Berlin, ick liebe Dir!
I'm so excited that I'm back in Berlin for the second time and I was accompanied by my good friend, Samer. The last time I was there was about two years ago and I've missed the great things that Berlin has to offer. Berlin, the largest city in Germany offers great tourist attractions and is the world city of culture, politics, media, and science. So you can expect a lot of great things from Berlin. In the 2 1/2 days we've spent in Berlin, we managed to cover most of the main tourist attractions.
I used a self-guided tour from Trip Advisor which really helped us in planning our tour efficiently. There are a number of suggested itineraries that you can choose from and we went for the Walking Tour of Historic Mitte. This grand tour shows all of the famous and important sights of the center of Berlin.
To start off this tour, take an S-Bahn or the U-bahn to Brandenburger Tor station. Take the Unter den Linden exit and you'll be at the Pariser Platz. Walk west toward the Brandenburger Tor.
The last time I was here, it was an International Pillow Fight Day in Berlin. The event was held here at the Brandenburger Tor. Click here to view the pictures that I took on that day.
Walk through the gate and then turn right . Continue walking across the street towards the Reichstag. I've posted about Reichstag in my previous post. Click here to read about it. Oh don't forget to register earlier if you want to visit the Reichstag building.
Walk from the Reichstag across the Tiergarten to visit Roma Holocaust Memorial.
At Tiergarten, there's another memorial called the Soviet War Memorial
From the Tiergarten, walk towards right to reach the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.
Return back to the Brandenburger Tor station and continue to walk down along Unter den Linden. Unter den Linden is one of the famous boulevards in Europe.It's lined with linden trees which were replaced with Nazi flags when Adolph Hitler was in power.
Statue of Frederick the Great
Just walk across Unter den Linden street to reach Neue Wache (National Memorial to the Victims of War and Tyranny)
Cross the river to Schlossplatz. You'll see Altes Museum and Berliner Dom from here.
In front of Altes Museum
Continue walking until you reach Berliner Dom. Amazing spot to take great pictures.
Walk from Berliner Dom towards east to Marx Engels Forum where you'll see the Statue of Marx and Engels. It represents the failures of communism.
Continue walking towards Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall)
Near the Rotes Rathaus is the Fernsehturm (Tv Tower)
Opposite the Tv Tower is St.Marien Kirche (Church)
Walk further to reach Alexanderplatz, a large transportation hub, square and shopping centre in Berlin.
World Time Clock at Alexanderplatz
From St. Marien Kirche turn right into Rosenstrasse to visit First Synagogue, the foundation of the first Synagogue in Berlin.
Next, head up to Museuminsel (Museum Island). Museum Island is home to a number of world-renowned museums. It'll take you few days to cover all the museums here. I went to the Pergamon Museum the last time I was in Berlin. Click here to read about that.
On the Museum Island, you'll find Old National Gallery. It was damaged during WWII and was reopened in 1955 and restored in 2001.
Tour Completed!
Next, we took a train to Potsdamer Platz. Potsdamer Platz houses modern buildings such as Sony Centre and Kulturforum.
Light show at Sony Centre
We ended the first day in Berlin with dinner at a Korean restaurant called Yum Yum. Memang yummy sangattt!
On the next day, we continued doing another walking tour along East Side Gallery, Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie.
To get to the East Side Gallery you have to take a train or bus to Warschauer Strasse. Take a walk along the 1.3 km long Open-Air-Gallery. Sadly now the East Side Gallery is badly vandalized with graffiti. You can still enjoy few paintings and murals that are not fully ruined.
Read more about East Side Gallery and Berlin Wall by clicking here.
Souvenir shop that sells main souvenirs from the Berlin Wall
After the East Side Gallery, take a tram or train to Bernauer Strasse. Here is the starting point to Berlin Wall Memorial.
We had another few hours before leaving Berlin, so we decided to visit Siegessäule. I've written an article about this victory column in my previous post. Click here to read about it.
Lastly, we made our way to Checkpoint Charlie, the most well-known checkpoint in Berlin.This was one of the spots where many people attempted to escape from the east Berlin.
That sums up our tour in Berlin. :)
I would like to thank Naqi for his warm welcome and hospitality during the time we were in Berlin. We had a great time in Berlin and would love to visit this amazing city again one day, Insha Allah.
Stay tuned!
Tschüss und mach's gut!
