Berlin curtain trail

Individual arrival to Potsdam. Plan enough time for sights such as Sanssouci Palace, the Russian colony Alexandrowka, the Dutch quarter and the former Bohemian weavers' quarter.

You first cycle over the famous Glienicke Bridge and past Cecilienhof Palace to Wannsee and Sacrow. At Groß-Glienicker See you will discover an original section of the Wall and, just outside Spandau, Fort Hahneberg, which was built in 1888 to protect the Spandau armaments centre.
Then look forward to the citadel town of Spandau.

In the morning you cycle through the Spandauer Forst, formerly a GDR restricted area, which was declared a ‘nature reserve of European importance’ in 2000. Cycle past the Laßzinsee lake to the banks of the Havel. The Nieder Neuendorf border tower (built in 1987), which is a listed building, was used to monitor this section of the border during the GDR era and was the command centre for a further 18 border watchtowers. Today, the tower houses a documentation centre on the former border fortifications.

Cycle along the disused tracks of the Heidekrautbahn railway and past the Märkisches Viertel district towards Berlin-Mitte. Discover the Bösebrücke bridge and Bornholmer Straße, known as the site of the first opening of the border on 9 November 1989, the Bernauer Straße memorial, where refugees tried to escape from the houses on the border strip through the windows on 13 August 1961, and the Invalidenfriedhof cemetery, over whose area the Wall ran. Marvel at the new Berlin Central Station and the parliament and government district. You will reach the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin's magnificent boulevard ‘Unter den Linden’ and Potsdamer Platz - a no-man's land in GDR times.

Cycle past the Stasi headquarters to Checkpoint Charlie in Friedrichstraße. The checkpoint could only be used by Allied military and embassy personnel, foreigners, employees of the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany and GDR officials. After just a few kilometres, you reach the Spree with the East Side Gallery. The route then heads towards the Teltow Canal to Neukölln and Schönefeld.

On the southern edge of Berlin, the route leads via Gropiusstadt to Marienfelde, which served as a collection and transit camp for over 1.3 million GDR refugees until 1990. You then reach a 110-hectare restricted military area where the US army trained in armed urban combat until the early 1990s. Follow the beautiful Teltow Canal and the Königsweg to the former Dreilinden checkpoint. Cycle along Lake Griebnitzsee back to Potsdam.

After breakfast, individual return journey or start of your extension.