Outdoor sights in Berlin
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Friedrichshagen & Grosser Müggelsee
Berlin ‘muggles’ love their Müggelsee, especially on hot summer days when scores of city slickers escape the urban cauldron by heading to the edge of town. At 4km long and 2.5km wide, it’s a large and lovely lake with plenty of sandy beaches and boats puttering along on placid waters. The easiest access is by taking the S-Bahn to Friedrichshagen, a village-like suburb first settled in 1753 by Bohemian cotton spinners who padded their income by growing mulberry trees to fatten up small armies of silkworms. From the station, head south on the main drag, Bölschestrasse, past a few of the original 18th-century cottages and some scraggly mulberry trees. On Sunday a fle…
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Pfaueninsel
Peacock Island was the romantic retreat of King Friedrich Wilhelm II and is still a popular getaway. It consists of gardens landscaped by Peter Joseph Lenné surrounding a snowy white fairytale castle where the king used to frolic with his mistress. To see the equally exotic interior, you need to join a guided tour. The main reason to visit the island, though, is for a leisurely amble around the park; watch out for the namesake peacocks that still strut their stuff around here. There’s also a smattering of other buildings, including the Kavaliershaus with its Gothic façade and the Meierei (dairy), part of a farming estate oddly embedded within a faux monastery ruin. Si…
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