Altmark Attractions
The Altmark is the low-lying area between the Middle Elbe depression on the east and north-east, the Ohre valley with the Mittelland Canal on the south and the Elbufer-Drawehn Nature Park on the west and northwest.
The Altmark is flat in some areas and gently undulating in others, with terminal moraines (the Hellberge, near Wiepke, 160 m/525ft), tracts of outwash sand (Colbitz-Letzlingen Heath, 139 m/456ft) and extensive depressions (Wische, Drömling).
The light sandy soils of the Altmark are suitable for agriculture and forestry. Fields of rye and potatoes alternate with areas of woodland, and there are large areas of forest in the southern part of the region, on Letzlingen Heath.
The Altmark can be reached on good roads from the Berlin-Magdeburg-Marienborn motorway via Haldensleben (equestrian statue of Roland in Markt; numerous megalithic tombs in Haldensleben Forest) or Wolmirstedt, from the B 5 by way of the bridge over the Elbe at Wittenberge or from the east by way of the Elbe bridge at Tangermünde.
The chief towns in the Altmark are Stendal, an old Hanseatic town and an important traffic junction, Salzwedel and Tangermünde, two attractive little medieval towns.
The Altmark is flat in some areas and gently undulating in others, with terminal moraines (the Hellberge, near Wiepke, 160 m/525ft), tracts of outwash sand (Colbitz-Letzlingen Heath, 139 m/456ft) and extensive depressions (Wische, Drömling).
The light sandy soils of the Altmark are suitable for agriculture and forestry. Fields of rye and potatoes alternate with areas of woodland, and there are large areas of forest in the southern part of the region, on Letzlingen Heath.
The Altmark can be reached on good roads from the Berlin-Magdeburg-Marienborn motorway via Haldensleben (equestrian statue of Roland in Markt; numerous megalithic tombs in Haldensleben Forest) or Wolmirstedt, from the B 5 by way of the bridge over the Elbe at Wittenberge or from the east by way of the Elbe bridge at Tangermünde.
The chief towns in the Altmark are Stendal, an old Hanseatic town and an important traffic junction, Salzwedel and Tangermünde, two attractive little medieval towns.
Arendsee, Germany
The Arendsee, known as the "pearl of the Altmark", is a lake with an area of some 540 hectares/ 1350 acres, one of the most popular recreation areas, with beautiful wooded scenery, in a region which apart from this has few lakes. The little town of Arendsee, a much frequented altitude resort, has a former Benedictine nunnery with a Romanesque church and half-timbered houses of the early 19th century.
Gardelegen, Germany
Gardelegen (pop. 13,000), in the Altmark, has a Heimatmuseum (local museum; collection of cast-iron oven panels of the 17th-19th centuries).
