Off the Beaten Track - Berlin

---

After enjoying a nice breakfast in my hotel, it was time to walk to Alexanderplatz to join up with the walking tour I had booked. I had decided to do the 'Off the Beaten Track' which is a four hour walking tour that I hoped would take me to places I didn't know about or would find on my own.

Our walk started with a short train ride to Mitte where our small group of 9 got to hear all about how this area was impacted during WWII. Our guide was from Edinburgh in Scotland but has lived in Berlin for the past 8 years. He is a graffiti artist but also makes music. It seems that there are many people in Berlin with these skills and this is due, in a big part, to the impact that the various governing bodies have had on this city. With so many people moving out during the war years (by choice or force) there became many vacant buildings that attracted the 'artistic' types.

After the war, when the population had lost a high percentage of men, even though the allies provided funds to the people of a Berlin to rebuild, they really didn't have the men to do the work. So they made a deal with Turkey for their men to come to Berlin, be paid well to do the rebuilding while they were here and then for them to go back home. The only thing was, they chose to stay and the Kreuzberg area has a high Turkish population.

On our walk we past the first concentration camp which was in the very centre of Berlin. They say this place was chosen on purpose by the Nazi's and the Stasi to ensure the screams from those being tortured and killed could be heard by all those living around the area. There was an old water tower that has now been converted into very expensive apartments, many organic markets, urban farms, guerrilla gardens as well as many examples of street art.

We visited the oldest beer garden, Prater Garten, and learnt all about the eclectic food scene, which encompasses everything from traditional German food to currywurst and doner kebab. After a sausage in a roll and a beer we were on our way to the next area.

In Prenzlaureberg we walked to see alleyways with street art and got to hear about when David Bowie and Iggy Pop moved into the area in attempt to get away from the drug culture only to find themselves in the very 'free world' where every sort of drug was readily available. They produced 3 albums while living here.

Next on the agenda was the neighbourhood of Friedrichshain where we got to see some very different styles of living. We saw a commune, a mobile home area and a tree house, which has a fascinating story. The area where the tree house is was right beside "the wall" and had become a rubbish tip. A Turkish migrant decided to clean it up and utilise things others had thrown away to build his tree house. He survived the government of the East, the government of the West and the governments of the united Germany, all who tried to reclaim his place but he sat, defiant. At one stage 15,000 people marched to support him. He sadly died a few months ago at the age of 103. Our guide said he misses him, as he always blew a two handed kiss to the tourists.

The final part of our tour took us to a Jamaican beach bar called Yamm. This is a unique spot on the banks of the river Spree where you can absorb the art and culture of Jamaica however, as with many places like this it is under threat from big companies wanting to purchase the prime property. Our guide believes that it won't be still here the next time we visit. After the tour, a few of us stayed together to have a drink and watch the soccer on the big screen. Then two of the others and I walked to the East Side Gallery which is the 1.8 km long section of the Berlin Wall that has been preserved and is a canvas for artists from all around the world. I took many, many photos as I found the whole thing quite fascinating.

From here I stopped at a spot along the river to watch some more of the Senagal and Colombia game and then started the 40 minute walk back to my hotel.

---