Bauy de Mochilaño-Berlim
They know the mythical phrase of what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas? Yeah, I feel like Berlin is the Vegas of Europe😂
We traveled on the 15th of November and arrived at the destination at 7:30 pm, following the train path until close to the place where we would stay, the ticket of the trip from the airport to the city center has to be the "ABC" and costs about 4 €, making the journey in about 30 minutes.
We stayed in theArt Luise ArthotelWhich was quite central, being a 10-minute walk from theBransburg GateAnd other means of transport such as the tram or the metro. Each hotel room will have been designed by an artist invited to renovate this palace.
Starved of the 3:20 a.m. trip, we rushed to a chain of hamburger restaurants we 'd never seen, the U.BurgermeisterAnd let me tell you, we were quite impressed with the quality of the food.
The next day we had our Free Walking Tour scheduled for 10 am so we got up quite early and tried the best we knew how to deal with the temperature of 1 ° (literal) that was felt. We caught breakfast at a great-looking bakery and went on our way toRotes Rathaus, The town hall where we would meet with our guide.
We opted for the Walkative tour for having a lot of positive reviews and ended up being very happy with our choice.
The tour was, of course, focused on Hitler's dictatorship and all the negative consequences it brought to the city and minorities. If I had to choose the two most remarkable moments of the tour, it would definitely be the visit to theMemorial to the Dead Jews of EuropeAnd a kind of golden sidewalk that exists outside several buildings in the city that say the names of people who were killed during the chase. This sidewalk is a point that can go unnoticed, but, intentionally, it is more salient precisely for people “stumbled”, as a reminder Constant of what happened there and so that it can never be repeated.
The tour ended at thePariser Platz, An icon of the city by the big gate and a reference to pop culture for being in front of the hotel where Michael Jackson held his baby-do we all know which video I'm talking about? 👀
As we had some hunger, the tour ended around 12:45 pm, we ended up having lunch even at Pariser Platz in an Italian restaurant calledMama Trattoria Berlin MitteAnd it was delicious and was about € 20 each already with German beers.
We went to buy a daily pass to walk on all transport, which cost about € 10, and went on to theBerlin Dungeon. For those who don't know, the Berlin Dungeon is a kind of horror theater. The experience was absolutely incredible with actors even very talented and lasts about 1h. The tickets are not very cheap-€ 23 each-but they were totally worth it.
We move on to theDark Matter, One of the farthest downtown locations we 've been to watch a fairly experimental light exhibition where sight, hearing and touch put to the test with brilliant and extremely beautiful pieces.
The place had a bar between the different exhibitions where we were drinking a beer from the space itself before heading to see the remaining pieces.
Tickets cost € 14 because we pretend that we were still students and they were also very worthwhile because they can stay in the exhibition a lot of time just relaxing or talking in the courtyard between exhibitions.
We finish the day with dinner in a place advised by our morning guide, theK'Ups GemusekebapAnd, to be honest, despite the fame of the place among the most alternative and artistic population, I have already eaten much better kebabs in Portugal. If you want to try it, raise money because they don't accept a card.
On the second day we chose to start on theRaw-Gelande, A kind of cultural center with discos, art galleries, tattoo shops and lots of street art. I tell you that if I were not in Berlin, I would never enter this place just because it looks really abandoned and, if it were in Portugal, I would probably be mugged when entering😂
Still, the place was incredible as soon as they got used to it and got on the bandwagon. We went to the famous Teledisko, a telephone booth outside, a rave-booth inside. It was quite fun to start the day in that way and, with a song of your choice, it costs around € 2 or € 4 if you want photography, but I warn you that it doesn't pay.
From there we went to the famousEast Side GalleryAnd we went through everything on foot to specify each work individually. It is the largest continuous piece of the Berlin wall and, shortly after its fall, 118 artists from 21 countries came together to make it an open-air gallery.
We decided to have lunch at theMarkthalle Neun, A small market with several options for food and drink, a bit like Mercado do Bolhão, but with an older and more welcoming air. We opted for pizza and craft beers.
As a farewell, we went to taste the famous sausagesDas Lemke, A brewery downtown. Personally I didn't love it, but I'm not a fan of sausage or curries that much. The local beer was absolutely fantastic, although it was not exactly cheap.
Berlin thus became my second European city on the list of cities I want to live in one day.
It was time to pack up and return to Porto🖤
Text Francisco Barros