Berlin & Brandenburg

Although it surrounds bustling Berlin, the Brandenburg state of mind is as far from the German capital as Shangri-La. It’s a quiet, gentle state with vast expanses of unspoilt scenery, much of it in protected nature reserves. Its landscape is quilted in myriad shades, from emerald beech forest to golden fields of rapeseed and sunflowers. It’s also rather flat, windswept and perhaps even a bit melancholic.