Station: [8] Circular trail around the lake

Ivenack – oak trees, a baroque castle complex, and pure nature!

For nature lovers, there is a hiking trail around Lake Ivenack, which will gradually be adorned with outdoor artworks over the coming years. The circular trail offers unexpected views of the castle, the park, and the village of Ivenack. About halfway along the trail, you will pass the wooded island, which unfortunately is not open to the public. In the past, the counts claimed the island for themselves. On sunny summer days, they would be ferried across from a rowing jetty at the castle. The island was off-limits to the village population. Today, there are no more counts, but the island remains closed for nature conservation reasons.

The community's fishing club maintains and cares for Lake Ivenack, monitors fish stocks, and keeps the shores clean. Please make sure that no litter falls on the ground. And please do not leave the designated hiking trail.

If you follow the circular trail, you will reach the village again after about two hours via the Ivenacker Tiergarten and the Ivenacker Eichen. If you continue to follow our audio tour, walk back a few meters to the Wasserstraße/Seeweg intersection and follow Wasserstraße. Look out for a large building with the inscription “Traditionshalle” and a street called “Scheunenberg.” Our next stop awaits you there.

Whichever path you choose, as you continue on your way, keep in mind the words of the famous writer Fritz Reuter. He was born in neighboring Stavenhagen in 1810 and loved his Mecklenburg homeland. And he was right. Listen for yourself:

"Does any of my readers know Ivenack, this lovely oasis of tranquility in a land flooded with toil and labor, which, like a slumbering naiad, has settled on green meadows and flowery fields, its head crowned with the foliage of thousand-year-old oaks reflected in the liquid silver of the lake?

Well, you may know it, and you may love it too; but to me it is more than it can ever be to the stranger. For me, it is the splendor of the summer morning that spreads over it, interwoven with a thousand golden threads of memories from childhood and youth, memories of holidays and vacations that nod at me like bright flowers from the darkness of the forest and draw me into my heart with sweet forest songs."

Foto: © Lisa Ruschin