End of August 2021, I am on the road to Berlin, via Slovakia and Poland. 

My route begins in Slovakia: Bratislava – Trnava – Nitra – Žilina – Strečno and Terchová – Dolny Kubin, Podbiel and Tvrdošín. It continues in Poland: Wilkowisko – Kraków – Szklarska Poręba – Wroclaw, and now I am driving to Berlin, via Cottbus and Luckau. 

 

From Wroclaw to Cottbus

The highway E65 from Wroclaw through Poland to Dresden is very busy; even on a Saturday it is full of trucks. I leave this busy highway to catch the E36 to Cottbus. The E36 is under construction. One track has been completed and provides two-way traffic. I reach Cottbus shortly before lunch time. I am in Germany now. No one takes notice of me at the border; I hardly notice crossing it.

Source: Google maps

 

Lunch at Luckau

From Luckau, I keep wonderful  memories. I had lunch at the Ratskeller in 2018. Now I take the detour to enjoy an excellent lunch again: Potatoes with curd cheese and linseed oil and, as a dessert, the sweet pancakes called “Plinsen”, both typical local dishes.  

The restaurant keeper is still the same as in 2018; he has worked in Zurich and enjoys remembering his years in Switzerland. 

The market square has undergone a thorough renovation to be a cosy place for pedestrians; …

… the red and white barriers are about to disappear. 

The restaurant owner is happy that the works will soon be accomplished. 

I continue my way to Berlin, my mother town. I arrive, feel at home and have another excellent dish, now at my favourite Vietnamese restaurant Viet Koch BBQ at the Breitenbachplatz. 

 

I will stay in Berlin for about ten days.

 

Remembering Luckau in 2018

In summer 2018, I visited Luckau with a friend of mine. Standing in front of the Ratskeller, we debated, whether we should eat here – it was lunch time. The owner heard us speak Swiss German and asked us in. He had worked in Switzerland for some years and he loved to hear our dialect.

We entered – what a good choice!

I had “Lausitzer Leibgerichte” (Lausitzer favourites): Fried trout filet, regional curd with horse radish and linseed oil, aspic of pickled pork knuckle,  pickled gherkins, corniness (or schmalz) with apple and onion. It was delicious.

With our dishes we had a glass of local wine, Marbachs Wolfshügel. I had a mouthful – not more, as I was driving; we took the rest of the bottle with us.

After lunch, we strolled through the small town. 

Just next to the Ratskeller is the Georgenkapelle (Chapel of Saint George, also called Hausmannsturm), built around 1200 in late Romanic style. Until the reformation in the 16th century, it was a chapel . In 1679 the tower was enhanced to 47m; it was now the seat of the city guard. Since 1969 the tower has been used as a festival hall. (Source: Information plate).  

Building the church of Saint Nicolas (Nikolai Kirche) started in the early 13th century. After a fire, the church was rebuilt around 1400, in gothic style now. After another fire in 1644, the interior was renovated in baroque style (a rarity in protestant Brandenburg; source: Information plate).  

The moat and the town fortification have been well preserved and provide a nice stroll around the city. 

Luckau has an 800 year long tradition of growing wine that halted in 1926. It has now been reactivated. This is castle hill vineyard that was renewed in the year 2000. 

Jürgen Rietze owns a vineyard west of Luckau. We met him working here. After the fall of the iron curtain, he learnt the wine business in the Stuttgart region. In 2005, he returned and started his own vineyard  in Luckau. In 2012, he was included in the wine guide of Berlin. He is proud of his vineyard – he points out that it is facing south. We frown. He laughs. Well, you, being Swiss, might have steeper slopes, here we are in Brandenburg, he adds. Yes, looking at the vineyard carefully, I can see, it is slightly slanting. I would love to try his wine, but he has no bottle for us right now.

Now, three years later, in 2021, I have returned to the welcoming little town Luckau, and I hope to return soon again with my long-year friend from Berlin.

 

Sources:

• Luckauer Wein – Weintradition seit 1210 https://www.lausitzer-weinfreunde.de/winzer/weinbau-rietze/ 
• Route Brandenburger Weinkultur https://route-brandenburger-weinkultur.de/de/mitglieder/luckauer-schlossberg/e.html
• Homesite https://landhaus-marbach.de/
• Der Berliner Weinführer (wine guide of Berlin) https://www.berliner-weinfuehrer.de/ and https://www.berlin.de/kultur-und-tickets/adressen/verlag/berliner-weinfuehrer-4f1445eeb4fc475f0bdbde00.html