Hermannswerder - Paddling over the waves of the Havel

A good starting point for leisure captains is Friendship Island on the Old Canal. Past the newly built structures of Potsdams city center with the Potsdam Museum, the Brandenburg State Parliament, and the Barberini Museum, the paddle tour leads directly to Templin Lake. The view falls on the residential buildings of the Warehouse District. There, the tower of the former Royal Prussian Provisions Office stands out, which supplied the city with grain in the mid-19th century. Nearby, since the 18th century, the so-called Judengraben leads to the Havel bay Hinterkappe. This canal was named after a Jewish owner of a tannery and has since separated the island of Hermannswerder from the mainland.Paddling past the buildings of the Hoffbauer Foundation, which still unites numerous educational institutions on the island today. The Schafgraben at the beach bar of the Hotel am Havelufer still carries water from the Sanssouci Park into the Havel. From 1764, the canal was used to ship building materials for the New Palace from the Havel into the park.Past the ferry dock, the view wanders into the Neustädter Havel bay with its striking steam engine house in the shape of a mosque. To this day, the water for Sanssouci Park is pumped from here to the water basin on Ruinenberg. The solitary building of the restaurant Seerose, built by Ulrich Müther, serves as a modern counterpart to the steam engine house. Passing by the lower and upper Planitz, the waves of the Havel lead back over Templin Lake and the Old Canal to Friendship Island.