Day 118: Bad Belzig to Berlin

August 30, 2025

Day 118: Bad Belzig to Berlin

Yesterday, it was cloudy the whole day and rained only a little bit so it was tolerable.

For breakfast, I had a slice of cake and a cup of coffee at a bakery in Bad Belzig called Kultur bei Racha & Roger. Then I followed the EuroVelo route the whole time since the path was paved and there weren’t any dirt trails. I was lucky that I rode mainly on bike paths to Berlin.

I arrived in Potsdam in the early afternoon and had lunch at MYLIA Vietnamese Kitchen. Then I did some grocery shopping next door at Rewe since I was low on road snacks. I ended up buying too much stuff and had trouble fitting everything in the frame bag. In the end, I was able to zip the whole thing up. Next time, I should remember not to buy so many things.

In Potsdam, I stopped by the City Palace, St. Nikolaikirche, and Alter Markt, which is the town square. All of them were close to each other. I admired the architecture in the town square and wished I could have spent a day in Potsdam, but I already have a Warmshowers host in Berlin whom I had to meet. I left Potsdam soon after this brief stop.

I arrived in Berlin around 4:30 PM. My bike computer had some issues. At one time, it said I was going over 60 mph and other times it said I was going 0 mph, which was not true in either case. My actual mileage was probably around 56 miles from Bad Belzig to Berlin.

The first thing I did in Berlin was to stop at a shop called Eis Henri to get some ice cream to celebrate my arrival. I had shared my location on WhatsApp to my Warmshowers host Sebastian. He ended up meeting me at the ice cream shop. I bought him some ice cream and we chatted about bike touring.

I felt I had met a dear friend after the first meeting with Sebastian since we got along so well. Sebastian had bicycled from Germany to India in 2021. I was very impressed because India is a hard place for bicycle touring due to the roads and the traffic.

After settling down in Sebastian’s apartment, we decided to do some grocery shopping so we can have food for dinner. I bought two packages of ramen, some deli meat, a package of smoke salmon, some radishes, and some chocolate for dessert. I made dinner for both of us once we came back home.

Sebastian has the same Ortlieb branded panniers and gave me his pannier clips because mine had malfunctioned. The spring in one of the clips is stuck and the clip won’t close. I’m very fortunate that Sebastian gave me his.

I slept very well on the couch last night. This morning, I woke up after 8. I plan on exploring Berlin for a few days before taking the train to Kutno, Poland, then cycle to my friend Chris’s place in Grabina.