Potsdam | Fotoeins Fotografie

25T51 Potsdam: Sanssouci World Heritage Site

E50, B45.

Potsdam’s Sanssouci (“care free”) palace and park are very popular places for visitors in summer. However, a couple of days with severe thunderstorms and high winds in the past week forced the closure of the entire grounds, as announced earlier today on their website and as seen with signs on their locked gates. Downed branches and tree segments needed clearing. By mid-afternoon, some of the grounds opened to foot traffic, bicycles, and motor vehicles. It’s no surprise there were far fewer number of visitors observed on the grounds today.

In 1990, selected gardens and palaces in Potsdam including Sanssouci were inscribed by UNESCO as a single item onto their list of World Heritage Sites.

*Locked gate on the grounds’ southern perimeter in morning hours.*

*Orangerieschloss: 1851 to 1860/1864, by Stüler and Persius.*

Neue Kammern: 1748 by Knobelsdorff; first an
orangery, then guest palace.

*Hauptallee, facing west to Neues Palais.*

*From Hauptallee up to Sanssouci palace.*

*Weinbergterrasse (vineyard terrace), facing north to Sanssouci palace.*

*Weinbergterrasse (vineyard terrace), facing south to the Great Fountain.*

*On the terrace steps, up to the palace.*

*The final spots for Friedrich the Great (below) and his beloved dogs (above center).*

Grave for Friedrich the Great (1712-1786) who ruled as Prussia’s monarch from 1740 until his death. Yes, those are spuds on the plaque; legend has him responsible as the first to getting potatoes into German hands and bellies.

*The visual jewel that is the centre portion of Sanssouci Palace.*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 27 June 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

25T48 Potsdam: from Bridge of Spies to Old Market

E47, B42.

As my time in Berlin winds down, there’s still a lot on my list, much of which I knew intuitively I couldn’t complete in 7 weeks. But it’s not for the lack of trying.

I spent an afternoon in Potsdam: the capital city for the German federal state of Brandenburg. Potsdam is reachable by train, about an hour southwest from Berlin.

Glienicke Bridge, from the Potsdam (former DDR-) side facing east towards Berlin on the other side. The post-war reconstruction was called “The Bridge of Spies”, for the exchange of captured and incarcerated agents from both sides of the Cold War.

*Before the bridge on the Potsdam side: “here Germany and Europe were divided until 6pm on 10 November 1989.”*

*Nauener Tor (Nauen Gate): 1 of 3 remaining city gates, dated 1755 (by J.G. Büring); considered Central Europe’s 1st neo-Gothic structure and 1st example of Gothic Revival outside of England.*

*Red brick buildings (all renovated) within Potsdam’s Holländisches Viertel (Dutch Quarter), initially constructed 1733 to 1740.*

*Café Cecilie, in the Dutch Quarter. They have coffee, cake, Flammkuchen, ice cream*.

*What I needed: a steaming latté and a slice of Oma’s (Grandma‘s) cheesecake.*

*Französische Kirche (French Church), 1752-1753 by Huguenot refugees from France.*

Alter Markt (Old Market Square). Foreground: Obelisk, by G.W. von Knobelsdorff, 1753-55. Background: St. Nikolaikirche, first by K.F. Schinkel then L. Persius, 1830-37; dome added F.A. Stüler, 1843-1849.

*Fortunaportal: original north entrance for the town palace, constructed in 1662 for Great Elector Frederick William.*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 24 June 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

Tips to 5 UNESCO Heritage Sites in Germany

After living in Germany for two years and going back at least once every year since 2003, I’ve had a great deal of travel along the most popular train routes with primary operator Deutsche Bahn to visit friends around the country.

I recommend the following UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Germany:

• Bamberg,
• Cologne Cathedral,
• Lübeck,
• Park Sanssouci in Potsdam, and
• the Zollverein Colliery in Essen.

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