A boat trip in the Spreewald and a brewery with Kircher's Gurken Radler

Hi Hive friends!

Have you ever been to the Spreewald? Before last summer vacations I had no real idea about the Spreewald either, until I made a little trip there with my family. The Spreewald is located in the southeast of the state of Brandenburg in Germany and it is of course characterized by the river branching of the Spree, which was extended by made canals. It is a floodplain and moor landscape and therefore has special importance for nature conservation as a biosphere reserve. The Spreewald was shaped mainly by the Sorbs, who are a West Slavic ethnic group living mainly in Lusatia in the east of Germany. The Spreewald is one of the most famous travel areas in Brandenburg, and so it has also taken us there haha.

Mostly we rode our bikes and explored nature or went out to eat in small cafes or restaurants.

One of the breweries is well remembered by me: Kircher's Brauhaus! You are probably wondering why- it was because of a certain drink that you could drink there: A Gurken Radler! This beer mix drink is made with a cucumber lemonade - the name was program haha. I have to say though, when I tried a sip, I didn't find it that tasty. But that is probably a matter of taste in the true sense of the word.

The history of the brewery is nevertheless interesting: The brewery building was first mentioned in a document in 1760 as the Loepoldei estate. About one hundred years later, it became the Drebkau Castle Brewery, which was run by the Reeka family until 1949. In the same year, the brewery was finally bought by a woman named Hildegard Kircher. The brewery was run by the family until 1972. In 1992 the sons then took over the brewery and since 1998 Kircher's beer has been brewed here according to the grandfather's recipe. For me, the location was the nicest thing about the brewery, and I think the next time I vacation in the Spreewald, I'll be back.

After drinking something fresh there ( for me it was a simple coke), we continued on the bike paths through the Spreewald. Later we passed a small lake, as you can see in the photos. But first we stopped again at a small cafe - the second fresh refreshment in two days!

Before that, however, we took a punt ride: In our time, the barges left every few minutes, so we didn't have to wait long. Probably it was also because it was high season. We had not reserved before, there was enough space for everyone. We were told that the punt trips are offered from March to November. From November to March it goes on then in wool blankets with mulled wine. Later we ate then still in the beach cafe located directly to the Kahnhafen, there it tasted very good.

The ice cream tasted delicious, I was glad to have chosen a fruit variety, on such hot days even my favorite chocolate is only second choice.

Here you can see a few more pictures I took during the boat trip. From today's perspective, I would put on longer clothes, because I got a few mosquito bites. My fellow passengers, however, did not get any bites, maybe it was also because of me.

Later, on the way home of our bike tour we drove along between different fields, it was beautiful. Looking at the sky, I still thought: Oh, hopefully we won't get wet. But it had stopped raining.

These pictures are probably from another area, I wasn't sure where I took them anymore, I'll leave them in the post anyway as I think they're beautiful.

On the far shore we could see a few people picnicking or relaxing, but I didn't see anyone swimming. Had I been wearing swimwear and known a bit more about the little lake, I might have even jumped in.

Later we passed this little lake, and I have to say, it's exactly because of places like this that I love bike tours! You have a map with you and approximate destinations in mind, but in the end you never know what to expect along the way and you can see so much more than on foot while the wind blows around your ears. A bit sarcastic it is, because as I write these lines, I have a tinnitus that has lasted for a few hours. I really hope it goes away soon, because the little bit I read about it on the internet wasn't exactly encouraging. But now back to this post! How did you like this little trip to the Spreewald, maybe you had imagined him quite differently? So it was with me at least, but I was positively surprised.

Have a great day!