Klaas Voget joins Paulina and Dirk Herpel as they discover a stunning paddling destination in the beating heart of Berlin, just a few hundred metres from some of the spectres of the cold war is a series of waterways that will enchant you.

 

Rafts instead of gondolas, Berlin slang instead of Venetian flair, fish instead of pizza and pasta. A visit to the Berlin version of Venezia is certainly different in terms of culture, but as for the world-class SUP possibilities, Germany might just have the edge over Italy!

"Do you want to swim?" It’s a good question; of course, I want to, Paulina and Klaas agree with me. It is just after eight in the morning, but already the temperature is up to 28 degrees! We are sweating, even though we are only wearing T-Shirts and boardshorts. However, we don´t go in the water yet as we have a different plan: "Let’s go to the SUP Center…"

The Nalani SUP Centre in Berlin is sandwiched between a big diving tower on the left and some more typical East German motor boats moored on the right. We meet the smiling owner John-Patrick. "A fantastic day for a paddle,” he said, with an enthusiastic grin. Conditions couldn’t be better for our plan, especially on such an incredible late summer day. Without a cloud in the sky, there is just a carpet of blue above our heads.

A while ago, John-Patrick, our friend and fellow paddler, had told us stories of a “New Venice” in the heart of Berlin. It was the perfect place for an adventure by SUP. At first, we did not believe him, “New Venice”, in Berlin a good joke! However, Patrick's persuasion together with our curiosity tweaked our interest. Here we are, on a perfect summer day in Berlin about to discover Patrick’s dream SUP location!

While we pump up our boards, we hear splashes behind us. The diving tower has come to life; the first kids are streaming into the water and enjoying the weather! No school today? For these youngsters it doesn’t seem like it, and who can blame them, school was never made for days like this!

As for Berlin, it certainly has its fair share of water, sandwiched on either side by lakes with the River Spree running right through the centre of the capital. The Müggelsee Lake is the largest of Berlin’s lakes. Fed from the west by the River Spree to the east the Spree takes a more meandering path as it leaves the lake.

Canals and marinas join the natural bodies of water to create an area that from above does indeed look like a “New Venice”. Who would have thought this gem of a SUP destination would be right under our noses in the heart of Berlin!

It´s a fascinating area around the Müggelsee, if I did not know better, I would say this can’t be Berlin. There is such a stark contrast here compared to the city centre that most people visit. I've been to the capital a few times before as a tourist I know the more famous haunts and the area around the Brandenburg Gate quite well. Here, however, just a few kilometres away it is green, lovely, spacious and relaxed.

"So we start now!" John Patrick shouted. Aye, aye, Captain! Our plan is to paddle along the Spree, heading off at the infamous MS Hoppetosse, a permanently moored boat turned nightclub on the banks of the river in East Berlin. This beacon of fun, youth and hedonism is just a few hundred metres from the once ubiquitous Checkpoint Charlie where the East faced off with the West during the Cold War. Berlin is certainly a city of wild contrasting history that these days has turned it into something of a tourist oddity.

I slowly start to get this feeling of adventure as we make our first paddle strokes down the river. We are moving slowly alongside the numerous pleasure cruisers giving the sightseers a view from the river. For some reason, an image of someone standing at the front of the bow spreading their hands springs to mind. Then I realise tourists are recreating the infamous scene from the Titanic! At least in this weather, there isn’t a chance of any icebergs to hamper their journeys.

Before we turn onto Müggelspree, we briefly stop at the "Benches". The wide meadows and hard, sharp corners, dotted with water lilies, remind us of our SUP excursion to MC-Pom last year. After a short break to cool down in the water, we continue our way to the lake. From the Nalani SUP Center to the entrance of the small canals of New Venice, it is about five kilometres, it’s not a hard paddle, but in this heat, it certainly feels a little more laborious than it should!

We paddle over channel number five into the old garden settlement. After just a few hundred metres we realise, John-Patrik has not exaggerated one bit. The name New Venice is not out of the ordinary for this small labyrinth of canals, only occasionally interrupted by a few bridges and bends. To the left and to the right of us we see immaculately cultivated gardens littered with stunning houses, boats and the de rigeuer Porsche!

The land prices after the turnaround in East Germany have probably gone through the roof. "Sorry, are we going the right way to the restaurant?" While the older gentleman in the small boat does not pay us a glance, his wife tries to explain the way. "Yes straight forward, then ...", We hear her the beginning of her instructions and all of a sudden the two have disappeared around the next corner. The locals here don’t seem very friendly, at least not to us on the paddle boards in the board shorts and bikinis!

I guess that the old citizens and the newcomers are not really on the same wavelength. Two canals and three small bridges ahead we see the restaurant we were looking for, It's called New Venice!

"Can you please put your T-shirt on?" Sure, we quickly do what the waitress asked us. Although we did not necessarily expect that in this garden, which is empty aside from ourselves. Well, it seems that the restaurant is stuck in the same era as the community of water friends New Venice EV founded in 1933.

The restaurant is the right place to learn a bit about the development of this settlement though. It all started back in 1925 when the canals were built through the damp meadows of the Müggelspree to drain the ground. The plan was a development area for water sportsmen. Under the name of New Cameroon, five kilometres of canals and six islands were created. A few bridges were built, including the famous bow-shaped ones often seen in Italy. Since Berlin residents of the time were anything but reserved, the name "New Venice" was born quickly.

The sound of it was much better than Müggelspree after all! At that time, the land sold for 3.5 Reichsmark per square meter. Well, my grandfather would have known that, but it wouldn’t have mattered even if he had invested all those years ago when the land was cheap. During the reign of the German Democratic Republic when communism was the rule of law you had to be a high functionary of the party to get a weekend house.

These days during the weekdays the houses are mostly empty, due to the high risk of flooding they cannot be used as a permanent residence. Rich folk from Berlin and all over Germany choose to come here for holidays and weekends away, and it is easy to see why it’s simply a stunning part of the world!

After a tasty lunch, our expedition goes in the second round. Altogether we have a total of 13 bridges and six canals to discover. You can't really get lost here, the entire area is shaped like a ring, and so you always will come back to the starting point. We paddle back to the Müggelspree under the Rialto bridge.

The canals are busier here, boats, canoes and other water users watch us paddle past. A few proper motor boats provide some fun waves to play on. Just before Müggelsee, we pass the restaurant "New Helgoland". A kitschy dream with white fence and red tablecloths.

Instead of stopping for coffee and cake, we prefer to jump into the lake and cool off before we start a small race back to the seaside resort in Friedrichshagen. Along the way the idea of this being “New Venice” is firmly implanted in my mind, at every corner, on every canal and under every bridge is a view that is simply stunning…

As our adventure and the day draws to a close we find ourselves in the middle of the lake; the sun slowly goes down. We are treated to a huge red fireball. A crazy picture. Germany has beaten Italy this time around, that’s for sure, all hail the New Venice!

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Fanatic SUP Berlin
By Dirk Herpel

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