Burg is the heart of the Upper Spreewald and one of the most Sorbian places you will find in Brandenburg. The village, with about four and a half thousand people, goes by its Sorbian name, Borkowy, on bilingual signs, and the wooden houses with their carved gables and steeply thatched roofs stand beside canals that serve as streets. Here the water is the main road. Punts carry visitors between farms, and a surprising number of locals still keep their own boats.
The Spree arrives from the south and splits into a labyrinth of channels, and the area is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. The woods are mostly alder, growing right in the water, and in autumn the leaves fall and float along the surface. Small meadows between the channels are mown by hand in places, because machines cannot get in. Kingfishers, otters and beavers live in the quieter channels, and white storks nest on the village rooftops.
For a rider, the roads around Burg are narrow, flat and slow, with low speed limits and bridges that creak. This is not a place for speed but for gentle cruising, and you will often share the road with cyclists, who outnumber cars on a summer weekend. The surface is generally good, though bumpy at the bridges, and it can be slippery after rain. Parking in the village is limited, so be patient.
There are restaurants by the canals serving fish, potato dishes and the famous gherkins, and a few bakeries selling Sorbian pastries. Fuel is not in the village, so fill up in Vetschau, about seven kilometres away, or in Lübbenau. A traditional Spreewald lunch is plain and filling, and tastes better after a morning on the road.
Early morning and evening are the best times, when the village is quiet and the light on the water is golden. In winter, the canals sometimes freeze, and the locals skate between the farms, a scene that looks like a Dutch painting. It is a place that asks you to slow down.