Jüterbog

The wooden hut we stayed in on the Oehna airfield was small, but very comfortable. It was perfect for two persons: two bedrooms, living room, small kitchenette with all necessary utensils, bathroom of a reasonable size. This place has a long history, and is a home to a factory producing an ultralight and a light sport aircraft Peregrine.

It began after the WWII when Karl, who is around 85 years old now and lives in a house on the aerodrome, and his family moved from the Czech Republic to Germany. They bought some land, and were working there. Many years later, they established the aerodrome, built all those huts themselves, and started production of their dream aircraft – Peregrine.

We were promised a tour to the factory, but before that we needed a breakfast. The restaurant at the airfield was open from 9 in the morning, and we got some generous omelettes:

We new it was going to rain whole Monday, and we hoped we could get to one or another town nearby. Vagn’s Rans was still safely parked in front of the tower:

We came up to say hello to Monika, an air traffic controller on duty at that time. Monika offered us a lift to Jüterbog, a city 13 km away, where she thought we’d have something interesting to see and do. We happily accepted.

But first – a visit to the Peregrine factory. One of the aircraft that is already in use:

Jenz showed us around. A fuselage for a new aircraft:

New wings:

And then – Jüterbog. Monika drove us through the city, explained where to go and what to see, showed us the best places for lunch and coffee, and also kindly offered to drive us back to the airfield. Jüterbog wasn’t far from Magdeburg – our first stopover on this April’19 tour:

Jüterbog is a historic village first mentioned in 1007, and was granted town privileges in 1174. During its rich history, the town suffered many wars. Dammtor gateway:

There was a cemetery of Soviet solders in the town. The entrances were locked, but we found a way in. There were about 40 grave stones – on some of them were names, on others – “unknown”. Most of them died in April 1945, and later I learned that this war cemetery contains the remains of 131 Soviet soldiers and officers who fell in April 1945 or died of their wounds later on.

We continued our tour around the city. Remains of the old wall on the right, and a new one – on the left:

We had lunch in a very charming restaurant “Gasthaus zum Schmied”:

The food was delicious. For a starter, I got an East-European soup “Soljanka”, served in a small cute pot:

After lunch, we continued our sight-seeing of Jüterbog. The towers of Nikolaikirche:

Some older houses on our way:

Then a coffee break at “Die Förste” – a mix of a shop and cafe where you can buy a coffee, a hand-made soap, a bottle of wine, and many other things you didn’t know you needed. It was a charming place, too.