Travel Like a Local

Category: Germany

  • Berlin Dark History

    Before visiting Berlin I accidentally came across a number of documentaries that ended up defining the aim of my visit. Starting with “the Life of Others“, I continued with more material on the infamous Stasi and the Nazis until I came to a very simple conclusion. Something obvious I never noticed: for nearly 60 years in a row Berlin has been the epicentre of the most ruthless dictatorships of Europe’s modern history. Left, Right, Black and Red, the flags changed and so did the methods, but not the level of oppression people in Berlin have been victim of.

    Stasi stays for Ministerium für Staatsicherheit, the Ministry for State Security (in most of English leaflets it will be mentioned as MfS), and was the “Sword and Shield of the Party”. The party being the SED, the socialist party that coordinated directly from Moscow. An incredible efficient and oppressive secret police that terrorised the whole East Germany – and probably more than that – for about 40 years, going from physical torture to a perfected system of psychological, way more subtle and damaging, torture. Their infrastructure was massive: they employed more full time agents than the Nazis have ever had and, most importantly, a widespread network of informant. It is said that one every 6 citizens were secret informers. Try to apply this statistic to your coworkers, friends, family, and you will understand the gravity of the situation.

    I was particularly interested in knowing more about the Stasi, this is where I mainly focused my research, and this is what I want to talk about. It scares me that, while the Nazis belong to my grandfather’s youth and have been thoroughly covered to make sure that nothing like that will – hopefully- never happen again, the Stasi belongs to my lifetime, I clearly remember when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, but little is known and said about them. And consequently, are those agents still around? Are they still in positions of power?

    I don’t mean to give any history lesson, or write a document of any scientific relevance, but I want to raise the attention of this bit of history that is being slowly and quietly wiped under the carpet, and helping you find the most interest spots and museums in Berlin where you can get to know more.

    If you want to know more here is some material you might be interested to:

    The Lives of Others (The movie I mentioned before)

    Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall(Brilliant book by Anna Funder) (Kindle edition)

    The File (A book of a man who’s lived in Berlin in 1978 for research purposes, and went back 15 years later to find his own Stasi file)

    Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police (Book by John Koehler who had his hands deep in the secret information jar)

    The picture in this article has been taken from the beautiful photogallery on the Denver Post.

  • Sunday Along the Wall

    Planning a normal Sunday out in Berlin doesn’t usually consider anything before lunch time. In a city where even during the week people start sipping their coffees never before 9am it’s safe to assume that Sunday morning doesn’t exist. It did though for me and my friend Totò who insanely booked a flight back home departing at noon. We hence woke up a few minutes after having laid down and headed to the Kaffeebar for a robust dose of caffeine, served in form of a flat white so good that put immediately this café in my favourite ones.

    Alltag in der DDR @ Kulturbrauerei

    Knaackstraße 97, Prenzlauer Berg

    After breakfast I saw my friend off to the U-Bahn station and plan to go to the Kulturbrauerei. In this remarkable building an exhibition has been recently opened, exactly one week after my last visit. It’s called Alltag in der DDR (Everyday life in the GDR), it’s free and offers a rich display of objects, footage and stories to paint an accurate picture of that life was in East Germany. It would have been a perfect warm up before my Wall-filled afternoon plan, but I decided to go back to bed and postpone the visit to the next day. Of course the museum is closed on Monday.
    On this page you can find the opening times and even a video.

    Currywurst at Konnopke Imbiss

    Currywurst under the rail tracks

    Lunch and bratwurst

    To get closer to the area I intended to visit in the afternoon I perfectly planned a lunch at the famous Konnopke Imbiss. I missed it at my first visit in Berlin, I couldn’t fail now. I’ve already gave it a first scan a few days earlier, peeping through the big windows and drooling on the pavement. That juicy currywurst (apparently the best in Berlin?) with a rich side of chips would have surely saved me from my hangover.
    But another disruption of my plans was on the way: two friends of mine invited me to a park to assist to the most important world competition of Fistball, which a sort of proto-volley where people in a field punch the hell out of a ball throwing it across a rather low net. I couldn’t miss such opportunity so I headed off to Wedding, mainly attracted by the prospective of cheap BBQ. It was really worth it: the grilled steak was juicy, the sport was really entertaining and I was surrounded by Germans, a rare occurrence in Berlin.

    Mauerpark

    A Sunday afternoon in Berlin would be wasted for me if I don’t go to the Mauerpark, and so we did after the exciting Fistball finals. If you followed to my plan and went to Konnopke Imbiss it would be a short walk to the Mauerpark. The park, a former rail interchange turned death strip now hosts a massive flea market selling everything from antiques to local art and cheap clothes, ideal for stocking up on souvenirs and postcards, while the other side of the park is dotted with live bands. One edge is still marked by a stretch of Wall, where graffiti constantly change. But the arena is where the main act happens: the Bearpit Karaoke, an event started only five years ago but became an institution attracting every Sunday thousands of people. The rules are simple: singers signs up, choosing a song and, one by one, are called to sing and humiliate themselves in front of a roaring crowd. Why so many people want to do that to themselves will always remain a mystery to me. We enjoyed most of it, the best ones are always those outstanding, either outstandingly good or crap, but all of them gave me the satisfying pleasure of sneering sarcastic comments. However here I learnt that the difference between public humiliation and crowd-pleasing triumph doesn’t necessarily depend on the vocal skills but, mostly, in the confidence in delivering the performance.

    Before entering the park we sensibly bought some cheap beer at the only Spätkauf in the area, just around the corner in Oderberger Str. Opposite to it there is the Bonanza coffee heroes where, in case you just woke up and skipped all of the above, you will be brought back to life by the skilled baristas with some of the highest quality I’ve ever tried.

    Wall memorial, Bernauer Strasse, Berlin

    The Wall memorial and the Sky above Berlin

    Bernauer straße Wall memorial

    Once the party was over I thought it would be wise to set back to that gloomy mood that’s very much appropriate to a Sunday evening. Walking east after leaving the park, I quickly reached the beginning of the Bernauerstraße memorial (or Gedenkstätte, which became one of my favourite German words), that reaches all the way to Nordbanhof, 1.5Km down the road.
    Part of the original Wall is preserved or, when not, it’s replaced by countless iron rods. As simple as it is, I found it the most dramatic testimonial of that era: with its intact and graffiti-less concrete slabs, and the death strip left empty as it was, it gives a very realistic idea of what it must have meant to have a wall running all along the road in front of your house. Or maybe not because I cannot even get close to thinking what it means to take the decision of leaving all your life behind and jump off the window of your house as the wall is being erected, to be safe on the other side.

    Jazz and cigarettes @ Manouche

    Grimmstraße 23
    Tue – Fri 17:00 – 00:00, Sat – Sun 15:30 – 00:00

    I abandoned the wall memorial as dusk was suitably settling like a thick silk blanket on Bernauer Straße and, with a head full of thoughts, I head back to Kreuzberg. My feet instinctively steered me towards the Manouche, a sweet little spot not far from the Landwehrkanal. Barely visible from the street, it’s a cosy basement bar with a vaguely French atmosphere, serving delicious crêpes and, generally, good mood. On most Sunday nights they have live jazz music in one of the two back rooms, in which case it gets very crowded and smoky.

  • Berlin Dark History: 2 Days with the Stasi

    Berlin Dark History: 2 Days with the Stasi

    The Stasi, the most efficient and merciless secret police service or our times, had been dominating East Germany in terror for 40 years.  However there is little coverage around it, and museums dedicated to its history are far from the city centre, kept away like a shameful secret. Here’s a list of places you could, and should visit, to learn more about how life was in the DDR.

    Day 1

    DDR Museum

    Address: Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 1, 10178 Berlin
    Opening Hours: Sun-Fri 10am – 8pm / Sat 10am – 10pm
    Phone: +49 30 847123731 / Website
    Tickets: €6 / €4

    Let’s have a light start here: after breakfast head to the DDR museum, located near the museum island, opposite the Cathedral. This is an interactive museum where you can learn and experience directly how was life in the DDR. There are photos, and videos, examples of real life jobs and salaries, there’s a kitchen and a living room where you can sit, watch the telly and use the phone. There are lots of drawers to open, things to move, games to do… some people will probably still remember queuing after those two guys for two hours while they unsuccessfully tried to write their name in Russian. They have a few sections dedicated to Stasi, providing the most important fact and offering a reproduction of an interrogation room and a prison cell. They also offer guided tours in 15 different languages.
    It’s conveniently located in the city centre, informative and safe for families. If you want to know more details and you’re not afraid of walking right where evil really happened, keep on with the tour!

    Stasi Ausstellung

    Address: Zimmerstraße 90, 10117 Berlin
    Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 10am – 6pm
    Phone: +49 30 232450 / Website (in german) / email
    Tickets: Free!

    A 30 minutes stroll from the DDR Museum, or a quick bus ride, and we’re in this sweet little exhibition which will educate us on everything about Stasi. Not to be confused with the proper Stasi Museum, it’s very neat and comprehensive, basically a 3D lecture on the infamous secret police. It’s quite hidden away, few steps away from Checkpoint Charlie and dangerously on the border of the tacky funfair the area is being turned into. Fence off the tourists, herded from their tour buses to the souvenir shops and the iconic selfie locations, pass by the other tourists sitting outside the Einstein café lost in their maps and travel guides and you’ll find the unassuming building hosting the Stasi Ausstellung to your right. The building itself, despite its modest looks, is rich of history: one of the most ancient trade building in town have seen the merchant replaced by Nazis first and Stasi agents later, and finally a museum. Which is a procedure apparently applied to most buildings in Berlin.
    Not only the entrance is free but you can also pick a free audio guide (available in several languages) providing a detailed explanation of the whole exhibition, and a nice booklet summarizing all of its content. You will need all of this if you cannot read German.
    The only other person visiting while I was there had the privilege of being personally escorted by a member of staff. He surely was a journalist or university professor, but next time I’ll give it a go and send them an email in advance.

    That’s all for the day, enough culture to get us ready for tomorrow’s action. Now it’s time to head back to some nice café to read the leaflets and let the information settle in your brain.

    Move on to the second day of our tour

    Yesterday we’ve learnt all we need to know about how life was in the DDR and how the Stasi operated, today it’s time to dip into the thick of it, visiting what were the neuralgic centres of the feared secret police. Once to blank spots on the Berlin map, now the former headquarters and police are open for visits. Despite their remoteness – for obvious secrecy reasons they’ve been set up in the desolate Lichtenberg – and they scarce advertisement they enjoy, they were bustling with visitors mainly school kids.

    Today schedule is pretty intense, physically and emotionally, and there is some travelling involved so an early start is recommended.

    Day 2

    Stasi Museum

    Address: Ruschestraße 103, 10365 Berlin
    Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 10am – 6pm / Sat-Sun 12am – 6pm
    Phone: +49 30 5536854 / Website / email
    Tickets: €5 / €4

    At my arrival I thought I’ve been victim of a bad joke, or that I wasn’t informed that the Stasi was back to their headquarters, fully operational. The museum and former offices occupy a whole block of a cube of concrete so big that makes your neck hurt, so grey it make you grasp for air. The enormous yard hidden inside this square of buildings, was the deserted with the exception of a man briskly walking and the occasional tumble weed, everything was quiet as if some very secret business is carried on. Probably what happened here was so tremendous that walls, windows and the ill-looking shrubs, preserve a sort of memory that is transmitted to the visitors in form of intimidation. I walked hesitantly through the door and I had a confirmation that my fears were real when the cold glare of the desk receptionist struck me like a laser icicle.
    The museum can be visited independently but the vastity of the exhibition and the signs written mostly only in German make a guided tour desirable. There’s no extra cost but tours are organised for groups of at least 10 people. I recommend writing them at least a couple of weeks earlier, so that they can set something up for you, perhaps joining a few lone travellers and small groups together. I emailed them only two days before and, after being told off in typical German fashion, I was said I could join a group at 10am. The group was in fact a class of teenage English students – as the austere receptionist pointed out – I was panting and perspiring (it’s a short walk from the U-Bahn unless you get directed to the opposite direction by an ill-willing citizen) and I sidled up to one of the teacher who jumped as I had attacked her on a dark rainy night in Brixton. Not a good start. For a while I stuck to them, mostly hiding behind corners or pretending to be looking elsewhere, receiving suspicious looks from teachers and students.

    The guy was passionate and competent, and I would have listened to him forever, but he was spending hours in each room and the situation was getting dangerously awkward, so I left them at the first floor, which was dedicated to the historic context, and moved upstairs to the perfectly preserved offices. This is where the higher ranks of the Stasi used to work, and it’s quite obvious that the aim – and possibly the results – of the interior designers were to make everyone feel an anonymous, grey, insignificant part of a bigger machine. The absence of colours is striking, everything is in every hue of grey: brownish-grey, dark green-grey, mustard-grey. And, of course, forget computers, posters and USB rocket launchers. Everything in those offices is simple and essential: a typing machine, a telephone, a box with some buttons. And lots of empty space. Even Erich Mielke’s office, despite being the Supreme Master of Evil, was identical to the others, except for the fact that it gives you the creeps thinking of the viciousness that dwelt here for four decades.

    The upper floor is more entertaining and if possible more crude. Here are displayed the advanced technologies used to spy the population’s everyday life and the smuggling techniques employed to counterfeit the terror.

    There are some weird things such as cameras hidden in bird boxes, or cameras in dust bins triggered by the pedal opening the lid, but also shockingly advanced pieces of tech:a camera hidden behind a coat button which is as old as me and as big as my mobile phone. All this courtesy of Siemens, and it comes natural to think that the technology behind the devices we carry in our pockets today came at cost of many lives. On the other hand carrying people out of the DDR or smuggling in books and other western goods was all a matter of creativity and little means. It’s like a battle between cunning, bold humans, and deadly robots from the future. Like Terminator.

    Stasi Prison: Hohenschönhausen

    Address: Genslerstraße 66, D-13055 Berlin
    Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 10am – 6pm
    Phone: +49 30 232450 / Website (in German) / email
    Tickets: €5 / €2.5

    Of all the stops in our “Stasi tour” this is one not to be missed. Try to pronounce the word “Hohenschonhausen“; if you get it right you might give yourself a cold shiver down the spine. This terrorizing prison can only be visited with a guide, and tours in English are run once a day at 14.30. If you understand German not only you can enjoy more flexibility but you are likely to get a former inmate as a guide and I’ve been ensured it’s pretty intense.

    The tour starts with a 30 minutes video delivering interesting facts and shocking figures. The next step is the infamous U-Boat, the submarine. Originally used by the Nazis as food storage it has been turned by the Soviets into a fearful underground jail, like those you might see in Rambo movies, where prisoners were kept for days in few inches of ice-cold water, or in a padded, dark and isolated room, without food or even a bucket. It’s quite gripping to know that someone here managed to be even more evil and sick than Hitler’s troops.
    Our tour leads next to the newly built prison block, despite being slowed down by a big Iranian man who stops at every cell looking around lost as if he was thinking of how to decorate it. The building is, in typical soviet fashion, grey and depressing. It reminds me the hostel where I stayed in Bratislava, except for the rooms which are way better here.

    The cells in fact look like single room, with a large bed (where the Iranian man sits with loud creakings, probably considering a nap), a basin and a cupboard, luxury. Someone points that out to our guide, which agrees and explains why. This was all a cunning psychological trick to make the inmates remember how it was to be alive: in fact they didn’t have any belongings to put in the cupboard, they couldn’t sit on the bed during the day, nor they could do any exercise if not standing, the window is bright but the thick glass impedes any sight of the outer world. And so on, down to details to clever and sick to make you doubt of the good nature of the human race. At the end of the tour we reach the “tiger cage”, where well behaved prisoners were taken for a glimpse of sky and fresh air and the Iranian man is invited to talk. He explain to us how he’s been through the same treatment and torture in his country, just 3 years ago before managing to escape to France. This made me think of how deeply these horrors belong to the human nature, wondering how many people are being tortured right now. It also explains the strange behaviour of this man in the cells and make me consider what a massive dick-head I’ve been judging him.

    This was a very intense day, I couldn’t leave the building without first smoking a cigarette next to two old guides, wishing I could speak enough German at least to express my sympathy. I also couldn’t leave Lichtenberg before finding my way back to the tram, which proved more difficult than I thought. Just remember to walk straight ahead as you leave the gates, in case you don’t have a map with you.

  • Food in Berlin… more than just Currywurst!

    Food in Berlin… more than just Currywurst!

    When travelling my favourite thing is try to learn how locals live and, even if for just a few days, try to live with them. Food is an important part of everyone’s life and bars, pubs and restaurants are those places where you can get a nice angle of the local lifestyle. Once you avoid the tourist traps with white table cloths and anodyne international menus.

    I have to admit that during our stay in Berlin we didn’t treat ourselves properly in terms of food. Walking all day and trying to see as much as possible, we ended up feeding mostly on kebabs and the magic combo pretzel+beer, but we’ve been lucky enough to score some good discovery.

    Currywurst

    We got to Berlin craving Currywurst, even though we weren’t sure of what that is we’ve heard so much about it that eating one was on top of our list. The first eye contact has been quite disappointing: three american guys walk out of a kebab shop holding a tray containing what looks like a depressed sliced wurstel drowned in ketchup. Technically a currywurst is nothing more than that, with a sprinkle of curry powder on top, and that pathetic version is pretty much what you get at most of the shops. However the real experience is to have a proper one. The most recommended currywurst can be found at the Konnopke Imbiss, next to the Eberswalder Straße station. Unfortunately, and I blame it on the less than exact directions on our guide book, we couldn’t find it, but we went instead to the butcher (metzgerei) next to the bahn station where we were served huge and tasty homemade currywurst. You can also have a sit and taste their other products.
    Anyway you can find the famous Konnopke Imbiss under the rail bridge just leaving the metro station and walking south along Schönhauser Allee. This is the google map, just in case.

    Restaurant: Aufsturz

    Oranienburg Strasse 67
    Tel: +49 30 28 04 74 07 Website: www.aufsturz.de
    Open everyday until midnight.

    Update 28/10/2013: I’ve been back to Aufsturz and unfortunately the menu drastically changed. No more hearty german food but more snack and pub grubs. Probably the Berliner Teller (cheese and salamis platter) is the option. However the place is always very nice, the staff is friendly and they have something like 100 beers to choose from.

    Too much words for a wurstel, let’s now talk about a real restaurant. This is the only one we visited, which gives us a 100% score on finding great places to eat! It’s called Aufsturz, in Oranienburger Straße, not far from the namesake S-Bahn station, and we spotted it passing by on one of the trams going to and from Alexander Platz. Lovely cozy place, it looks like a local favourite, crowded with Berliners, and I think we were the only tourist there. A good sign is that the menu is written only in German and the friendly waiters didn’t seem used to speaking english to their customers. Thanks to my unsuspected linguistic skills we manage somehow to order a gulash with red kraut and knodeln, and spätzle (like think noodles) topped with cheese and crispy onions. This scrumptious dinner was washed down with 4 large beers and closed off with a dessert (keiserschmarrn con zwetschgenroster) that alone could have been a satisfying meal, all for little more than €30 for two which, to me, sounds like a real bargain.

    The walls were all adorned with paintings to give it an artsy-but-not-pretentious look and, at one end of the restaurant next to the toilets there’s the entrance to the club. But we were too replete to even think of going in.

    Café am Kamin

    Falckensteinstrasse 18
    Wi-Fi: €1/h

    Update 28/10/2013: Back to the Kamin, I was a little disappointed. Perhaps because this doesn’t keep up the competition with the other brilliant cafés in Kreuzberg, but the coffee was just about alright and the muffin was stale. Still a good place in winter as they have lovely soup.

    Another random encounter was with Café am Kamin on our first day of visit, right outside the Görlitzer Park in Kreuzberg, and we fell in love with it. It’s on Falckensteinstrasse, which goes from the park all the way to the famous and enormous Blu’s graffitis in Cuvrystrasse. It’s ideal for coffee and cake, but also for a warm soup (the potato soup is delicious). It’s a small cozy place, with a fireplace that will make it very difficult to leave during a cold winter day.

    Chocolate

    Surely everyone is familiar with the perfectly square shape of a Ritter sport chocolate bar, but did you know that the Headquarters are based in Berlin? We didn’t, and it’s been a great surprise when we’ve been led in the official store, in 24 Französische Straße (there’s a U-Bahn station nearby). Not only it’s a colourful chocolatey Ritter heaven, but you can get a customised chocolate bar! You choose the chocolate and the other ingredients and they melt it and create it right in front of you, which is really cool. You’ll have to wait half an hour for the chocolate to cool down before you can put your hand on it, so you’ve got plenty of time to buy more of the super-cheap chocolate in store. No pictures are available for this place because the photographer was out of control.

    Another great place for chocolate lovers is Fassbender & Rausch in 60 Charlottenstrasse, majestic shop. It’s like a chocolate sanctuary, in fact you’ll see proper chocolate sculpture and even a fountain. Hint: it’s not water that comes out of it. Hard to resist…

  • Getting Around Berlin

    We arrived to Berlin pretty clueless. We had a couple of itineraries worked out of a Lonely Planet, a beautiful crumpled map, and a couple of reservations. Nothing more. Let’s call it a good half way between a perfectly scheduled holiday and a wild break. So, we roughly knew what to do but we didn’t know how to do it.

    After my second visit I wrote a simple and clear guide to the best solutions for travel cards in Berlin. But here’s some useful info that we would have loved to know after landing in Berlin:

    How to reach Berlin form Schönefeld

    The RE7 train from Schönefeld Airport goes directly to Ostbanhof in little more than 20 minutes, the train platform can be reached leaving the airport building and following the covered path to the left hand side (Berlin Schönefeld Airport Map). More info on tickets and rates can be found on the vbb.de website. Alternatively the lines S45 and S9 reach other strategical part of town… check the Berlin Transport Network Map (PDF) for more details.
    Right outside the airport building there’s a bus stop, the line 171 goes to Neukölln all the way to Hermannstrasse (S47, S41/42, U8).
    Buying a pass for the AB areas will require the purchase of an extension ticket for zone C (where the airport is).

    U-Bahn and S-Bahn

    Public transport in Berlin is ridiculously efficient, which is not too surprising knowing we’re in Germany. U-Bahn, S-Bahn, busses and tram quickly connect virtually every corner of the city. The U-Bahn is the classic underground line while S-Bahn is the overground train. The underground looks like it’s a bit overkill for the amount of people using it, at least compared to the London Tube, so you are quite unlikely to travel with your face smashed on the window. But if you’re not in a hurry is better to choose overground transport and look around, as we learnt that Berlin is plenty of little details to offer, amusing eyes and heart of the visitor, from the ubiquitous street art to the fascinating architecture… it’s impossible to list them all so sit back and enjoy the show.
    Bus and tram lines however can be sometimes more efficient than the underground trains, cutting lots of time for walking to the metro station and eventually changing line. For this I always check the journey planner before leaving home. If your smartphone is better than mine and you can actually use it, then you might be interested in Öffi, the public transport app, available for android.

    CityTourCard

    Obviously there are convenient options for visitors (which they’re kind enough not to call “tourists”). Despite being usually averse to this kind of offers we opted for the “CityTourCard” that can be easily purchased form the automatic vending machines at any station. For less than €30.00 we got 5 days of unlimited travel, discounts on museums and other attractions, and peace of mind. It also comes in the 48 and 72 hours versions. This is what you get: CityTourCard Discounts (PDF)
    With some careful calculations and some extra walking we could have probably saved money, but I honestly don’t think it’s worth it, unless you rent a bike… which was not an option when we visited the city in December!