‘Old Berlin’ Archives
14 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Köpenick
1. Old Town Köpenick, untouched by both Allied bombs and GDR development, retains a good deal of its eighteenth-century charm. It makes a pleasant spot for a wander, with plenty of spots for coffee and cake, ice cream, or a treat from the small market on the Schlossplatz. Mira’s Langos stand sells Hungarian sausage as well as the eponymous fried-dough treats. 2. The Rathaus Köpenick, an extensive, turreted redbrick Wilhelmine building in the Old Town, was the site of a famous heist in [...]
Peeps At Great Cities: Berlin in 1911
As the gentrification debate continues to rage around Berlin, Paul Sullivan hand-picks some extracts from Edith Siepen's 1911 Berlin guidebook to see what's changed - and what hasn't - in the last 100 years... "No city in the world has so rapidly developed as Berlin. Twenty years ago it was of comparative unimportance, and not particularly interesting in any way." "One of the first things that strikes the visitor in Berlin - if it does not happen to be winter - is the wealth of green [...]
A Tour Of r(Ostkreuz)
Sanna Akehurst takes a tour around one of her favourite Berlin train stations - Ostkreuz - as it finally undergoes renovations... "]So far as I know, Berlin is streets ahead in terms of exploiting something called Construction Tourism. The first well-known example is the elevated box that showed visitors what Potsdamer Platz was going to look like. The in-progress new international airport (BER Airport Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt) has a visitor's tower and various tours to admire its [...]
The Müggelturm
Richard Carter explores Berlin's mysterious Müggelturm... Out in the furthest reaches of Treptow-Köpenick, hiding behind a high barbed wire-topped fence, is a strange radome-topped tower on a hill. If you're thinking it looks like a cold war listening station, you'd actually be completely right, but it's one with a rather interesting background. Back in 1954, with plans well underway to establish a brave new world of communism in East Germany, work began here on building a tower for [...]
Majakowskiring
Richard Carter takes a trip to Pankow to explore the former houses of the SED politicians... "Entschuldigen Sie, ist das der Sonderzug nach Pankow?" (excuse me, is that the special train to Pankow) sang West German rocker Udo Lindenberg in his 1983 hit Sonderzug nach Pankow. In it, he suggested he'd sit down with East German leader Erich Honecker to ask, over a bottle of Cognac, to be allowed to perform in East Germany. He suggested that Honecker was really a closet rocker who'd don a [...]
Martin-Gropius-Bau
William Thirteen uncovers the history of Martin-Gropius-Bau and its prolific architect... Ask a travel agent or tourist board to rattle off the top five attractions of our fair town and near the top of the list will be Berlin's thriving art scene and dense thicket of cultural institutions. Gallons of ink have been spilled over the theme, so much so that the "Berlin Gallery Glut" feature has now become a bi-annual staple of such renowned rags as the NY Times and the Washington Post [...]
10 great books about the Berlin Wall…
Suzanne Munshower profiles her ten favourite books about the Berlin wall... At 1 am on 13 August 1961, barbed wire was rolled out in the first step of building a wall that would split a city for more than quarter of a century. These books can provide a better understanding of the geography of, the history behind and the collateral damage caused by this monument to humankind's perversity. The starting point for me is Frederick Taylor's The Berlin Wall because of its masterful [...]
Berlinica – books about Berlin
Carlijn Potma chats to Eva Schweitzer, a native Berliner who has set up a publishing company dedicated solely to publishing books about Berlin... What inspired you to start a publishing company focused on books from and about Berlin? I covered Berlin as a journalist for a long time, even before the Wall fell; when I came to New York, I noticed quickly that Berlin was a major topic. Also, I was always delivering information from America to Germany, and I felt it was about time to do it the [...]
14 Ways To Avoid Valentine’s Day in Berlin
Here at Slow Travel Berlin we believe in love. But while the city's lovers and romantics will find plenty of ways to enjoy Valentine's Day in the city, there are others who won't be drowning in roses and chocolate hearts. Ruth Michaelson offers 14 ideas for singles, incurable un-romantics and those simply not into love's most commercial event... 1. Visit a flotation tank. Even in Berlin the hustle and bustle of everyday life can get you down a bit, and sometimes a little respite [...]
Café Einstein
Joseph Pearson of Berlin Memory Blog explores ghosts and Apfelstrudel at Berlin's Café Einstein... You love this Viennese-styled café, but at times it fills you with grief. You were here in late autumn and the garden was empty. Darkening days and changing light, and you can't help but imagine ghosts. Jittery coffee nerves too, cup on cup of Wiener Mélange, and an Apfelstrudel sugar-high. No wonder you're on edge. Imagine no tables in the garden, a woman passing between the [...]
