The old town of Ratzeburg sits on an island in the middle of a lake, joined to the land by three causeways, and the best way to photograph it is from the road that heads back out. As you leave the town and climb the gentle slope toward the east shore, the island appears across the water: the red-brick cathedral with its twin towers, the roofs of the old houses, the line of trees along the shore, and the long, calm surface of the lake in front. It is a view that has not changed greatly in centuries, and it is at its best in the low light of late afternoon.
The lake is the other half of the story. Ratzeburg's water is long, narrow and clean, left behind by the ice, and in the early morning it can be flat enough to double the cathedral perfectly upside down. The town became the capital of a small duchy, Saxe-Lauenburg, and later a quiet country seat, and that long, peaceful history is part of why the island looks so well preserved from the shore. For forty years the inner German border lay only a few kilometres east, which kept development low and the surroundings calm.
The road itself runs along the lake shore and into farmland, with a gentle series of bends and glimpses of water. It is pleasantly empty on weekday evenings, and the tarmac is mostly good. A few stretches under trees stay damp, and in autumn the leaves can be slippery. Cyclists use the road heavily in summer. There are laybys and small car parks where you can stop for a photograph, and a few benches look out across the lake. The water is calm in the evening, and rowers sometimes pass in slim boats.
Ratzeburg has about fourteen thousand people, so fuel stations, supermarkets and cafés are easy to find in the modern part of town on the mainland shore. The road back toward Hamburg is a straightforward run through farmland and small towns, with some traffic at rush hour. If you have time before leaving, buy a cake or an ice cream and eat it on the bank. The lake has a way of keeping you there a little longer than planned.