As great as city break weekends are, breaking up the monotony of the work weeks, I much prefer longer trips over at least a couple of weeks to truly be able to immerse myself in a country and not have to worry about the amount time I don’t have. They are usually less stressful and not feeling like I’m always against the clock, allowing me to actually take my foot off the accelerator to recharge mentally and physically.
Where was I heading for these couple of weeks? To a small selection of countries in Europe, initially via plane but then once there, I was going to use an Interrail ticket to get from city to city; country to country. Interrail (or EuRail for anyone outside of Europe) tickets come in all shapes and sizes but they allow you to move around one specific country or Europe as a whole using the intercity trains to seamlessly cross borders and explore as you so wish. It’s a great way to get round as one cost tends to, with a few exceptions, cover all your travel and you have complete flexibility in where you go, what you do and when you do it. All it takes is to fill in the details, hop on a train and off you go. Simple as that! The only limiting factor is how many days they last for and how many journeys you can do in that time. If you want more information on this, the here is the Interrail website.
Why I Headed to Berlin
My first location on this short tour through Europe was Berlin, Germany. A city not only steeped in history, mostly focusing on the 20th century, but one that it is world renowned for its nightlife. Nonetheless, it was a place I was excited to go to and get the full experience of. It was a place that I’d heard many great things about and a perfect spot for me to commence my journey from.
My Thoughts On Berlin
It is an interesting blend of cultural clashes of past vs present; of east vs west; of daytime vs nighttime. A city that is destined to modernise itself whilst holding on to the times of yesteryears by blending the new with the old. It is a place that you can tell has been through a lot in recent history, with many relics of times gone by left as well as the city having a feeling that it has two halves/personalities. This provides ample opportunity to get lost in the past and present of the city and find out how it became the way it is today. It’s hard to really explain it but the culture that has been developed is a unique one, stemming from the events of the 20th Century when along with Germany as a country, it took centre stage for various reasons.
That just covers the available daytime activities, with the nightlife showing a different side to the city. The much anticipated nightlife was everything I expected and more. Though it was troublesome to be able to get into one of the clubs we wanted to get into during my time there, which something that often be encountered in this city, the overall experience was something else. The trials and challenges you have to face to just get in, obeying the unofficial rulebook and the way that you’re “interrogated” builds up the expectation of the experience you’re about to have, totally made worthwhile by the music and sensory overload.
Recommended?
I’d be stupid to not recommend Berlin. It is a city that has so much on offer. History, landmarks, amazing nightlife, the blend of old and new; the list goes on really of what Berlin offers, catering for all kinds of traveller. Even after only seeing the landmarks, rather than learning about them, I felt that I had a full and worthwhile journey to Berlin over the few days that I was there but there was so much more that was on offer and a trip back to this amazing place is on the cards to finish off what I started. My time in the nightclubs of Berlin also truly lived up to the expectations. They are intense with their atmosphere, the music is top quality and the fact they go until the sun raises, there is definitely a reason as to why this place is known worldwide as a true nightlife hotspot.
What Went Down In Berlin
Day 1 – Saturday
Flying into Berlin Schönefeld wasn’t what I expected. With it being a large capital city, I was expecting it to be a large, modern airport with an up to date form of transport into the city centre. I was wrong! The airport seemed relatively small, you had to walk yourself in from the runaway and when it came to the metro into the city, it definitely felt like a flashback to the 1980s based on the rustic appearance of the older style carriages that pulled up! But it was a cheap, efficient and reliable method of getting from A to B, which is the main thing. Though since visiting, I have learnt that the city is building third airport, due to open in 2020 (at time of writing).
Rest assured though, this was just an older train on a comprehensive network that did actually include plenty of more modern trains. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it right? As to using the metro, known as the S- and U-Bahn to get around Berlin, it was a convenient and cost effective method. With trains on a regular basis of every 3-5 minutes in the day to every 15 minutes at night, you can get to all corners of the city with stops at all major hotspots. Add in that fact it only costs just €8.60 for a day ticket for the first two tariff zones (ticket information can be found here), it’s definitely recommended!
As the metro sped along the track towards Berlin, the cityscape passing me by was an interesting one. Being in the eastern part of the city, a few modern buildings were interleaved between the eastern bloc styled buildings taking up the skyline, which in turn were covered in graffiti from floor to the highest point possible. I do wish I’d grabbed a photo of it but there were some examples that made no sense at all how someone managed to get up there but there was some impressive artwork!
Staying in the EastSeven Hostel, I was fortunate to be located in the centre of the city with a metro station a one minute walk away. The hostel was well priced, the rooms were comfortable, staff were friendly and breakfast was included in the price. If you’re looking for a hostel to stay at in Berlin, I would recommend here for sure as it was definitely worth the ratings it had on HostelWorld.
Settling into the hostel, I employed my usual method of meeting new people once in the common room: just throwing yourself in and talking to people! Which led me to meet a group of Americans and an Australian who were very much in the same mindset as me to get a taste of the legendary nightlife action. A few drinks before heading out, a bit of research on where to go and we were set. But first, I needed to change. Clad in my usual UK partying attire, I was informed that a white shirt and relatively flashy shoes doesn’t fit the distinguished Berlin dress code and wouldn’t get me into anywhere.
How did we come about decision as to where to go? We looked up where was best and immediately ruled out Berghain due to the infamous difficultly of getting in. This left us with a decision between Tresor and Watergate as to what was judged the best. The other guys had already been to Watergate so that left us with trying Tresor but with the length of the night in Berlin, we still had the option to head elsewhere if we wanted.
The nightclubs here are deemed to be up there as some of the best in Europe, if not the world, and there are plenty of them to head off and enjoy. However, depending what club you’re heading to, the harder it is to gain entrance for once reason or another, with the more famous and popular ones harder to get into. The most commonly documented one is Berghain, which people queue for hours to go to where party goes on from midnight Saturday night until Monday without a break in the action.
Top Tips: From both the guys in the hostel and a couple of online guides, there were a few tips and tricks that I picked up on how to definitely get into clubs in Berlin. Though, from what I’ve read, there’s no fool proof guide for Berghain so don’t hold these tips against me if you don’t get in!
- Knowing who’s playing – Before you head to the club, make sure that you know who’s playing as those at the door may ask you! This is because the Berlin scene is more about going for the music (firstly) rather than other activities, seen in the nightlife culture of other nations.
- Speaking German – As I found out, some clubs won’t let you in if you don’t speak German. This isn’t a set rule and will change from club to club, from night to night, from hour to hour. Best way to get around this? The perfect way would be to learn German of course but if time is short or you’re not great with languages, see if you can rope a German speaker into your group.
- Phones in the queue – A common thing that I read and never wanted to test was the rule concerning phones. So just keep it in your pocket, simple. Who knows, you could even make a new friend or two whilst you wait and talk to others. Just make sure you don’t… (cue the next bullet point)
- Mess around in the queue – Sometimes the queues can be long to get in places and you may be excited but you have to keep things under control. Any sign of shouting, laughing loudly or anything out of sorts compared to those around you and you’ll be in for disappointment at the door.
- Large groups – This was a point that was proven a couple of times in front of me, where big groups were turned away, especially big groups of guys. Fortunately, we’d prepared and split into three smaller groups of twos and threes. Better still, if you have any women to interleave between your groups, that will help your odds.
- Dress code – You’ll stand out like a sore thumb if you anything flashy on. Berliners wear dark, non-flashy clothes and just casual trainers to go out in. It’s nothing like hitting the town in the UK where you dress to impress, that’s for sure! So keep it as low key as possible or if you’re really struggling, just copy what the locals are wearing.
- Drinking – Don’t be drunk! You may be safe to have a few drinks but make sure it’s not obvious at all!
Never in my life had I been apprehensive about going into a nightclub until that night. After reading and hearing the stories of people that have made the fatal error of breaking the unwritten code (as detailed above), I was very conscious of how I was acting. This nervousness was only amplified when the three of us from our separated group got to the front of the queue when faced with the woman (who was taller than me and I’m 6’3”!) doing the screening for entrance, with a group just to our right who’d been denied.
The interaction went exactly like this:
Her, “Hallo”
Us, “Evening”
Her, “Oh! English?! IDs!”
We handed over our passports for her to check, whilst been eyeballed the whole time
Her, “Have you been drinking?”
Us, (though only true for one of us) “No”
Handing back our ID, she took one glance into the club where there was another bouncer, looking inside. At the moment of her facing him, without notification, he turned to face her, looked us up and down and gave a subtle nod.
It was at this point she stood to one side, telling us to “Enjoy!” And that was that, we were inside!
What an interesting place it was! What was once a heat and power plant, has kept its original architecture with the nightclub just being inserted into it thus keeping its original concrete interior, though now covered floor to ceiling in graffiti, stickers and I’d dread to think what else, and its steel doors. In the parts of the building that had been “converted”, there were in fact two separate areas. Upstairs was Globus, which took on the aesthetic and atmosphere of any other nightclub that I’d been in and was playing house and deep house music.
Underground was where Tresor was, playing host to the heavy German techno tunes. Firstly, there was the tunnel which led to “dance floor” (you’ll understand the quotation marks in a moment). This was pitch black apart from a selection of red lights and white flashing zigzagging lights on the roof (check out the video to know what I mean). Secondly, as you turned the corner, you were met by what can only be described as prison cell bars, opening up into a thick smoke filled area, where you couldn’t see anything with two exceptions. When I say you couldn’t see anything, when in the middle of it, I couldn’t see the person who I was following with my hand on their shoulder a less than a mere foot in front of me.
Out of the things you could see, the first one was the DJ behind some more prison like bars, bobbing his head with one solid red light on him. The second one was on every fourth beat, a set of strobe lights would like up the smoke around you, leaving you with just the vision of silhouettes against a bright white background. Apart from that, it was pitch black in there.
Due to the rules of not being allowed to take photos or videos whilst in the club (though I did sneak a quick video by holding my phone against my chest in the dark, which you can see to the right showing the tunnel down to Tresor but shhh don’t tell anyone!) I’m trying my best to portray this experience. It’s truly one of those things that you’d have to experience for yourself to get the full understanding of the kind of place it is.
Midway through the evening, the guys wanted to go back to the club they went to the night before, Watergate, after the time they’d had. This didn’t quite go to plan! We headed across town and got into what was a very short line for it. When we approached the doorman, he said something we didn’t understand in German and as soon as he saw our confusion, followed by the question of, “Sorry, English please?”, his faced dropped. He replied “Tonight is not your night”, whilst showing us out of the queue to the exit and so that was that when trying to get into Watergate.
Plan B was to head to the multi roomed nightclub next door, Music & Freiden, which was letting anyone in and that’s where we stayed until the sun rose. An interesting place though to say the least, with its eclectic mix of rooms.
From heavy metal to hip hop, from popular German chart songs (I think?) to rock, it had an array of bars, areas and very much had the same decor as Tresor downstairs and yet a normal looking bar upstairs to relax in. There was graffiti and stickers EVERYWHERE. This was it until the sun came up and we felt it was finally time to head on back to the hostel to get some much needed rest after some serious shapes being thrown.
Day 2 – Sunday
In the absence of me stupidly not investing my time into walking tours conducted by companies or the hostel, I decided to go about conducting my own, which entailed circling all the landmarks on a free map given out by the hostel and then walking between them, to then admire them and take a few photos. Looking back this seems crazy that I would do this instead of a free walking tour, (I mean there was one even offered by the hostel!) which does exactly the same thing but additionally tells you about the landmark you’re looking at as well as the overall history of the city, interleaved with interesting facts as you go. From my self made walking tour, I’ll list what I found to be some of the highlights.
Berlin’s Architecture – Scattered amongst the city are plenty of brilliant examples of German architecture, both old and new. Even without learning about them, just standing back and admiring them was an enjoyable experience in the sun. As much as I enjoyed it, as I’ve indicated a couple of times, I now which that I’d done a free walking tour to get that next level experience. Nonetheless, here’s a gallery of some of my favourites, along with the couple already featured:
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe – One of the most poignant locations in the city was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe found one block south of the Brandenburg Gate. I am regretting the fact that I didn’t visit the information centre that was found under the memorial, which from researching further after my visit, brings so much more to the memorial. My experience of the memorial’s vast size could only partially bring into perspective the scale of the loss and sheer number of people affected by such horrors of the past. As I solemnly walked between the concrete slabs or “stelae”, I found the atmosphere slightly uncomfortable and somewhat haunting, only emphasised by knowing what the memorial represented.
East Side Gallery – Another highlight for me whilst I was there was the Berlin Wall and the selection of murals that are thought provoking about the world of the not too distant past as well as modern day society. I’ve shared a few of my favourites in the pictures below. Especially as someone who isn’t the most creative or artistic when it comes to drawing/painting, art pieces like these always astound me, taking into account the method and “canvas” they are projected on.
In all honesty, after a a day in the sun walking around Berlin, I was shattered as well as a little sunburnt like any typical Brit. This meant the evening wasn’t as exciting as the one before, with it being a case of getting some dinner and chilling out for the evening to rest, recuperate and pack up my stuff ready to head on to the next city.
Unfortunately for you reading this hoping for some food recommendations, I wasn’t too adventurous when it came to going out for dinner so can’t point you in the direction of a place or two that you could eat at whilst in Berlin.
Day 3 – Monday
An early start to the day meant quickly heading across the city to get to the train station. The rest of the morning and the afternoon was spent speeding through the countryside of Germany on my first train, which was thankfully working to the stereotypical efficiency. My destination was Heidelberg in the south west of Germany, which I’ll talk about in the next instalment of Quilty Covers, so be sure to follow my Instagram or Facebook page to hear to be the first to hear about when that blog is published. Links to these can either be found below or at the top of the page. If this is your first time visiting my blog, be sure to have a look around the other content that I’ve produced using the categories at the top of the page.
