Berlin: You either love it or hate it

Travel editors Bec Storey and Amy Harrison blag some free flights and go exploring the gritty delights of the German capital

By Bec Storey and Amy Harrison

German textbooks filled with pictures of scary men with moustaches and tragic-looking ‘discos’ have always put me off visiting the land of lederhosen, schnitzel and weissbier.

I’ve heard Berlin described as Marmite, in that you either love it, or hate it. I love marmite, so when the opportunity arose to go to Berlin, I cast stereotypes asides and packed my passport along with an open mind.

The journey from Berlin’s Tegel airport to our accommodation in the East of the city didn’t immediately kindle my passion for the German capital. I forced myself to remember that landing at Heathrow would involve journeying through shabby seventies-style suburbs before arriving anywhere nice in the UK.

Identical concrete tower blocks lined the eerie streets of the East. I use the word eerie as the supermarkets and shops seem to lack the bustling crowds you would expect to find. No wonder in light of current statistics – Berlin has the space to accommodate a population of nine million people, yet recent statistics reveal the population to be under 3.4 million. Still, there are not enough jobs to employ the city’s inhabitants.

Could it get much worse for Berlin? The city is also bankrupt. Concrete structures which were to be five star luxury hotels are left derelict and abandoned. Cranes fill the skyline.

As the bus drives through the concrete jungle, sad faces stand at cold bus stops. It feels as though the one hour flight from Stansted has actually transported us 20 years back in time.

Driving through East Berlin, an air resonant of Eastern Europe abounds. Yet this city has something so very different from any other Eastern European city I have visited. Based solely on the journey from the airport, I was not convinced that Berlin would be a city that I would long to return to.

The Berlin I had seen so far was dirty, gritty and raw.

How quickly my opinion changed.

On the bus into the city I felt like I was watching the city from within a bubble, as an onlooker, separated from the real world. Walking around the city that evening it seemed a completely different world. Still dirty. Still gritty. Still raw. But that was all part of Berlin’s unique magical charm.

Every corner I turned revealed something new to my eyes. One corner might hide a picture perfect museum, whilst round another corner might stand a single ruin of a building amongst rubble where other buildings once stood.

I stood on a bridge on the Island of Museums in awe. Communist built geometric blocks of concrete stood alongside a neo-classical museum and a cathedral so eclectic in its combination of baroque, gothic and Romanesque styles.

Everywhere oozes with history. Every street has seen so much action and bullet holes are spattered across the sides of most pre-1939 buildings. Berlin is not ashamed of its history.

A strong sense of moving on from the past and learning from what the city has endured pervades throughout the city. The multitude of cranes that fill the sky, are part of the reconstruction of the city in preparation for the forthcoming World Cup. The city is full of hope for the future and looks forward to its regeneration.

Berlin is dirty, and gritty, and raw, but still has its own special, haunting, enchanting, romantic charm. I’ve already booked my flight back.