If you ever have a chance to visit the Spreewald area in eastern Germany - do it! It´s one of the most unique places in Germany, one with an almost exotic touch. Just an hours drive by car or train 85 Km (53 mi) south of Berlin, it´s easily accessible. Two things are very particular: One is the landscape shaped by the last ice age, which created a wetland with natural channels that was pre-conditioned for a special irrigation system. Over the course of time, people that have settled here have taken advantage of this natural gift, and created a system of more than 200 navigable channels covering more than 1,000 Km (620 mi). These channels, or waterways, are the roads of this region, even the mail delivery is done by boat. The second peculiarity are the people. Many of the Spreewalds inhabitants are Sorbs, a Slavic tribe descendant of the first settlers. They speak their own language and maintain their traditions and culture. One nice example is the traditional garb that some of them wear regularly, not just on special festive occasions. On my visit I have taken the most obvious mode of transportation, a boat. The traditional way of getting around are the punts that are moved and steered with a pole. Standing at the rear end, the pole is pushed against the canal bed, propelling the punt forward. But this requires a lot of practice, so most visitors rent a canoe or kajak.
All properties have access to the canals in order to get around.
At the intersections there are signs indicating the canals name.
Romantic wilderness.
There is a system of locks that have to be operated manually. The first one to
get to a lock has to get out of the boat and handle the levers.
A traditional house with a punt parked in front.
In the background you can see how the punts are operated.
The punt in the foreground hasn´t been used for quite a while.
See more pics of the Spreewald
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