Fanfarenplatz

Take the first path on the right, closest to the lake, and keep following it around.

The lake itself is small, about six and a half hectares, 3 or 4 meters deep.

Part of the chain of Grunewald lakes left behind by the glaciers of the last ice age. It has no inflow, only groundwater seeping in from below, and since the 19th century it drains through pipes that lead out to the Spree. Before that, the overflow ran into a swampy area called the Schwarzer Graben, or the black Ditch.

In 1904, the lake was literally cut in two by an embankment dumped in “because the street must go through”: extending Kantstraße required a dam for the route that is now Neue Kantstraße. The dam split the water into a north and south basin and left only a 10-meter opening; a canal under the bridge still connects the halves. And for a while, the roadway separated the park so thoroughly, there wasn't even a proper pedestrian passage. Only in 1954 did the district add a simple under bridge path that stitched the park loop back together for walkers and cyclists. The bridge doing the slicing is the Lietzenseebrücke, built in 1904 by Terrain A.G. Park Witzleben to plans by Rudolf Walter. There was also the legend that the original village of Lietzow, once sank into the lake.

Fishermen claimed their nets would get caught on the church's spire below, or that ghostly dogs prowled the area, as well as spontaneous fires that could be seen along the banks at night. As we come towards the tunnel's entrance, if you look carefully to your left, you'll spot another one of Berlin's camouflaged, whimsical concrete bananas.

Walk through the tunnel, and just keep following the path.