I Love Berlin

I've just returned from an amazing (and stupidly freezing) trip to Berlin! I've been to Germany a fair few times and it's one of my favourite European countries, but prior to this trip I'd never been to Berlin. I'd heard so many amazing things about the city, especially the night life, and I was so excited to go! I'm also a bit of a history geek, so wanted to squeeze as much culture as I could into my trip. However, my main priority was to sample the nightlife, so I'd accepted that sightseeing might take a backseat on this trip.

We stayed in Grand Hostel Berlin, which is located in the popular Kreuzberg suburb. The location of the hostel was great; you could walk into the city centre within about 20 minutes or if you'd prefer to take the tube, Möckernbrücke tube station is right next door. The hostel itself was lovely. It was really clean, had a nice bar/ social area, free wifi and the comfiest hostel bed I've ever slept in. The only downside was the staff, they were a tad on the rude side. You can't have everything, eh?

The trip didn't get off to the best start as we flew straight after work on Friday and our Ryanair flight was delayed, surprise surprise. Instead of landing at 10:30pm we arrived at 11:30pm and it took us over an hour to get to the hostel. As the nightlife in Berlin doesn't get going till gone 1am we weren't too worried about our late arrival. However we didn't really have a clear plan or idea of where we wanted to go out, so spent the next 2 and a half hours wandering around the streets of Berlin. At around 4am we decided to give up and headed back to the hostel. I was gutted we had wasted our first night but tried to look on the bright side, at least we would be fresh for exploring the next day. 

After a bit of a lie in we decided to wander into the centre of Berlin to do some sightseeing. Our first stop was Checkpoint Charlie, the famous army division between East and West Berlin. Apart from the checkpoint itself and a small outdoor information centre, there isn't much else to see or do. In fact, you could easily miss the checkpoint as it's sat unassumingly in the middle of a busy road. From there we then walked to the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe. The memorial is very imposing and almost like a maze when you walk into it; it's an impressive monument and I'd recommend a visit. After grabbing some lunch we then headed to the Brandenburg Gate. There isn't much to do there, other than admire the grand structure and take some pictures - which is what we did.

It was absolutely freezing, and after walking around outside for hours we decided to go and warm up at one of Berlin's many Christmas markets. We went to the Alexanderplatz market, had a wander then went into one of the bars to warm up with a mulled wine. The Alexanderplatz Christmas market was probably one of the tackier ones, but it was still great and got us all in the Christmas spirit! We went in the most amazing Christmas decoration shop, had tasty crepes and currywurst (the meat-eaters, not me) and watched skaters on the ice rink before heading back to the hostel.

When arrived back at the hostel, we had a quick power nap before getting ready for our night out. We’d decided to head to Friedrichshain, which is famous for its nightlife. The nearest tube station is Warschauer Straße on the S-Bahn and was about 20 minutes from our hostel. A short walk from the station you’ll find loads of bars and clubs in what appear to be abandoned warehouses and building. We went to a couple of bars for the first half of the night and then headed to Suicide Circus for the rest of the evening. We emerged at around 7:30am and got the tube home, before completely passing out at the hostel. While the night is still pretty hazy for me, it was awesome and definitely lived up to it’s reputation.

The majority of the next day was a right-off. We woke up around 12pm and took a while getting ready before wandering into the centre in search of food. We had also planned to do a tour of the Reichstag building, and went to queue for tickets at around 4pm, however we were literally 10 minutes too late and they'd sold out for the day. The only slots for the next day were after our flight left. I'd have loved to have go into the building, so this was a real disappointment, but it gives me another reason to re-visit Berlin! To make ourselves feel better we headed to another Christmas market to drown our sorrows with mulled wine! This time we went to a more traditional and pretty market, Gendarmenmarkt, which is the only market in the city where you have to pay an entrance fee of 1 euro. It was totally worth it as the market isn't as crowded, has lovely little stalls and food stands and feels a lot more authentic. 




















We spent the next couple of hours at the market drinking mulled wine and eating from an amazing potato stall. Half of the group were flying home really early the next morning, so they headed off back to the hostel to pack and sleep. The rest of us headed to a different bar to carry on drinking before heading back at around 1am. Instead of being sensible and going to sleep, we sat at the hostel bar with some other guests and carried on drinking till about 8am. We then decided to go to bed and stupidly slept through checkout time, so had to pack and get ready in super quick time. The already grumpy hostel staff were not impressed. Our final day was spent on an Alternative Walking Tour; we saw loads of cool street art and learnt about the alternative side of the city, rather than the typical historical stuff.

I really loved my trip to Berlin, it's such an awesome city! I barely touched the surface on my trip and feel there is still so much more to see and do. It's definitely a place I want to return to. Sadly, moving to Australia in a month means I won't get to do this for the foreseeable future, so I'm glad I've managed to squeeze in one visit!

Have you been to Berlin? What were you highlights?