A brief portrait of German districts: Part 1/5 - The Mecklenburg Lake District

Many landscapes in the Baltic Sea region are children of the last ice age - but nowhere else south of Scandinavia did this last frost period leave so much water behindas in the heart of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The "Land of 1000 Lakes" lives up to its name. Many of the connections were created naturally, through streams and rivers, while others were created artificially as canals. The result is a paradise for water hiking. Around the Müritz with thetourist centre in Waren the wide foothills of the lake district.

In the westthe three large upper lakes on. They are crossed by the Müritz-Elde waterway, which continues towards Schwerin and the Elbe. In the south of Germany's largest lake (Müritz comes from the Slavic and means something like "small sea"), theTransition to the Kleinseenplatte. Via the Müritz-Havel and Upper Havel waterways, the route heads south-east towards Brandenburg, the Oder and Berlin.

In addition to these main waterways, there are also a whole series ofequally attractive backwaters and detours, for example to Rheinsberg, Neustrelitz and Lychen. Deep forests, wide fields, an abundance ofvaried places and shore excursions make the lake district the most popular holiday and charter area in Germany, as does the fact that you can rent a boat there without a licence: Nowhere else in Germanythe charter certificate applies in such a large area.

If you want to see everything in one trip,would have to plan for several weeks - and preferably outside the peak season. Because at the most popular travel time during the summer holidays, the waiting times in front of the locks are already a problem.all by itself for deceleration...

You can read more short portraits in our large Germany journal in the July issue of BOOTE. From 17 June 2020 available here !