On a warm sunny Sunday in March, I took a day trip from Berlin to the nearby town of Rathenow about 80km west of the capital. Once there I got off the train and out of the station and headed on foot through the city center. After a bit of walking through the more modern area, I then reached the old town set on an island surrounded by the Havel river. Here I first passed by the beautiful 18th-century monument to the Elector of Brandenburg Friedrich Wilhelm who defeated the Swedes in the Battle of Fehrbellin in 1675. Next to it, along the canal part of the Havel river, was a nice short promenade from where I had a great view of the old town and the main church jutting out from among the rooftops. At the end of the waterfront, I then crossed the Kirchbergbrücke, a bridge that took me to the island where the old town is set. I reached the highest point where the main church, that of St Mary and Andrew, was located. It was originally built in the late Romanesque style at the beginning of the 13th century and redesigned into a three-aisled brick gothic hall church in the 15th and 16th centuries. After heavy damage during WWII, it had to be mostly rebuilt. When I got there I, unfortunately, found it close and saw that also another lady wanted to visit as well. She then started talking to me in Russian and told me she was from Ukraine. I tried telling her in my basic Polish that I believe it was closed as often I had noticed protestant churches in Germany tend to be closed during the wintertime. She understood and then asked me where I was from and what I was doing. After a bit of conversing somehow, her in Russian and me in Polish, she asked me when the next train to Berlin was as she wished to go there. I showed her on my phone and she thanked me and was off to the station. Around the church, circling the small square there, I then found some lovely timber-framed houses some of which were quite old too. From there I then walked through the rest of the old town which was mostly consisting of the typical plattenbau buildings built right after the war as a cheap and quick alternative method to replace destroyed buildings. I then reached the western part of town where I found a large park. I walked through it but at one point found myself blocked as there was a fence all around and the bridge back to the old town was fenced off. I just one of the fences and managed to find then a way to get back to the street. After that, I headed southwards and reached the large Städtischer Friedhof, the local cemetery which covers a huge area south of the old town. I walked through it and up the hill on which is located and at the end of it reached the nice Bismarckturm, one of the many towers built in Germany to honor the 19th-century first chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. This tower was built in 1914 and reaches a height of 32m. Unfortunately, it could not be climbed but a nice terrace in front of it provided a great view of the surrounding landscape. After enjoying the view and the nice warm sun I then decided to head to the train station from where I eventually took a ride back to Berlin.
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| The 18th-century monument to the Elector of Brandenburg Friedrich Wilhelm |
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| A view of Rathenow |
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| The church of St Mary and Andrew |
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| Timber-framed houses in the old town |
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| A street in the old town and the main church |
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| The Bismarckturm |
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