of the entry: 8€, combined with Cecilienhof and Marble Palace) and which was closed during the Cold War to prevent people to see Berlin West.
The walk will bring you near the delightful and quite lake. The edge of the lake receives the Marble Palace (Marmpalais, price of the entry: 8€ combined with Cecilienhof and Belvedere)
Go down of the hill and enter in the New Garden (Neuer Garten) and reach the historical Cecilienhof, where the Potsdam conference, after the Second World War, was signed.
