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TRAVEL
Culture meets commence: Ffledricnstroue station, built over a shopping arcade (right) and the Gemildegalerie (below right), once divided betweonEootdeeot, now back in onebulldhg
The truth about Berlin
There are more myths about this City than there are German towels around the average Spanish swimming pool. Tim Abrahams sets straight some of our many delusions about Berlin.
Berlin is in the centre of Germany
.lttst because Berlin and Germany were divided in half from 19-15 ttntil I089. that doesn‘t mean the capital sat in the middle of the country. West Berlin was an island
of capitalistn -- a shop window. if
you will -— some 2()() miles within the territory of the former DDR. l‘rom tum it was as much shackled
to the Russian occupied eastern half
by its famous wall as it was diy'ided from it. Today Berlin is reunited. like Germany and. for that matter. the rest of liurope. Berlin is still an east liuropean city only an hour and a half from the Polish border. howeyer. So although it will neyer be in the centre of Germany (one hopes) it will always be in the centre of liurope. Today it‘s as full of Poles. Serbs and Russians as it is Brits. Yanks and Scandinavians. It‘s also home to the largest population of Turks outside Turkey. Go to the market in Kreuzberg on
Wednesdays and Fridays. liat beautiful kebabs at Day'e lialafel on Dan/,iger Strasse in Pren/lauer Berg.
It’s still a divided city
Not really. Although reunilication of the city was only IS years ago. the housing stock on both the western and eastern side is pre-war. so it looks the same. The tnain physical difference between west and east is inside the early 2()th century hottsing. During the l)l)R days. plumbing had to be \‘isible so it could be easily fixed. The apartments still have old-style coal .s'toy‘es for heating. bttt all the hotels and a fair few apartments haye been done tip now. liy'en .-\le.\andetplat/. the Soviet-style tnain sqttare of the east. has taken to gaudy shop fronts remarkably well. Were it not for the TV Tower — perhaps the only beautiful symbol to Communist aspiration in the world — it would look like Times Square in the 50s.
It’s German and therefore uptight
Nope. Due to an ill-adyised law in the BRI). those who liy'ed in Berlin were exempt from national sery'ice. 'l'lius all the hippies. punks and pinkos ended up here. The laws hay'e changed with reunification but now the cheap rents keep them coming in from all o\‘et‘ liurope. The ne‘er-do-wells have moved to the east to l’ren/lauer Berg which looks a bit like (‘hieago because of its eleyated l'-Bahn rails and wide streets but it is way more relaxed. Kids spend a lot of time haying fun
WERE IT NOT FOR THE TV TOWER IT WOULD LOOK LIKE
TIMES SQUARE IN THE 505
in cleyerly ol'tlt‘l'etl squares will] play parks. and theres a nice bar on eyery corner. ls'ollwit/ l’lat/. at its heart. is quiet with a fairy tale atmosphere in the winter. and becomes busy and more beatttilul in summer.
It’s really cool
()K. some of the interiors are incredibly grooyy if you walk around ()ranienburg and up the art tnile of .-\uguststrasse in the early eyening. the beautiful galleries and the just grungey enough bars are empty and rather daunting. Later. liowey'et‘. you'll see all the scruffy buggers in them and you'll be pttt at your case. No one dresses tip to go out. Reassuringly. those who do often look weird.
It’s a European capital so it’s expensive
It‘s not. A beer in one of the swankiest bars will cost £3. For a meal you are paying in liuros what
':—' " '.‘£:' 2.)", THE LIST 1 13