Course east, direction Oder: The Haldensleben marina (MLK-km 300.0 LU) is the last harbour on the Mittelland Canal before the spectacular waterway junction in Magdeburg. A guest harbour at its best, it offers everything that skipper and crew need. The supermarket is 500 metres away. The little town is also worth a visit: An almost completely preserved town wall "protects" the old town with its beautiful half-timbered houses. And in front of the town hall is the only seated Roland statue in Europe.
However, Haldensleben's Roland is not just sitting around, but on horseback. Incidentally, a Roland figure has symbolised town rights since the Middle Ages.
The Magdeburg waterway junction is located 22 kilometres east of Haldensleben. If you like, you can turn into the Rothenseer Verbindungskanal two kilometres west of the canal bridge and reach Saxony-Anhalt's capital Magdeburg after an eleven-kilometre ascent on the Elbe.
The canal bridge over the Elbe is what makes the waterway intersection so special. This huge steel trough, which continues the Mittelland Canal towards the Elbe-Havel Canal, is 918 metres long and 43 metres wide - making it the longest canal bridge in Europe. When crossing the Elbe in the trough, the mighty pairs of towers that mark the transitions between the river and the foreshore bridge or the canal and bridge are particularly impressive.
A little below the Hohenwarthe lock, the Mittelland Canal merges into the Elbe-Havel Canal. As the kilometres of the Mittelland Canal continue, nobody would notice this if there wasn't a corresponding sign on the first road bridge below the lock: "Elbe-Havel Canal".
A little later, a swim in the Niegripper See (access EHK-km 329.8 RU) is tempting in summer temperatures. There are perfect anchorages on the northern shore in front of the campsite beach. Tired of the water and sun, you leave the lake and enter the Niegripper Altkanal, which you follow in an easterly direction for around one kilometre to reach the Harbour of the TuS Empor Burg achieved.
It is green here and almost eerily quiet. Burg, the city of towers, is a good four kilometres away. On-board or hire bikes (available from the association) are required here and you're ready to go.
In the cosy old town, we discover another Roland: but this time it's standing - just as it should be ... (Rolandplatz/Brüderstraße). The towers of the Gothic Church of Our Lady (Breiter Weg) characterise the image of the old town, while the Nikolai Church (Oberstraße), built in 1186, is the largest Romanesque granite basilica east of the Elbe.
The Genthin sports boat harbour (EHK-km 363.9, www.sport
boothafen-genthin.de). It is not least this location that makes the small harbour so popular and usually overcrowded during the season. The service is also perfect: water, electricity, showers, WC, washing machine, tumble dryer, 5-tonne crane. The petrol station and supermarket are just a five-minute walk away. The "Bootshaus" restaurant is right next to the harbour basin.
15 kilometres east of Genthin, the Brandenburg Havel Lakes begin at the entrance to the Wendsee. At Plaue, the Wendsee merges into the Plauer See and the Elbe-Havel Canal is behind us: we are now on the Lower Havel Waterway. Plauer See, Möserscher See and Breitlingsee offer great anchoring and bathing spots right on the doorstep of the city of Brandenburg.
On the eastern shore of the Breitlingsee, the Brandenburger Niederhavel flows well marked into the lake and forms an enchanted access road to the centre.
The Rewe jetty on the right bank of the Havel is a convenient place to shop. Well provisioned, the question arises: where should you lie, or where is the best place to lie? Just 500 metres above the Rewe jetty is the Slawendorf waterway rest area (WWRP) (BrbNhv-km 58, water, electricity, shower, WC) with a good location close to the old town.
Another 400 metres further on, above the Jahrtausendbrücke bridge, is the WWRP Packhofufer (water, electricity), which was only set up for the 2015 Federal Horticultural Show and is located next to the highly recommended Werft restaurant, which serves German cuisine made from regional products in the finely renovated hall of the former Wiemann shipyard. Opposite, on the right bank of the Havel, accessible by boat or via the Jahrtausendbrücke bridge, is the "Fontane-Klub" with lots of culture and great cocktails. On the first floor above is the Ristorante "Totò" with excellent Italian cuisine and a terrace with a view of the boat.
It is only 500 metres from the Jahrtausendbrücke bridge across Ritterstraße to Altstädtischer Markt, where another Roland stands in front of the historic town hall. After 500 metres in the opposite direction, you reach the late Gothic St. Catherine's Church, Molkenmarkt and the shopping centre at Neustädtischer Markt via Hauptstraße. The cathedral, built on an island on the Havel and well worth seeing, is a further 700 metres from Molkenmarkt.
If you need diesel or petrol for your boat, head to the Schoners Wehr marina, which can be reached via the quaint Brandenburger Stadtkanal.
The city canal also leads back to the Lower Havel, which you enter around one kilometre above the Brandenburg lock. Halfway to the lock on the right bank is Havel Marin, without doubt the finest harbour in the city, with full service and a restaurant, but a little out of the way.
Let's be clear: Brandenburg and the Brandenburg Havel Lakes are a holiday region in their own right and worth far more than just a "one-night stand".
Between Brandenburg and Ketzin, the original riverbed of the Havel meanders like a decorative garland, sometimes to the north, sometimes to the south around the well buoyed and fairly straight navigation channel. One such "loop" is the 3 km long Ketziner Havel, which branches off from the Lower Havel at kilometre 36 and rejoins it at kilometre 36.8. As we are travelling uphill, we use the confluence as the entrance to the Ketziner Havel.
2 kilometres later we pass the Jetty of the Seesportclub Ketzin on the right bank. 200 metres upstream, we moor at the municipal jetty in front of the Havel promenade, a solid floating jetty with accessible side pontoons (water, electricity, showers, WC).
Although the city has hardly any tourist attractions to offer, the guest places on the Havel promenade are extremely popular - probably because of the great riverside location. For evening refreshments, the restaurant "Am Markt" (Friedrichstraße 8, 400 metres) with home-style German cuisine is recommended. The Edeka supermarket (Rathausstraße 2) is 500 metres away.
Three Havel kilometres east of Ketzin, the Sacrow-Paretz Canal takes the shortest route to Berlin: it's 16 kilometres along the canal to Jungfernsee and the memorable bridge that was once used for the exchange of spies and now connects Potsdam with Berlin again: the Glienicke Bridge. Across the Potsdam Havel, on the other hand, the route is just under 29 kilometres - but who wants to cycle past the beautiful Havel lakes in Potsdam? Who wants to ignore Werder and Potsdam? The same applies to the Potsdam Havel Lakes as to the Brandenburg Havel Lakes: a perfect area for a complete boating holiday.
There are endless guest berths in the numerous harbours. And two stops are a must: the "island town" of Werder and, of course, Potsdam.
Even if you don't have much time, you should head for the water hiking rest area in Werder in the northern branch of the Havel, called Föhse (PHv-km 12.3 LU). From here it is only 300 metres to the bridge that connects the mainland with Werder. A stroll through the romantic alleyways with their fishermen's houses, past the old Bock windmill (Kirchstraße 6/7) and the Church of the Holy Spirit (Kirchstraße 9) to the riverside promenade on the Havel and perhaps a stop at the fish restaurant "Arielle" (Fischerstraße 33): This could be an
unforgettable event.
Especially if you're travelling at the beginning of May and find yourself caught up in the turbulence of the famous tree blossom festival - one of the largest public festivals in Germany, by the way. And then there's Potsdam: a favourite among the many places to lie down is the Potsdam marina (PHv-km 23), which offers every conceivable service for boat and crew apart from a petrol station. It is also perfectly connected to all of the city's sights: tram 91 (Kastanienallee/Zeppelinstraße) runs just 200 metres from the jetty to Louisenplatz and thus to the city centre in just five minutes.
Also close to what you should have seen in Potsdam: the "Marina on the deep lake" above the Humboldt Bridge (PHv-km 26.8 RU). It offers perfect service for boat and crew, including the popular "Bootshaus" restaurant. And it is right in the centre of Potsdam's art and culture scene: the Museum of Modern Art Fluxus+ that Dance and music theatre factory and the architecturally interesting Hans Otto Theatre are right next to the harbour.
There are countless parks, palaces and gardens in Potsdam, many of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, especially Sanssouci Park and Palace.
Also worth seeing: unique neighbourhoods (Dutch Quarter, the Russian colony Alexandrowka), historic city gates (Brandenburg Gate, Jägertor, Nauener Tor) and many churches. Not forgetting the city's media significance: Babelsberg Film Studio is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world and the largest in Europe in terms of area. All of this can be admired up close at Filmpark Babelsberg.
Farewell to Potsdam. A quick look at the Small Palace in Babelsberg Palace Park on the south-east shore of the Deep Lake. Then the Glienicker Lake. Here we leave the Glienicke Bridge on the port side and enter the Teltow Canal via the Griebnitzsee. This is now anything but spectacular. You lie in the deep bed of the canal and look towards the embankment. Almost nothing can be seen of the neighbouring districts.
Salvation after 23 kilometres: the Tempelhof harbour is reached (TeK-km 23 RU). A gem has grown out of a former inland harbour here - 40 berths with water and electricity. The old half-timbered warehouse and the gantry cranes shine in new splendour. Behind the historic façade is a shopping centre with 70 specialist shops and plenty of restaurants. From boat to Edeka: it's never been as close as here. The fishing boat "Marti" on the main quay, where a Turkish fish restaurant is run. Very cosy, very tasty.
If there's anything to complain about at Tempelhof harbour, it's that the sanitary facilities are far too small. That should be able to be changed. Because there is room!
Opposite the harbour is the Ullsteinhaus, a monument to brick expressionism (1920s), with its striking 77-metre-high tower and eye-catching clock tower. The former printing house of the Ullstein publishing house now houses various service companies. The underground line 6 is right outside the door and takes you into the city centre in 30 minutes.
As the literature on Berlin's sights fills entire libraries, we won't go into it here. Instead, here's a suggestion for a city cruise that is certainly rarely travelled, but shows many must-see sights from the water: Continue along the Teltow Canal, at the waterway junction in Neukölln into the Neukölln shipping canal.
The shipping canal leads into the Landwehr Canal via the Neukölln self-service lock. If you follow it westwards, you are in the right lane, as it can only be travelled from east to west (towards the valley). You pass through the centre of Kreuzberg, where the nights are notoriously long - there is a 24-hour mooring at Urbanhafen - and then past the "sultana bomber" that landed on the façade of the Museum of Technology.
We pass the Unterschleuse lock at the Zoological Garden, and a little later the Landwehr Canal flows into the Spree.
And then the Spree to Berg, the Berlin festival par excellence: Bellevue Palace, Victory Column, House of Cultures, Chancellery, Central Station, government district, Reichstag, Friedrichstrasse station, Museum Island, Berlin Cathedral. Next to it once stood the Palace of the Republic, now a gigantic construction site on which the Berlin City Palace is being built in new splendour, which will house the Humboldt Forum from 2019.
On the north-east bank of the Spree is the Nikolaiviertel, a prestige project by the GDR leadership to mark Berlin's 750th birthday. A lot for the eye in a very short time.
The ideal berth afterwards: the public berth in the Spree Canal (Spk-km 1.6 LU) at the Grünstraßenbrücke bridge. The approach is in the upper water of the Mühlendamm lock, past the Historic Harbour Berlin. Caution on the approach: Two bridges below the museum harbour only have a clearance height of 3.28 and 3.29 m at MW. If this is not suitable, the berth at Schiffbauer Damm (SOW-km 15.3 RU) offers a good alternative.
A new Berlin has emerged above the Mühlendamm lock as far as Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain, where until the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Spree was characterised by the squalid harbour, commercial and industrial complexes: on the banks, beach and trendy clubs between residential and office buildings. Trias Towers, Treptowers, Molecule Man - and in the middle of it all, the old Oberbaum Bridge, for many the most beautiful bridge in Berlin.
In Köpenick, which is definitely worth a visit, we enter the Dahme under the Lange Brücke bridge, which from here forms part of the Spree-Oder waterway for around ten kilometres before entering the Oder-Spree Canal at Seddinsee.
The next 30 kilometres along the canal are rural and barren. Then the cathedral city of Fürstenwalde: "On one of the most beautiful spots on the Spree", according to its own advertising, lies the Hotel "Haus am Spreebogen" (SOW-km 73.5 RU.
In front is a fixed jetty with four berths in front of bow and stern dolphins and one berth at the head (up to 15 metres). Electricity at the jetty.
Guests who eat in the hotel's excellent restaurant pay no mooring fees and can use the hotel's beautiful sanitary facilities free of charge. There is also a washing machine and tumble dryer! The walk into the lively town takes ten minutes. Worth seeing are the Old Town Hall, which looks like a church with its tower, and St Mary's Cathedral. A must-see is the museum (Domplatz 7), which provides a unique insight into the city's history. The Oder-Spree Canal remains monotonous, even if the channel is now more "flowing": We travel for a few kilometres in the bed of the "Fürstenwalder Spree".
The small Müllroser See lake (access at SOW km 104 LU) is well hidden and the Schlaubetal marina is located on its southern shore in a holiday-friendly setting. The "lighthouse" at the harbour kiosk helps you to navigate to the jetty. Müllrose is a state-recognised health resort, but otherwise without any pomp or ostentation: a typical small farming town. In addition to the lakeside promenades, the highlights include the baroque parish church and the historic market square.
The Mielenzhafen harbour in Eisenhüttenstadt is our last stop on the journey to the Oder. The harbour, run by the Eisenhüttenstadt Motor Yacht Club, won't win any beauty prizes, but it offers perfect service for boat and crew and a great location for getting supplies. A bakery, Lidl and Aldi are 400 metres from the harbour gate and the nearest petrol station is 200 metres away. And of course Eisenhüttenstadt, affectionately called "Hütte" by its residents, is something very special: the residential town of the Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost (EKO), which was called "Stalinstadt" from 1953 to 1961, was not only an industrial showpiece of the GDR, but was also celebrated as a model of a "socialist residential town". Today, it is Germany's largest area monument and is definitely worth a visit.
And then we have reached our destination - just two kilometres south-east of Mielenzhafen, the Eisenhüttenstadt lock lowers us to the level of the Oder.
