Berlin – The Bustling Hub of Germany -
In all my travels around the EU, I found Berlin, the capital of Germany of over 3.5 million people to be one of the most complex and interesting cities that I've visited in the world. It is the largest city in Germany and is known for its many Museums, architectural buildings, cathedrals, unique decorated and themed bars, the electronic music scene, the opera house, theaters, Kuhdamm-the famous shopping street, a walking art gallery of graffiti and not to forget the Berlin wall that separated East and West Germany which you can buy a piece of as a souvenir.
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(The Fantastic Arthitechture Of Berlin)
(Strolling down a street in Berlin)
Tegel (TXL) and Schoenefeld (SXF) are the two international airports in Berlin. In Reinickendorf, Tegal is the current official international airport of Berlin. It is also extremely busy as more than 11 million passengers fly through it (over the legal capacity). You can reach Tegal easily via public transport with buses X9, 109, 128 or TXL.
Schoenfeld is in south east of Berlin in Brandenburg and serves lost cost carries and charter flights like EasyJet, GermanWings and Ryanair. You can reach Schoenefeld by train RE&, RB22 and RB14 However Schoenefeld is under expansion and Tegel will be closed with Schoenefeld's new incarnation - Berlin is well served by major international and local airlines while the prices for flights are competitive, especially if booked well in advance and can range from INR 25000 to INR 35000 one way from Mumbai. To reach the city, depending on the traffic, the cab ride will be about half an hour and will probably cost around 35 Euros.The journey time from the other airports is around 15-20 minutes with a cab cost of around 20 Euros.
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(A Train Station)
The Berlin Hauptbahnhof is a new and grand train station made in 2006. It is the biggest train station in all of the Eu and also a treat to the eye as it is a beautiful to look at as well and thus a tourist attraction. All major train services start from one of the fourteen platforms. You can reach Berlin via the Berlin- Spandau from Hamburg and Amsterdam, Ostbahnhof from Prague, Cracow or Moscow, the Berlin-Gesundbrunnen from from Gdansk and Riga up north.
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(Strolling down a street in Berlin)
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(Berliners resting in the park along the River)
The winter climate in Berlin is frosty and cold and snow is fairly common as temperatures fall blow freezing so most if not all are found walking the streets with gloves and scarfs. Summer months between May and August the city is pleasant and warm with many hours of sunshine and temperatures reaching to 30 degrees Celcius. At this time the weather can be a little unpredictable with the occasional rain.
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(A main street in Berlin City)
There are plenty of clean and interesting places to stay around Berlin from expensive hotels to cheap hostels of 12 Euros a night a night to accommodate the thousands of tourists and visitors running through the Capital. You can choose to stay in any kind of hotel or hostel you please from a squat house for free around Tacheles to the Ritz Carlton for 350 Euros a night.
(Berliner Dom - Berlin Cathedral)
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(Outside The Altes Museum)
(Inside The Hamburger Banhof Museum)
Berliner Dom - Situated in Mitte, near the Altes Museum also known as the 'old museum' is the massive Berliner Dom cathedral built in neorenaissance style on a spot where a church from 15th century was before. The Berliner Dom was constructed in 1905 and is one of the largest churches in Berlin. There is a small garden known as the Lustgarten which is a nice place to relax in the summer months. You can visit the interiors as well as the top of the dome for compounded beauty and and interesting perspective too! There are plenty of museums to visit around the city like the Hamburger Banhof. The Altes Museum which is the oldest public building in Berlin and exhibits ancient artworks today.
(Graffiti By Artist Blu In Kruezberg)
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(Art Caravan in Tacheles, Drawing by illustrator, Drew Aldefer)
Street Art – Berlin is an explosion of street expression and art. There is graffiti all over the city but some art works stand out as tourist attractions like the famous wall in Kreuzberg made by the artist Blu who painted two men trying to rip each other’s masks off symbolizing, he claims, the struggles of Berlin during its first few years of reunification.
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(The graffiti filled toilet on the top floor of Tacheles)
Kunsthaus Tacheles - once an artists’ squat and still a focal point of the scene, Tacheles holds electronica party nights downstairs and sells urban art books upstairs?—?its bar is as expensive as anywhere in the city. Artists such as Alexander Rodin, XOOOOX, Mein Lieber Prost and Alias have started to exhibit and sell in these galleries inside Tacheles and the Thai street food outside is absolutely divine! Definitely not an area to miss out on! You can see metal works graffiti and unusual art and incredible paintings all over this zone!
The best way to explore the convoluted city of Berlin is on a No 100 Bus which will only take an hour but pass by all the main sights like the the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, and the State Opera. The buses in Berlin are frequent and punctual and can be a visual treat of the views around the city. With modernization exploding it will be hard to tell where West Berlin ends and East begins and thus a busride is worth the experience to absorb the complete visual vibe of the city.
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(Monument near Altes Museum)
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(Drinking inside a Gay Bar in Berlin)
Many local foods of Berlin found their origin in north-German culinary traditions that include rustic and full plate dishes of pork, goose, fish, peas, beans, cucumbers or potatoes. The typical Berliner foods include Currywurst which was invented in 1949 and is a combination of pork sausage, cut into slices, smothered with a mixture of ketchup and curry powder and then served with a bread roll or fries. Leber Berliner Art or Berlin style liver. A Breakfast on a Berlin bagel is divine. The perfect antidote to those late nights in the Berlin bars, kosher café Salomon Bagels has a variety of flavours, from sesame, poppy and onion to cinnamon raisin, blueberry, thyme and chocolate. They also do a range of bagel sandwiches, all made to order. All the bagels are good but I particularly recommend the chocolate. The modern fast-food version of the döner was invented in Berlin in 1971 which Turkish and Arab immigrant workers brought into the city. The staple comes in the shape of Falafel: deep-fried chickpea balls which are delicious. They are served up with salad in flatbread and drizzled with yogurt or tahini, reflecting the presence of the Turkish population in Berlin.
(Outside a trinket store)
Almost anything and everything is available in the megalopolis of Berlin. A shopping tour covers days of distance around the city. North Mitte is the most well known as the key shopping district with countless boutiques and independent stores around Torstraße and Mulackstraße. For lots of vintage at bargain prices, the Humana chain of second hand stores is one to note, of which a big outlet is in Alexanderplatz or one can can also venture further north to Prenzlauer Berg. Friedrichstraße is the street for big name designer stores as well as KaDeWe Europe's largest department store, which offers a fantastic range for those with a larger budget. Berlin is also well known for its electronics and sound systems and art.
(Art by Alexander Rodin up for sale)
(Twilight from the middle of a street)
For a one week holiday in Berlin including Airfare can cost anywhere from 1800 to 2000 Euros including one way flight, stay, food, traveling around the city via train with a moderate amount of shopping to your taste. Berlin is a maze and filled with all sorts of travelers so it really depends on what sort of experience you're looking for. One of museums, tourist attractions and concerts or the underground backpacker street food lifestyle which one can spend half of the required budget on a one week trip.
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