Up here in northern Brandenburg, in what used to be Mecklenburg, is the eight district town of Fürstenberg (Havel). From its name you can probably tell that it’s located along the famous Havel River.
What’s even better (is that possible?) than being on the river itself, is that Fürstenberg lies along the Baalensee, the Roblinsee, and the Schwedtsee. Yup, three lakes for the bargain basement price of one town.
Sounds like bliss, doesn’t it? I know it is. Which, by the way, is probably why Fürstenberg has been a tourist spot for more than a hundred years. The Preußische Nordbahn (Prussian Northern Railway) helped too.
For a while it wasn’t, though. Sadly during World War II, Fürstenberg wasn’t the carefree place it is today. This was the location of the infamous Ravensbrück Concentration Camp (Konzentrationslager Ravensbrück) — the largest women’s camp in Nazi Germany. Today a memorial marks the spot of this dark stain on German history so it doesn’t happen ever again.
You’ll find two other memorials here, one is a Soviet War Memorial (from its days of Soviet Occupation), and another to the men who lost their lives in World War I.
Further back in Fürstenberg’s history is the Kloster Himmelpfort, now in ruins. You can still see the monastery’s village church and brewery.
The oldest building still around is the old Wasserburg, a moated castle found on Brandenburger Straße. A castle is always good, don’t ya think?
A few other old buildings you should see here in Fürstenberg would be the town’s Rathaus (Town Hall), its Stadtkirche (City Church), and the Schloss Fürstenberg. The latter of which being a Baroque gem built over the course of 11 years from 1741 – 1752. It’s been used for a variety of reasons — a castle, a sanatorium, a hospital, a nursing home, and a hotel.
There’s also a museum in town, too. You’ll find the Brandenburg Forest Museum at Rathenau Straße 16.
And what if I told ya that you could find a piece of Christmas? There’s a Christmas Post Office in town — so send your letters to Santa here. ;-)
With your Christmas stuff done early, there’s plenty of time to enjoy Fürstenberg’s cycle paths, its dragon boat races, heck… they’ve even hosted the Motorcross National Championships!
My guess is that Santa & his sleigh were much faster than those guys. ;-)
