VidonTour finally leaves the UK and finds himself in Germany’s capital. I had just 5 days to cram in everything touristy about Berlin. Here’s a rundown of what to do when you’re there.
Firstly, get to grips with the public transport. I spent approximately €20 more than I should have done on tickets I didn’t need, and somehow managed to spend 24 hours travelling on the U-bahn with a ticket that wasn’t valid. Thankfully I wasn’t subject to a check and a €60 fine! Bloody tourists.
What I should have done (and what YOU should consider) was buy a single ticket from the airport (C zone) into the city centre and then buy a 4 day Berlin WelcomeCard. Berlin has three zones: A, B and C. Almost all of the touristy things are in Zone A, and a tourist is never going to need to enter Zone C unless they’re going to an airport – so don’t pay for an ABC ticket! An AB day ticket is €7 but the 4 day AB Berlin WelcomeCard is €33.50 and includes up to 50% discount on 200 tourist highlights. Darn, I wish I’d done the research BEFORE I went.
The best thing about the U-bahn is you can receive a 4G signal whilst you’re on it. Well, I could on Vodafone. The station names were tough to remember, so I spent most of my time on the Underground with my nose buried in Google Maps, making sure I was heading in the right direction. I only got on the wrong train once. Not bad.
Now, because I’d not done my research, I spent €7.70 a day on an ABC day ticket. Waste of money, especially as I was using it to get from my AirBnB on Hermannplatz into the centre, and back again. I quickly learned that you really don’t need to use the trains to get between the main attractions. In fact, it’s a simple walk from Alexanderplatz to the Tiergarten that takes you past many of Berlin’s main attractions – so simple, I did the walk three times on my trip!
Alighting at Alexanderplatz places you at Berlin’s heart where you can find the World Clock, a slowly rotating structure that, as its name suggests, tells you at which hour of the day every part of the world is at. Also, literally towering above you is the Fernsehturm – or the Berlin TV Tower. It’s an easy indicator of where to walk next.
Underneath the tower is the square between St Mary’s Church and the Rotes Rathaus (Berlin’s town hall) and by night it looks wondrous. The square is also home to Neptunbrunnen (Neptune’s Fountain).
Continue walking in a south-westerly direction and you’ll eventually come across the DDR Museum beside Berlin’s river: the Spree. If, like me, you’re a fan of Richard Ayoade’s Travel Man, you’ll recognise this from the Berlin episode as the museum of old East Germany. You can experience a section kitted out as a standard East Berlin home – the TV has old shows playing and you can listen to music popular at the time. Definitely worth a visit if you want to enter a time capsule! I paid €9.80 at the door to get in but you can pay €5.50 if you book online in advance.
Crossing the bridge opposite the DDR Museum and you’ll find yourself on Museum Island where, you’ve guessed it, there are loads of museums.
You’ll also find the cathedral, the Altes Museum and the construction site rebuilding Berlin Palace; all visible from the Lustgarten between them all. This is a great place for a picnic or a selfie! Cue selfie…
The road now moves directly west and takes you off Museum Island (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and through more of a shopping district. Once you pass the Opera House on your left, you’ll eventually begin to spy what lies ahead: the Brandenburg Gate.
We accidentally timed our trip to coincide with the Berlin Marathon, and this was where the course ended. For the days we were in Berlin, there was a pop-up bar on the back of the truck – which gave us a picturesque place to have a local wheat beer. How can you refuse?
Just north of the Gate is the Reichstag – the second most visited attraction in Germany and home to German parliament. There’s a big German flag in front of it – just to remind you that you are in Germany.
Just south of the Gate is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It’s a large area filled with concrete monoliths of various sizes. The walk through the Memorial is uneven, uneasy and imposing – and evokes numerous feelings and thoughts depending on the person. It’s a strange, unexplainable tribute to victims of unexplainable actions.
Around the corner you’ll find an unassuming car park, under which was the Fuhrerbunker – Hitler’s bunker and death place. I suppose you could see poetic irony in a massive memorial to the people he hated being placed just yards away from his final office. Personally I wonder if there might have been a better location for the memorial… I might be wrong.
Anyhow, in one long walk, you’ve seen most of Berlin’s main attractions/landmarks in around an hour. Cracking! But the most famous attraction is itself one long walk…
The East Side Gallery, formerly known as the Berlin Wall is a 1.3km long open-air gallery. Whilst all the original, famous artworks are (as the name suggests) on the eastern side of the wall, you will need to check out the western side too as most of that is graffiti’d up. Along the eastern side, you’ll find the painting ‘My God, Help Me to Survive this Deadly Love’ AKA ‘Fraternal Kiss’ AKA ‘The Kiss’. You know what I mean. Obviously, I had to join the crowd of people wanting a photo in front of it, just to prove to my friends, followers and indeed myself that I had indeed visited it.
Other places you should consider visiting include the Oberbaum Bridge, right next to the East Side Gallery, and Checkpoint Charlie, a reproduction of the original border crossing guard house between East and West Germany. There’s also a museum there. And if you don’t mind a trip out of the centre (still just in Zone A though), check out Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin’s largest palace and a great place for a photo.
Now, when you’re all tired from a day full of sightseeing, you probably want to climb into bed and nurse your feet. A great idea, tbh, but it means missing out on Berlin’s nightlife!
There are a number of ways you can research your Berlin nightlife, but my friends and I were a little simple and just searched for “clubs” on Google Maps. There were a cluster of markers near Eberswalder Staẞe station, so we made that our destination.
Brendan, Callie, Chris, Joel and I drank in a pokey bar called ‘An einem Sonntag im August’ which I think means On a Sunday in August. This night however, was a Saturday in September, and we found spaces upon cushions placed on a raised, stepped, seating area. Odd, but why not.
After about an hour we wandered around the corner to an absinthe bar named Druide. I’d never tried absinthe before, but as it is a spirit associated with France and Switzerland, I felt it fitting to try it in Berlin. It wasn’t bad at all! With it, I had a cocktail, and that was bad – but not as bad as Brendan’s disgusting iced tea.
After leaving most of our cocktails on the table, we headed around the corner again to a club which had a real mix of tunes that of course included europop and German dance anthems. It was quite fun to dance like psychos to music we had absolutely no clue about. Everyone in the club was nice and everyone spoke English – which made me think how lucky and linguistically ignorant we Brits are (not you though Callie I know, I know). On the train home, Joel and I had fun using Google Translate to talk to the Berliners – with reference to Germany’s amazing performance at the World Cup…
There aren’t many places in the world that I’ve visited and wished to return. I like to go somewhere once, make the most of it, and then go somewhere new. However, Berlin was brilliant and I absolutely would not be against another visit. Here’s 10 things I learned:
- The moustache is still a thing in Germany.
- Berlin public transport is not much better than British public transport.
- Berlin does a good doner kebab.
- A Berlin breakfast is mostly salad.
- Bikes. Everywhere.
- The Berlin Marathon is in September.
- The trimmed fringe on a girl is common.
- DON’T MENTION THE WORLD CUP.
- Some ticket machines don’t accept notes. Practical.
- Currywurst (Berlin’s signature dish) is nice.
Anyway I tried to do a different type of blog and that has probably contributed to the length it took me to write it! Also I’ve been busy and I was doing my hair etc…
Happy New Year.
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