What can we say about winter in Berlin? We’re just trying to make it through these dark, wet and windy days while half of our friends have escaped to somewhere warmer, and it doesn’t help that they keep sharing, to our sorrow, social media posts of endless sunsets from the South-Portuguese coast. Thanks for that! But no reason to stay too grumpy – spring will greet us soon – and we Berliners know how to celebrate in style when the days finally get warmer and longer on the other side. To survive this final stretch, I can only recommend one thing: getting out of the city and into nature. To be honest, I preach this all year round, but right now, when it’s hard for us to get out of bed and the gray days don’t exactly encourage us to leave the house, is exactly when we should all give ourselves a kick to do it. For a recent day trip, we ventured up to Chorin, northeast of Berlin in the Schorfheide biosphere reserve. It’s just four stops from the Gesundbrunnen train station, so there’s no excuse for morning grouchiness. We opted to hike on a circular trail that stretches for about 15 kilometers, which took us about four hours and was absolutely worth it.
Chorin is known for its remarkable 13th century monastery, and this was our first stop. About 1.5 kilometers northeast of the village, you’ll find the “Kleiner Amtssee”. What awaited us there, though, was stunning: the last wisps of morning fog still wafted over the slightly frozen winter lake, and alder trees with thick dewdrops on their branches stretched along the shore. Opposite the lake you can catch a glimpse of the monastery walls through the bare treetops. A small trail led us directly to the monastery, which is quite impressive in its size and stillness, and where there’s a permanent exhibition about monastic life. On the other side of the lake, an old stone road leads into the surrounding beech forest, which took us straight ahead 5 kilometers to Brodowin. The special thing about this road is the untouched marshland and its beaver dams. Near Brodowin, also called the village of the seven lakes, there’s one of the oldest nature reserves which was put under protection in 1907. There are even blue moor frogs there. Arriving in Brodowin, we had by far the most delicious crêpe with homemade lemon curd at the Wanderbird Kiosk, and a super nice conversation with the owner, who sells sustainable and regional products from local artists and manufacturers there. At the end of the village, we were able to catch a glimpse of the Brodowiner dairy calves through the beams of the stables, before heading back into the forest and to the Chorin train station. We had gray sky and drizzle on our hiking day with temperatures around freezing, but regret nothing, because fresh forest air is good for the soul and spring will soon be here before we know it.
Photos & Text: Laura Iriondo
There is an hourly Regional Express RE3 from Berlin Südkreuz to Chorin.
@fortuna.forest
