On another day trip, I decided to head south of Berlin and visit a couple of towns. My first stop was the town of Jüterbog; after reaching the train station, which was slightly outside, to the east of the old town, I then headed on foot towards the city center. As I reached the old town, I first stopped to visit the Liebfrauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, built in 1161 it is considered the second-oldest surviving church in the state of Brandenburg. The large Gothic brick building was located in the middle of a cemetery and was unfortunately closed so I could only admire it from the outside. Next to the church, I passed by another small cemetery, the Soviet cemetery laid out in 1945 for those dead in the war from the Soviet countries. Just up ahead I then reached the city gate, the Dammtor, which once consisted of an outer gate, the walls, and an inner gate. Only parts of the whole gate are remaining, including the outer part, some bits of the walls, and the two towers. From there I then followed the main street, Pferdestraße, and reached the church of St Nikolai, the largest church in town. Built between the 14th and 15th centuries in a Brick Gothic style it features two twin towers with tall spires, but when I got there to visit I found it closed. I decided to try again later on and continued walking. At one point I saw a bus that was heading in the direction of Zinna Abbey, and instead of walking there as I had planned, I decided to get on the bus and save some time and walk only on the way back. After reaching the small village of Zinna, a couple of kilometers north of Jüterbog, I got off right in front of the Abbey. Founded in 1170 as a Cistercian monastery, the monastic complex still features the abbey church, the brewhouse, and the customs house, as well as some fragments of the cloisters and the guesthouse. The abbey church was nice to see, with an early Gothic pillared basilica and late Gothic vaulting. Unfortunately, the abbey and the rest of the complex were closed so I was only able to admire it from the outside. From there I then decided to head back to Jüterbog by walking along the bicycle route which eventually brought me back into town through the northern medieval city gate, the Zinnaer Tor. I then followed the perimeter of the medieval walls until I reached the eastern end of the old town where another city gate was located the Neumarkttor. Nearby I then tried visiting the church of St Nikolai again but found it still closed, eventually guessing it was just closed for the whole winter. I continued on walking and reached the central square, the Markt, with at its southern end the nice brock gothic town hall from the 15th century. To the north of the square, a couple of streets away I then passed by the structure of the Mönchenkirche, once a Gothic Franciscan monastery and now holding the city museum. From there I decided to go one last time around town this time following the whole perimeter of the medieval walls, seeing once again the city gates I had viewed previously and passing by some other parts of the walls and some towers I had not seen. It was then time to head to the station from where I then took a ride to the nearby town of Treuenbrietzen. After getting off the train, from the train station I then headed on foot and reached the old town where I decided to stop at a kebab shop to get lunch. I then ate on the way while walking around town, passing by the church of St Nikolai, a vaulted brick basilica from the mid-13th century, stylistically between Romanesque and Gothic, and featuring a tower with a baroque tip from 1756. The church was closed so I continued on along the side streets admiring the nice architecture of the houses, some of which with timber framing. I passed then through the main square which is more of an elongated wide street at the northern end of which I came upon the main church in town, St Mary. Originally dating to the 13th century, the church was built in fieldstone and brick masonry in the transitional style between late Romanesque and early Gothic with its tower added later, probably around 1452. The church was also closed so I decided to turn around and walk around the rest of the old town. Then, like in the previous town, I decided to walk around the perimeter of the medieval walls here too, following the nice path and admiring the architecture and the surrounding landscape. I passed some nice watchtowers including the 14th century Holy Spirit Chapel inglobed in the southern city gate. From there I then ended the day, heading to the train station and eventually back to Berlin.
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