Glienicke/Nordbahn is a small town just outside Berlin's northern edge, in Brandenburg, and during the decades of the Berlin Wall it found itself in one of the strangest positions in divided Germany. The town was in East Germany, but it pushed into West Berlin on three sides, and one narrow part of it, known as the Entenschnabel, the duck's bill, was enclosed by the Wall on almost every side, so that residents of a few streets lived inside a corridor of concrete and barbed wire, with West Berlin just over their back fences.
Today the Wall is gone, and the Berliner Mauerweg, a path for walkers and cyclists that follows the old border, passes through the area, with information boards telling the stories of those years. Glienicke itself is a quiet, green suburb of houses and gardens, with a growing population of commuters. The nearby Berlin districts of Hermsdorf, Frohnau and Lübars are leafy and calm, and Lübars still has a village green, a church and farmhouses, an old village swallowed by the city.
The riding into Glienicke is easy: roads through forests and fields from the north, then quiet suburban streets. Some streets are cobbled, and traffic is light except at peak hours. Watch for cyclists, as this is a popular area for bike rides along the Mauerweg and through the forests of the Tegeler Fließ, a small stream with meadows and wetlands.
Fuel, supermarkets and cafes are close by in Glienicke, Hermsdorf and Frohnau. After a long day out to the Müritz National Park, with its lakes, forests and ospreys, or across the wide open landscape of the Oderbruch, this quiet finish is a gentle way to end the ride.
For a final reflection, walk a few minutes along the Mauerweg and imagine the Wall standing here, with watchtowers and floodlights, and the families who lived so close to the other side. It is hard to picture now, among the gardens and quiet streets, but it is only a generation ago.