At the shore of the Spree

So we start our hike – which we also recommend as a bike trip
– at the shore of the Spree in front of a mill: the Markgrafenmühle (Margrave Mill) (1). Margrave Frederick II of Brandenburg yielded the mill which was named after him to Otto von Sliwen and his wife in 1452 with the following words: "We, Frederick, loan, on the appeal of our land reeve in Lausitz and 1st abider Otto von Sliwen and his married wife Elisabeth, as personal property our mill, called marggrawen mill, a quarter mile from our town Cottbus located, for both their lifetime ..." Thus, the mill of the margrave a quarter mile outside Cottbus (1 mile were 7.532 metres at that time) got a new proprietor. We know that around 1786 the processing stagnated and in 1798 the miller opened a tavern. He served amazing 230 tons (!) of beer a year to his guests. In 1891 a fire destroyed the mill. The church was rebuilt in 1906. According to the style of the time it became a big country inn for hikers. It’s no wonder that the Margrave Mill is still one of the most popular beer restaurants in Cottbus.

To the left and the right of the Spree there are biking trails which follow the untouched natural course of the river towards Cottbus’ centre (Spreeradwanderweg). If you want to use the biking trail east of the Spree, you must cross the Hermann-Löns-Bridge (2). Since its opening in 1995 it connects the south-west quarters of Cottbus with the Branitz park landscape.