The thermometer shows 21 degrees Celsius this Sunday morning. The sun is shining, there are hardly any clouds in the sky – the perfect day for a trip. There are hardly any bathers on the beach, the water is probably still too cool for that – according to the display it is 10.1 degrees Celsius. But little by little more and more cyclists are coming.
Anna Gogulska is among them. She has parked her bike and is sitting on the promenade wall, enjoying a drink and looking at the lake. “I like the landscape here,” she says. Several times a week she cycles here from her home in Zgorzelec in Poland and circles the lake. She makes a stop at the “Blue Lagoon” before continuing.
“Bike path is perfect for families”
The Czech Petr, his wife and his two children have just completed the tour around the lake and are thrilled. “It’s very nice. The bike path is perfect for a family with small children because it doesn’t go up and down so much.” The four of them came from Liberec in the Czech Republic and are here for the third time, they say.
The “Blue Lagoon” is located in a bay in the south of Lake Berzdorf surrounded by forest. In addition to the sandy beach with a playground and volleyball nets, there is also a campsite, a climbing park, a mini golf course and a large parking lot. It’s four kilometers from here to the Polish border and around 15 to the Czech Republic. In addition to German, you can hear a lot of Polish and Czech; European coexistence is part of everyday life here.
Berzdorfer See has a new restaurant
The “Blue Lagoon” restaurant has been new since March 30th. Younes Polenz from Niesky and his girlfriend Natalia Kowalska lovingly redesigned the room, which was previously a very simple bistro: with blue tablecloths, shells as wall decorations and a view of the beach, there is a bit of a Baltic Sea feeling. There is pike perch or salmon to go with it, but also burgers or pasta. The terrace slowly fills up and by lunchtime it is full. Only a few seats remain free inside.
Younes has been told that 3,000 people come to the beach on some days in the summer. “It’s crazy, you have to work really hard to provide food for 3,000 people,” he says. That’s why he wants to open a snack bar and an ice cream shop soon.
In contrast to many other restaurateurs, Younes is in a comfortable situation: “We don’t have a staff shortage,” he says, knocking three times on the wooden bench where he sits. He owes this primarily to his girlfriend Natalia, who originally comes from Zgorzelec. She has a huge talent for getting people excited about the job. Many of the workers come from Poland.
The “three-country beach”
That suits the Blue Lagoon, where things are generally very European. “I estimate that 40 percent of the people here are Poles, 30 percent are Czech and the rest are German,” says the restaurateur, summing up his impression somewhat simplistically and adding: “This is the three-country beach.”