Berlin, Germany

When I first visited Berlin nearly ten years ago as a student it had made a huge impression on me. Having expected to find a congested, overpopulated European capital, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a spacious city of wide roads named after dead Communists linked by its ubiquitous public transport system to zip you around the sights. Even more intriguing than viewing its recent history, however, was simply experiencing the vibe of the city. Relaxed, friendly, sociable and avant-garde, modern Berlin was a treat to roam around, day or night, and safe too.

So when my friend suggested we round up a troop of Brits to invade Berlin to celebrate his 30th birthday, I was looking forward to returning to the German capital to see how it had changed. Would the Mitte area still be the cutting edge district it was back in the late nineties? Could you still grab the best kebab in the world ever for just a few Euros (or Deutschmarks, as it was back then)? Would the looming socialist monstrosity of the Alexanderplatz TV Tower ever grow on me?

This outing, the first of my Shoestring Trips into Europe from the UK, did not start out as shoestring as I would’ve liked it to be. A true shoestring traveller allows him- or herself reams of flexibility when booking their trips in order to get the cheapest prices. As the trip was planned to celebrate a friend’s birthday, and planned at the last minute, we were limited to a narrow window of time (the two weekends around his birthday) and therefore had a limited choice of flights. We ended up paying €99 each for the flights with the budget airline Easyjet, which whilst hardly breaking the bank, was not as good as some of the deals you could get if you booked in advance. We balanced out the outlay on the flight by booking up a huge, cheap dorm for us all in a hostel in Friedrichshain, one of the more cutting edge areas of Berlin and containing the up-and-coming Simon-Dach Strasse, a growing strip of pubs, bars, cafes, music shops, restaurants and other hangouts.

Coming as it did towards the end of the month, I was not the only budget-conscious member of the group; many hadn’t received their salaries yet and so were running off the vapours from their wallets or purses. We were therefore glad to discover on arrival that Berlin was a budget traveller’s paradise. Cheap eats – from the expected kebabs and Frankfurters to wonderful Vietnamese noodle soup and bargain-basement pizzerias – were to be found all over the city, but particularly situated outside the main tourist areas in the East. Roaming Friedrichshain, Prenzlauer Berg and Kreuzberg with our week travel pass we discovered lots of dingy, characterful joints serving up hearty food in cellars or the like for dirt cheap.

We started each day on an all-you-eat brekkie offered by the hostel – €3 is not a lot of cash for as much nutella on toast, yoghurt, ham, cheese, bread, kiwi fruit, bananas, coffee and tea you can get down you – and set us up for the rest of the day’s sightseeing, keeping hunger at bay until late into the afternoon. Whilst simply wandering around Alexanderplatz and soaking up the buzz of modern-day Berlin was a lot of fun, we also checked out some of its free sights. Despite the huge queue, the Reichstag was worth it, to see the German Suits arguing it out through a little window and then stroll up Norman Foster’s glorious glass and mirror addition on top of the building for a great view of the surrounding area. We also walked from the Siegesaeule column along Unter den Linden to see the infamous Brandenburg Gate ahead of us, a piece of architecture that has seen so much history. Passing beneath the famous gate we walked and walked until the glorious buildings subsided and more functional East-German concrete blocks started to appear, like going back in time.

As it was some of the group’s first visit to Germany, some of the others of us felt it was important to drum into them some of the horrors that were planned here some 70 years ago. The Holocaust Memorial was a free outdoor sculpture consisting of plain pillars which you could walk around. It was a stark and striking reminder of the faceless murders of that time. We coupled the visit of the monument together with a ride into the northern suburbs at Sachsenhausen, where beside a few unassuming houses lies the preserved hulking monstrosity of a concentration camp. We walked through the “Arbeit macht frei”-enscribed gates and paced out the perimeter, taking in the cramped quarters and “drainage troughs” where Jews were worked to death – or simply slaughtered like animals. It was a chilling experience, but for me a vital one that everyone must see with their own eyes, so as to not forget how evil the human race can be if given half a chance.

Returning to the hostel in a sobering frame of mind, we thought it best to get on the booze as quick as possible. The hostel offered up cheap beer at its bar, and whilst those on a budget (like me) kept an eye on their intake, it was hard to spend the amount you would on a night out back home in the UK. It’s a double bonus drinking beer in Germany, as the country takes its hoppy beverages seriously, producing some of the finest pilsner in the world. The German Purity Law of 1516, proudly stated on many of the beer bottles, ensures that hangovers, whilst still existing, are not the thumping chemical-laden affairs you get back in Blighty.

We headed out briefly for a few beers down Simon-Dach Strasse as well, a few blocks from the hostel and the current “hotbed” for Berlin drinking. It had a great selection of joints to drink in, from elegant bars to dingy, grimy cellars lined with album sleeves, the latter of which were more our kind of vibe. The street was great for food optioins too, with cheapy Italian, Thai and many more cuisines offered up for the peckish.

The return to Berlin for me ten years on had been a great success. The place not only lived up to the memories I had of it back then, but exceeded them; millions of Euros have been poured into the capital in investment, and it shows in the main areas – and yet the Mitte areas still retained their edgy vibe. Above all else, as a destination for a shoestring traveller, it was still right up there with the best of them.