I get the feeling that whenever there is a hilly area in Germany, they compare it to Switzerland by calling it “something Schweiz”. About 60 km east of Berlin you can find one of these hilly areas, called the Märkische Schweiz. I joined a meetup group for a hike through the area.
We met at Ostkreuz and took the insanely full train to Müncheberg. It took a while before we departed since the train staff was telling people with bikes to get off the train. They were only allowed in the special bike sections, which were already full. In Müncheberg we took the small historic train to Buckow. The young ticket seller on the train was totally overwhelmed with the amount of people travelling today. I guess we all wanted to get outside on this beautiful day.
View over the Schermützelsee 
We started walking around the Schermützelsee with a pretty fast pace, so there wasn’t much time to take photos. We went up stairs and down hills, only to go up again later. Every now and again we got a glimpse of the lake. Before we knew it we’d reached the swim spot in Buckow, which meant we’d almost gone full circle. We found a nice spot to have our late lunch by the water and enjoyed the sun on our faces.
Since we weren’t tired yet, the organiser of the walk found another loop in the forest, going to and around the big Tornowsee. I actually enjoyed this part more than the walk around the first lake. The forest had some wide dirt roads and there seemed to be many options for walks. We passed a wedding party at a house on the lake. Since our hiking team consisted of 11 girls and 2 guys, we stood still to admire the bride. The wedding was at this gorgeous place, but served coffee in a thermos. An interesting combo. Even when we reached the other side of the lake we could still hear the music.
It was a beautiful warm day and yet it wasn’t super busy in this area. Perhaps it’s because it is not so easily reached as other areas around Berlin? In any case, it’s definitely a place I’d like to explore more. This time it was nice to have the company and get to know some new people. I ended up hanging out with 2 German girls for most of the day, so got to practice my language skills too. I was exhausting at the end of the day! Luckily we finished in the cute town of Buckow. Even the houses look super nice. We found a bakery and had some cake before taking the bus and train back.
We passed many apple trees 
Lots of trees in the Kleiner Tornowsee 
The Großer Tornowsee 
There was a wedding at the venue on the other side
Ah, one of my favorite hiking areas around Berlin :-).