A Week in Berlin

I have stayed in a number of hostels in my time, but this hostel is definitely one of the best I have stayed in.



Not only is it one of the cheapest in Berlin, but it also one of the most centrally located hostels as well, being only a 10 minute walk from Unter Den Linden and the Brandenburg Gate. The main bar and restaurant district of Berlin, located on Oranienburger Strasse is less than 5 minutes walk away. Here you can find cuisine from every corner of the globe, including traditional German dishes.



Just because it's cheap though it doesn't mean that you are being short changed for your money as this is certainly not the case. The rooms are immaculately clean and there is always free tea and coffee in the kitchen, as well as free Internet 24 hours a day. Hot showers are also available 24 hours a day.



The atmosphere amongst other guests is excellent—friendly and relaxed and I appreciated the no smoking rule that is in place, along with the no party rule, meaning that it's also quiet and peaceful.



There is a FREE guided walking tour of Berlin that picks up outside of the hostel every day and this is an ideal way of seeing the major sites of the city. The guide that I had was full of facts that you would never come across by yourself.



I would recommend this hostel to anyone wanting to visit Berlin. I was even allowed to leave my bags in the hostel for an extra day at no extra charge thanks to the kind hearted owner, which helped me out an awful lot. If you are looking for a cheap, friendly, warm hostel, right in the centre of Berlin, then look no further than the Easterner.



More information can be found at their website: http://www.eastener-hostel.de/



Or you can contact them by email at: contact@eastener-hostel.de


The nearest train stations are Bahnhof Freidrichstrasse (10 minute walk) and Oranienburger Tor (5 minutes walk).

I stayed at this hostel last year when I ran the Berlin marathon, and at the time I thought this was a fairly decent place, although after staying at the Eastener Hostel on later trips to Berlin, I would not go back and stay at the Hostel Adler again.

On the plus side, the location is perfect and I think it has got to be one of the best placed hostels in Berlin, being only a 10 minute walk or so from Brandenburg Gate and only 5 minutes from the main station of Freidrichstrasse Bahnhof.

On the negative side though this is really all it has going for it. The prices are cheap, but when you see the rooms, you understand why, as the rooms are bare and empty apart from the beds, and could be a lot cleaner. My room still had numerous balloons left from the previous guests.

If you are looking for a hostel with some sort of atmosphere and warmth then please choose somewhere different. This hostel during my stay had absolutely no atmosphere at all, which if travelling alone can be a little depressing.

The hostel also seemed a little on the dirty side, and the bathrooms and toilets could have been much cleaner.

If you are looking somewhere central that's cheap just to sleep then this hostel is okay. If you are looking for anything on top of this then there are plenty of other hostels within the vicinity that offer much more.

For more details check out the following websites: www.hostel-adler.de, www.hostel-adler.com

If you have a spare day in Berlin and want a change from the scenery in the city centre then I strongly recommend a trip to the outskirts of Berlin and the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. I think everybody once in their life should visit a concentration camp, just to see how cruel the human race can be. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was a life changing experience, but it puts a lot of things into perspective. Just to stand in the middle of a concentration camp and try and think what happened 70 years before is almost unbelievable. It’s hard to imagine what these people went through and the pain and suffering they endured.

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp was built in 1936 by slave laborers, and became the model that all other camps followed. It was a school of brutality, training guards for positions in other camps. More than 200,000 people were imprisoned between 1936 and 1945 and by the end of WWII, over 50,000 people had died there.

Walking through the camp there is an eerie silence, with visitors seemingly not wanting to raise their voice above a soft whisper. Some of the pictures on display are truly horrendous and it’s gut wrenching to see some of the ways in which the prisoners died, all of which is detailed in pictures and information throughout the concentration camp.

For me, two parts of the camp stood out more than others. The first were the memorial stones that marked where each prisoner hut was located. You will find on top of these stone memorials a number of different size, shape and colour stones, which have been brought to the concentration camp by grieving families in remembrance of their fallen family. Just looking at how many stones have been placed on each memorial helps bring into perspective the number of people who were killed here.

The other stand out part of the camp was the furnaces, still standing in their original place, which were used to burn the human dead. I read that these were kept going 24/7 at some points during the war just to keep up with getting rid of the bodies as so many were being killed.

To reach Sachsenhausen from Berlin you will firstly need an ABC travel ticket as traveling by the S-Bahn is easiest. Take S-Bahn N°1 or the regional train bound for Rostock (one leaves from Zoologischer Garten, platform 3, at 10:30am) to Oranienburg. From Oranienburg’s station, you can catch bus N°804 to the camp (Gedenkstätte stop), or walk for 25 minutes. Turn right onto Stralsunder Straße, right onto Bernauer Straße, left onto Straße der Einheit, and right onto Straße der Nationen. I would suggest walking to the Camp from Oranienburg as it’s a nice little walk walking through suburban Berlin, especially if the weather is good.

I believe entrance to the concentration camp is free but i donated $10 for the audio guide, which is available.

If you visit Berlin, then I would say the best way to orientate yourself with the city is to take one of the free tours offered by this company, New Berlin Tours. For me it was the perfect way to learn more about the city and know how to walk from place to place instead of using either the S or U-Bahns. You get to see so much more by walking. I was lucky enough to accidentally meet the Polish President the last time I visited Berlin and was aimlessly walking around! A very weird experience! The fact that it is free is an added bonus.

Walking around the city by yourself is one thing but through the experience I had taking this tour, you learn so much more if you do it with one of the guides. The sort of information that you would never find out if you were walking around Berlin by yourself. For example the Hotel Adlon next to Brandenburg Gate was the hotel where Michael Jackson decided to dangle his baby out of the window. The guides are full of quirky little facts like this to break up the historical facts.

This walking tour of Berlin takes 3.5 hours and takes in the majority of Berlin’s famous sites delving into the city’s amazing history, from the darkest hours to the brightest moments, with all information given passionately and full of energy. My tour guide was informative, animated, and absolutely hilarious. The time flew by, and I used most of the information the guide told us when I visited a second time with my friends a few months later.

The tour starts off at the symbol of Germany, the Brandenburg Gate. From there you follow the line of the Wall (which is marked along the roads and paths) through the Nazi government district to Checkpoint Charlie. From there you head through the 1920s cabaret mile, over Berlin’s grandest square, Gendarmenmarkt, to Museum Island. The tour finishes in the beautiful surroundings of the Lustgarten, the old royal gardens, in the heart of the city, a stone’s throw from some of the best museums. Other famous sites that the tour takes you past include The Reichstag, Hitler’s Bunker, The New Holocaust Memorial, Potsdamer Platz, The Berlin Wall and the former SS Headquarters.

The tour runs everyday in all weathers and no reservations are needed. Many hostels in Berlin (including both the Eastener and Adler Hostels) have pick-ups for the tour outside of them. I would suggest walking down to the starting point outside of Starbucks next to Brandenburg Gate and get there about half an hour early, but a coffee and people watch until the tour begins! The tour starts at 11am and 1pm outside of Starbucks Café by Brandenburg Gate. There is a West Berlin pick-up at the Zoologischer Garten (U/S-Bahn) in front of Dunkin Donuts everyday at 10:30am and 12:30pm.

For more information:
Website: http://www.newberlintours.com
Email: info@newberlintours.com
Phone: +49 (0)179 973 0397

No trip to Berlin would be complete without a trip to the home of Germany’s Parliament, the Reichstag. The Reichstag is one of Berlin's most historical landmarks. It was the seat of the Weimar Republic government until it was seized by the Nazis in 1933. It’s close to the Brandenburg Gate and before the unification, was right next to the wall.

The Reichstag was constructed between 1884 and 1894, mainly funded with wartime reparation money from France. The famous inscription 'Dem Deutschen Volke' (to the German People) was only added in 1916. This building has so much history associated with it. The picture of a Red Army Soldier raising the Soviet flag on the Reichstag is one of the most famous 20th century images and symbolized Germany's defeat.

The central dome and most of the ornamentation were removed during the reconstruction after the war. After the unification the decision was made to move the Bundestag from Bonn back to Berlin. This decision resulted in the latest reconstruction which started in 1995 and was completed in 1999. The design by Sir Norman Foster added a glass dome over the plenary hall. At first the subject of much controversy, the dome has become one of the city's most recognized landmarks.

You can visit the Reichstag and walk all the way to the top of the dome, giving outstanding views over the Berlin skyline. The best days to come and visit are weekdays, not only because you cut down on a lot of the crowds that sometimes makes this landmark highly congested (you can queue up to 90 minutes on weekends, where I only queued for 15 minutes during the week), but you also get to see Parliament in action. Just standing there and watching while decisions are made in the running of Germany is a unique experience.

At the top of the Reichstag is a café called Kafer Restaurant. This is a rather fancy restaurant, with prices to match and waiter service. There is a simple refreshment counter serving hot and cold drinks, croissants, and muffins, but there is nothing if you want something else with substance without paying top dollar for it. The menu is only in German as well. I would also make sure you go the toilet before entering as in my opinion there are inadequate toilet facilities once inside. The ramp to the top of the Reichstag means it’s also accessible to those with disabilities.

Price is free and the views are superb. It is open daily from 8am until midnight. Last admission is 10pm. You can only visit the Parliament Hall if you make a prearranged trip. Early morning and late evening are the best times to visit. Unter den Linden S-Bahn and bus route 100 are the nearest stops.

More information can be found about the Reichstag at www.bundestag.de, or by phoning +49 30 2273 2152. The Kafer Restaurant can be contacted on +49 30 2262 9933.

Berlin is a city steeped in history and no matter where you look, or find yourself within the city, you are guaranteed to be surrounded by remnants and artifacts reminding you of past events in this great city. I would say none are more poignant than the Brandenburg Gate, or as it is known in Germany, the Brandenburger Tor. In Berlin's heyday before World War II, the Gate marked the grand western extremity of the "main street," Unter den Linden.

Brandenburg Gate was built during the 18th-century reign of Friedrich Wilhelm II and has long been a defining symbol of Berlin and both the city's division and unification. It was located in no-man's land between East and West Germany during the Cold War when the Berlin Wall still stood. Until recently, you could still see the bullet holes dotted throughout this monument. Unfortunately, it has received an uplift in recent months, meaning these are no longer visible.

The thing I like best about Brandenburg Gate is its location. Located in the glorious and extremely wealthy Pariser Platz, it is the perfect place to sit back and watch the world go by. You have the Reichstag to one side of it, while on the other is the War Memorial to the Murdered Jews. Directly behind it is the Tiegarten.

There is a Starbucks Coffee shop right next to the gate, and although there is no doubting in my opinion this has ruined the atmosphere (I mean do you really want to go to places filled with so much history and have your view obscured by a Starbucks?), it’s a perfect place to sit and people-watch. This is also the place where the New Berlin Walk starts at 11am, which I highly recommend taking.

Opposite the Brandenburg Gate is also the Hotel Adlon. This was made famous recently by Michael Jackson who dangled his baby over the balcony, seemingly for no reason! The window he did this from was the 2nd top left on the side of the hotel facing Brandenburg Gate.

Although not for everyone, one way of seeing and experiencing the Brandenburg Gate is by running the Berlin Marathon. I had the pleasure of running this marathon in September 2005. You run through the Brandenburg Gate just before the finish line. It was an amazing experience. Unfortunately the moment was lost slightly as I was out sprinted by a dwarf half my height to the finish line. Very embarrassing!! If you are interested then you can find more information at www.berlin-marathon.com.

The north wing of the Gate houses a 'quiet room' where visitors are invited to sit and contemplate in peace. The south wing houses a tourist information office (10am-6pm, Monday-Sunday). To get to the Brandenburg Gate take bus 100 to Unter den Linden, or S-Bahn’s S1, S2, S25. Unfortunately Unter den Linden is going through a lot of reconstruction at the moment, which hinders photo taking opportunities. More information on the Gate can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_Gate.

The Berlin Wall split Berlin into two cities for 28 years, and is one activity not to be missed while visiting Berlin. In a mad rush to eradicate their hated landmark, Berliners tore down huge chunks of the 156km wall that once divided the city. Today it’s hard to find the remnants, with only three sections that remain. The most central standing relic of the wall, and most popular with tourists is on Niederkirchnerstrasse, alongside the "Topography of Terror" memorial to Nazi atrocities between 1933 and 1945. It is protected by a fence and pockmarked by the souvenir hunters that hammered away at it a decade ago. A second, longer section runs along Bernauer Strasse, just north of the centre. The third, known as the "East Side Gallery", is on Mühlenstrasse.

After all I had heard about the wall, I was expecting to see a towering, sinister monstrosity, blocking out all sunlight. In reality it was just a thin piece of concrete, and I was left feeling highly disappointed. You will have to close your eyes to imagine the guard towers, searchlights, barking dogs and Kalashnikov shots that once made the wall the global symbol of the Iron Curtain.

Of the places where the wall is still standing I have visited both Niederkirchnerstrasse and Bernauer Strasse. I recommend visiting both of these. The first on Niederkirchnerstrasse, where the Topography of Terror memorial is located is well worth a visit (free entrance), and is filled with information and photos detailing the history of the War and the Wall. I spent a good hour walking through each part of the memorial reading the information available. It’s very informative, and the photos, some rather gruesome, help add a feeling of desperation that many of the Berliners must have been feeling. One of the photos that I will never forget is one of laughing Nazi soldiers posing with smiles for the camera, holding guns to the back of four Jewish prisoners’ heads, just before they are executed. The facial features are haunting. I would also suggest spending a bit of time reading the transcripts and writing still left on the Wall, as some of the graffiti is both inspiring and disturbing, and helps bring everything into perspective.

Niederkirchnerstrasse is easily the most visited part of the Wall left. If you are looking for somewhere less visited, where you can ponder your thoughts in solitude then I suggest Bernauer Strasse. There were no other tourists around when I visited here, which led to an enhanced experience.

You can easily spend a day walking the course of the Berlin Wall, and this is something I will do on my next visit to Berlin. There is a variety of information available to help you plan a walking tour of the Wall. The best I have come across are http://www.die-berliner-mauer.de/en/index.html and http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/bauen/wanderungen/en/strecke4.shtml. More information on the wall can be found at http://www.berlin-wall.org.