Strausberg is halfway between Berlin and the Polish border. It bills itself as a green city, and for once it is not all tourist hype!
The town sits on one side of the Straus Lake with the Strausberger Forest on the opposite shore. Carved out by glaciers, the area has many smaller ponds and tree-covered hills in addition to the main area around the lake that are also good for exploring.
Such is the beauty of the town that Sigmund Jähn, the first German in space, has chosen it for his home. It looks good even from above, evidently!
But most people don’t come to Strausberg because they saw it from space. They come to fish in the lake, hike the trails, or play on the water. The city really encourages families to come out as well as individuals, so in the summer months there can be quite a crowd of children roaming around the shores.
For a quick tour of the Straus Lake, you can take Steffi. Steffi is a very unique creature, as it is an electrically operated ferry. It gets its power from a cable overhead, and runs back and forth over the water with up to 100 passengers each time. Not only does this provide a nice view of the lake, but photographs of Strausberg from the opposite shore are nice souvenirs.
Back in town, you will find there are a lot of modern and restored things to see. It’s best to content yourself with a nice meal rather than attempting to hunt down old architecture.
Strausberg was heavily bombed in WWII because it was a munitions stop, so now there are more plaques and memorial statues than actual old buildings. It’s not really worth tracking them all down when you could be sitting at a lakeside cafe enjoying the sunset instead!
