Living off the wall

Having enjoyed cheap weekend deals in dozens of European cities before, and after a relaxed break in Budapest last winter, Cathy Reay wanted to venture somewhere more vibrant for the teenager in her and historically vital to sate her intellectual appetite

I stumbled across an independent travel group called City Travel Review, whose founders organise trips for young people wanting to see the world and improve their linguistic and written skills along the way. Signing up for their three week spring break,

I joined ten other budding journalists on the trip of a lifetime to one of the largest and most culturally significant European cities of today.

Though Germany’s famously once divided capital was officially reunited almost 20 years ago with the collapse of the Wall, Berlin’s social scene is still affected by the attractiveness of the west and invariably less glamorous east.

There are still some vestiges of the Wall dotted around the city, but most have been or are currently being covered with graffiti and replaced by museums. We were lucky to have been staying in Kreuzberg, just a ten minute walk from the best place to see the biggest single remaining part of the Wall at the East Side Gallery. The Gallery has been turned into a memorial, with many artists from all over the world contributing their representations of freedom along the 1.3km stretch. There are also pieces still standing around Potsdamer Platz and Checkpoint Charlie (the crossing point between the east and west during the Cold War) in the city centre.

The street art scene in Berlin has exploded since the city’s reunification with not only the last bits of Wall being covered by graffiti but also buildings, signs and most outdoor walls. There are a number of art squats around the city, inhabited by graffiti artists who make a living off tourists visiting and buying pieces of their work. The Kunsthaus (art house) Tacheles, in the district of Mitte, one of the biggest, opened in 1990 in a former department store. As you might expect from an old, derelict building, it is far from the most accessible of sites and there are several flights of stairs leading to each floor, but it is definitely worth a visit if you can hack it. Either way, there’s a great beer garden and café area in the backyard filled with arty types and the place often turns into a club after dark.

Before visiting Berlin I knew only of the Wall and the Reichstag as important tourist attractions, but there is so much more to see and do that even after spending three weeks there I still left feeling that I’d not done it all. The city is much bigger than I imagined; it rivals the size of London but with just half the population – something which really comes in handy on public transport, as there is almost always a free seat and no-one hassling you to speed up.

Aside from the large stations, those underground are totally inaccessible for wheelchairs. Trams, which only run in the east, have a very high step from the ground so manoeuvring onboard was tricky, but not impossible. Most buses have areas for wheelchairs and clear maps and regular intercom announcements make it very easy to navigate once on board.

Our group was assigned the task of creating a travel guide to Berlin during our stay and it was my job to cover food and drink. Fantastic, I thought, I get to drink beer all day and write about it!

Germany isn’t best known for its spectacular cuisine, but what it lacks in original recipes is more than made up for in the availability of cheap alcohol, cafés open well into the night and bars that serve brunch at dawn. Because they are hot on recycling, cafés and shops through Berlin offer money back for every empty bottle handed in. It’s common courtesy to drink beer en route to a destination and leave the bottles on pavements for homeless people to pick up and make money from.

We visited a few beer gardens but the best by far was at Café am Neuen See, located on the southern border of the Regents Park-esque Tiergarten. With park benches spread out for miles, people rocking up to play their acoustic guitars and children playing in sandboxes, it has a great atmosphere for a sunny afternoon. The only difficulty is getting to it – the nearest transport link is about 20 minutes away.

While at Tiergarten it’s a good idea to check out the Reichstag nearby. Queues for this popular tourist attraction are always long and it’s a good idea to go late at night – last admission is at 10pm. The building is fully accessible and great to walk through, but will only take you about 20 minutes to explore.

In the first week our guides introduced us to a popular Berlin dining tradition, a “fairtrade” café called Fra Rosa, near Rosenthaler Tor. Fairtrade in Germany means you pay exactly however much you feel the staff deserve for their service. Pay 2€ at your own risk, though; those at Fra Rosa thought our group underpaid even though we chipped in about 15€ per person. Fairtrade places try to stay hidden from stingy tourists, which is great, but on the other hand staff are impatient and will expect you to know what to do. They’re also quite demanding (I discovered upon hearing the waitress yell “FLEISCH!” in my face, it’s best just to take whatever “flesh” she gives you). Having said this, the food and wine at Fra Rosa were both of an absurdly good standard, and the buzzing atmosphere of locals getting merry was great too.

After spending a few days eating and drinking ourselves into oblivion, it was time to delve into the city’s history hub. The best place to start is with Museumsinsel (Museum Island), a square of museums on an “island” in the middle of the Spree river. Most places charge entry but you can access any of them for free on Thursday evenings between 6-10pm. The best for Germanic history are the Alt and Neue (old and new) Museums. Others worth checking out are the Museum für Fotografie, Alte Nationalgallerie (I should have picked the rooms I wanted to enter beforehand, it’s exhausting walking through every one), and Pergamon Museum, which houses art displays of Islamic and Middle Eastern origins.

As indicated by the long opening hours and low alcohol prices, the nightlife in Berlin is electric. There are a few main clubs but the focus is more on bars with small dancefloors. Be warned that if you do decide to club it up, you might not get in: we travelled an hour west to Watergate, a big techno club in the classy district of Charlottenburg, only to be refused entry because we didn’t know the DJ’s name.

Exhausted and hacked off, we found a local bar and I had my first taste of Berlinerweißer, a delicious white beer normally served with a sweet green or red syrup.

After the sore experience of Watergate, which we aptly renamed Failgate, the group got stuck into the many bars the city has to offer, including a Russian Disco night at Kaffee Burger in Mitte, and free Germanic jazz in Charlottenburg.

It would be easy to put my love for Berlin down to the fact that I was there so long, but I firmly believe that whether you’re visiting for a long weekend or a whole month, there will always be something unique, exciting and educational to do for people of all backgrounds and tastes.

It’s not the most accessible city in the world, with transport possibly even ranking behind London and many of the streets in the city centre uneven and hard to manoeuvre down, but it isn’t impossible to get around. The bars, clubs, cafés and restaurants are similar to anywhere else in western Europe (the bigger the franchise, the more accessible the venue) and museums and exhibitions are generally very accessible to all.

Though I didn’t get a chance, it’s a great idea to sign up for one of Berlin’s walking tours. They’re completely free (just pay a small donation at the end) and I am assured that guides do follow any access requirements needed.

It was a fantastic experience to travel with a group of people I’d never met and work on such an exciting project together. Through compromising our tastes we visited many places I would probably never have thought to go and I felt as though I learned a great deal more about the city than I would if I’d been travelling alone. I also learned a great deal about beer too, but that might not be so useful when applied to my day to day life.

• The City Travel Review group runs three Berlin trips a year (winter, spring and a six week summer course) and one in Edinburgh. For more information about them, visit www.citytravelreview.co.uk