Seven best ways for doing nothing special in Berlin, and enjoy it

Travel to Berlin is a unique experience, a walk in this wonderful city is especially recommended. Where do we go? Route planning is a good idea, but not imperative. You may just stroll, and enjoy every minute of it. Here are seven suggestions for walking in the German capital - most do not even cost money.

A. Roaming Unter den Linden

The first day of a visit in Berlin should start in Berlin fabulous boulevard Unter-den-Linden. When you wander the wide promenade on you see the monumental buildings which actually tell the history of the city, starting at the  rise of the Hohenzollern dynasty in Prussia, through the Weimar Republic, Third Reich, and communist rule.

 Focal point located at the western end of the street: Brandenburg Gate, a triumphal arch built at the end of the 18th century, when Berlin was the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia. On top of the gate is the famous Quadriga statue. Here the crowds were celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall.

 Just outside the gate to the north, is the Reichstag, the seat of German Parliament. To the South is Friedrichsstrasse, the famous shopping street. At the eastern end of the street is the Museum Island, a concentration of wonderful museums. All these places can be reached easily on foot.

B. Visit Potsdam Square

South to the green neighborhood of Tiergarten, Potsdam square, the commercial center of the reunited city, is located. Back in the 20th century, the square, called in German Potsdamerplatz, was already one of the most jammed squares of mainland Europe.

 The first traffic light in Europe was placed in Potsdam square in 1924 (its copy is installed there). The whole place was completely destroyed by the Allied bombings in World War II, and was then no man's land between East and West, divided by the infamous wall.

 After the fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989, the square was reconstructed, and skyscrapers were built in it. The most impressive building is the Sony Center, the work of the  German-American architect Helmut Jahn.

The modern plaza is used each year in February, for  the Berlin Film Festival, and it has an excellent museum cinema. Naturally, the place offers plenty of restaurants and shops.

C. The best island to be alone

The Spree River creates at one of its curves an island in which are no less than five amazing museums. The original plan was to establish an arts and sciences' center in ancient Greece's style.

 The first building built in the compound, was the first public museum in Prussia as well, hence its name: the "old" Museum (1830).

 The Pergamon Museum is the most visited museum on the island. Though it costs money, do not to miss under any circumstances!

It houses real-sized, reconstructed monumental ancient buildings. Most popular are: the Pergamon Altar, a magnificent marble structure, originally built in the 2nd century BC in ancient Greece, the Market Gate of Miletus, another ancient Greek city, and the Ishtar Gate, an original gate to the city of Babylon, the capital of biblical King Nebuchadnezzar. All the exhibits consist of parts transported from the original excavation sites.

D. Walking along the remains of the Berlin Wall

If you miss the days of nuclear tensions between the superpowers, and the spy movies where every villain had a Russian accent, you are advised to visit the remains of the Berlin Wall.

 Even though most of the wall was destroyed and cleared during the second half of the 1990s, a small strip of it remained on the southern boundary of Wedding neighborhood downtown.

 Walking there you may see a relatively long reconstructed section of the wall, along with a documentation center which tells the story of the East-Berlin poor citizens who dared to cross the border to the West, and paid for it with their lives.

 You may also visit Checkpoint Charlie, a border crossing point between East Berlin and West of the city, allowed only to non-Germans and Allied soldiers.

E. Looking down at the city

Berlin is a huge city. Its area is 6 or 7 times larger than Paris. So it cannot be seen as a whole from a single observation. Most recommended observation points are two ones, both involve a fee.

The first is the top of the TV Tower, called Turm in German.

 The communist authorities built the Turm in the late 1960s, when relations between East and West were at their lowest level. Their aim was to provoke the capitalists. So they built a 365 meters tower seen from everywhere in West Berlin, with a revolving restaurant on top of it.

 The second observation point is from the top of the radio tower, 138 feet tall. This tower was built in 1926 and looked somewhat like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. There is a restaurant there too.

F. The dark spot of Berlin

Three sites in the city will help us, free of charge, to learn about a darker chapter of city's history, the Nazi era.

One is the monument created by American architect Peter Eisenman, not far from Potsdam Square. The monument consists of 2711 black boulders, shaped as tombstones or coffins, arrayed across a large area. At the edge of the compound, there is a small museum in memory of the Holocaust.

Of no less importance is the beautiful villa near Lake Wannsee, where the Nazi bureaucrats planned in cold blood the gassing of Jews.

The third recommended site is called the Topography of terror, an open exhibition informing of the Nazi horrors. It's placed in the Berlin's center, exactly where the torturing cellars of the Nazi secret police, Gestapo, used to be.    

G. Strolling in the city gardens

Berlin has an outstanding abundance of greenery and water. At least one clear day should be dedicated to idle in the wide lawns and have a good afternoon nap on a bench.

  Several parks are recommended in particular. One is Tiergarten neighborhood, west of the Brandenburg Gate.

Another is Grunewald forest on the western edge of the city. It's easy to reach it using the urban train (S-Bahn).

 The forest is best suited for those who want to do some physical exercising. You may ride bicycles through the woods, walk, swim in the lakes throughout the area, and ride horses.

Another beautiful park is behind the Charlottenburg Palace, a fancy mansion built by Prussian kings. The park is full of statues (mostly replicas), and  plenty of greenery and water.

In case you got tired of
roving, here is an eighth way to spend a wonderful time in Berlin. Sit in a café and order a cup of coffee and a piece of cake (Tasse Kaffee und Kuchen, in German). Berlin has cafés everywhere, but most crowded with tourists are those on the famous Kurfuerstendamm Avenue (Kudamm, for short). An even better place is the Prenzlauer-Berg picturesque neighborhood, bordering the city's center to the west. Many cafés and relaxed atmosphere are to be found especially around Kolwitz Square (Kolwitzplatz) and the water tower (Wasserturm).

 More information about walking in Berlin and in other places in Germany, such as Potsdam, Dresden and Leipzig, you may find in www.berlinwalking.com.