Interrailing – Berlin

The next place in my series of interrailing posts is Berlin.

Berlin was the third place we travelled to, and it was completely different from the chilled vibes in Amsterdam. We stayed in the One80 hostel which is located near Alexanderplatz and I would really recommend this hostel if you are travelling to Berlin. It was full of interrailers and it had a really nice vibe, there was even a pub crawl every night from the hostel which is a great way to make friends if you are travelling alone. Alexanderplatz is also a great place to stay, this area has some of the best nightlife in the city and Alexanderplatz itself has a great atmosphere about it. When we were there, there was an African festival on in the square with market stalls, food and drink and even a stage with live performers which was amazing to experience. This market was a great place to try currywurst, which was one of my favourite German foods we tasted. The square is overlooked by the Ferneshturm tower which is one of the largest in Europe. After unpacking and exploring Alexanderplatz, we headed into Berlin city centre which is just a short walk away. It seems like everywhere you turn there is a spectacular building or something to do, there is even a man made beach in the city centre! We headed to Checkpoint Charlie, where nearby there is an extremely interesting exhibit about the Berlin wall. It is so interesting to find out about the history of Berlin and everything that went on there, and there are even parts of the wall still standing that you can see. Checkpoint Charlie is a must see, although it did annoy me a bit that you had to pay to take a picture with it. We then headed to the Bebelplatz, another breath-taking square framed by stunning buildings all around. We struggled to find somewhere affordable and nice to eat, but we eventually found an area inside a shopping centre where there was a few nice restaurants. After tea, we headed back to Alexanderplatz where we had drinks at the festival and watched some of the live singers on stage. We then headed back to the hostel for more drinks, which is a much cheaper way of drinking as they have lots of drinks deals!

The next day we woke up early, as Berlin is such a big city there is so much to see. We had breakfast from one of the market stalls in Alexanderplatz before walking along to the Brandenburg gate. It was really busy around this area, and we were so confused what was going on- until we realised the crowd were all Metallica fans as they were playing a concert in Berlin that night. After that, we made our way to the Reichstag building, passing a memorial to the Gypsies murdered in the holocaust. There are so many beautiful memorials around Berlin that you come across while you are exploring, and they are really worth taking a look at. The Reichstag building is obviously magnificent, we couldn’t believe how big it was! We then walked on to where there is a Soviet War Memorial, one of the most spectacular memorials we saw. Just along the road from the Brandenburg gate and the memorials, you will find the Victory Column which is another giant structure in the middle of a roundabout. You can access it through subways that go under the road and get a great view of the Brandenburg gate from it. Heading towards the Potsdamer Platz, we passed more beautiful statues and pretty parks. We stopped at a Mexican restaurant for lunch where we had nachos and fajitas before heading back out. Near the Potsdamer Platz you can find the Mall of Berlin, which is one of the most amazing shopping malls I’ve ever seen. The design of the building is amazing, and it contains so many designer shops from Karl Lagerfeld to Louis Vuitton, and even Tesla. It also has a slide which you can ride from the top floor to the bottom, and flying carousel horses hanging from the ceiling. We carried on to the Topography of Terror, another harrowing exhibition about the war. On the way, we actually passed Berlin Fashion Week where you could see the catwalks being live streamed on big screens outside which was really cool. We also visited Hitler’s bunker, which now has a car park built over the top of it, but there is an information plaque there which is really interesting to read. From here, we headed to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe which is another stunning memorial which is a must see. It started absolutely pouring of rain at this point, but I was determined to go to the East Side Gallery as it was one of the things I most wanted to see in Berlin. It is quite difficult to get to on the metros, but it is well worth the trip as the murals are absolutely amazing. However, it is also all outside so we got absolutely soaked and ended up having to just get an Uber back to our hostel. Once we got into our warm clothes we didn’t want to go back into the rain, so we decided to just eat in the hostel that night. We got beers and pizza in the hostel before having an early night as our train to Prague was early the next day.

Berlin was actually one of my least favourite places we went, but it was still great in it’s own way. Although it is very interesting to learn about the history, it is a very serious place and I didn’t like the ‘vibe’ of it as much as other places we went. That being said, there is so much to do and it is still a really amazing and beautiful place- especially if you are interested in history I think you would love it. Although I’m not sure whether I would go back, I’m really glad we visited Berlin.

P.S. I had to include this pic because I’m a child and it makes me lol