A free tour around Berlin, what are we going to see? Completely recommendable!

On our second day in Berlin, we decided to take the maximum advantage. I had seen on the internet that there are free tours which are quite recommendable; they are called "Free Walking Tours" because they consist of only walking and cities such as Berlin provide this experience. The tours last approximately 2 hours and you are able to do them in Spanish or English. If you ask to do the tour in Spanish, it's likely that you will have a Spanish tour guide, who is usually a student doing these tours as a second job so they can continue studying. The steps you have to take to join one of these tours is on the following website.

The company provides several tours that are paid tours, such as the Sachsenhausen tour which is a concentration camp in the outskirts of Berlin which is one of the closest if you want to experience one of the camps. This tour costs 16€ which is approximately ‎£13 or $17USD. If this kind of tour is not really for you, you can also take the tour of the Third Reich which is 14€ (£11 or $15USD), or you can go for the Red Berlin Tour for the same price.

Don't forget that if you want to participate in the "Free Tour" you have to select "Free Tour of Berlin" which starts from 10am and continues every half an hour, every day. Remember that each tour lasts approximately 2. 5 hours and the meeting point is at the Brandenburg Gate. At the end, you can give a voluntary tip to the guide, and to be honest, they deserve a tip since having to talk for two and a half hours is not easy, especially when you're walking around during that time. To tell you the truth, each person in my family or each one of my friends happily gave the guide 5€ since these guys show that they have a real passion for the work they're doing.

A good start: The Brandenburg Gate

This is me and my mum before starting the tour. Behind us is the Brandenburg Gate.

In this article, I am going to open your eyes and talk to you a little bit about what we saw during the tour. The tour starts at the Brandenburg Gate where after registering yourself online you will find people with distinctive t-shirts who will note down your name and give you a tour bracelet.

The Brandenburg Gate is a very quick, and the first stop where they start to show the area and they tell you about the surroundings too. We spent time on this street looking and wandering around, however, we didn't realise that we were so close to a very important road: Unter den Linden, which is like the Plaza del Sol in Madrid. We also hadn't seen the Ardlon hotel which has historic importance; these are things that you could never imagine are so important. Once you know what there is behind each building, it no longer looks the same and it opens your eyes in some ways. If you want to read my post about the beautiful Brandenburg Gate, you can do so by clicking the link at the beginning of this paragraph.

Memorial of Jews assassinated in Europe

With the previous stop, we started to get to know a little about the lack of human rights when Germany was separated into the Democratic Republic of Germany and Eastern Germany. On this walk, there is a lot of history - more than you would think! It helps you understand why Berlin is the way that it is, even regarding its architecture.

After that, we walked for a few metres under the Brandenburg Gate until we got to the Memorial of Jews assassinated in Europe, which I have also written a post about - you can read it by clicking on the link. In short, this memorial consists of 2711 concrete blocks which start of at 30cm tall right up to 3 metres in height.

This is my favourite photo of this place, I love how the concrete slabs are arranged. The photo itself already seems quite reflexive to me.

The area where these blocks are found was designed by the architect Peter Eisenman and Buro Happold and it was inaugurated in 2005. Really, there is no analysis of this because it was built so that everyone who sees it will interpret the war how they want, but something important to note is that there is a total amount of 2711 blocks which is a prime number. Prime numbers are only divisible within themselves and one. Are you starting to understand the message a little?

Adolf Hitler's bunker where he committed suicide

After spending 10 minutes walking around the memorial and reflecting on what happened to millions of innocent people, we continued walking until we reached what was the supposed place where Hitler's bunker was found. Although now the zone is urban with a lot of flats in the surroundings, it used to be where the gardens of the old Chancery were located and although the citizens knew that it was where Hitlers bunker used to be, it was not until the 90's that the government admitted that and that was so they could build new buildings in this area.

Apparently this is where Adolf Hitler committed suicide together with his wife Eva Braun on the 30th April 1945 after learning that his armed forces had already surrendered to the Soviet forces.

The bunker was taken over by the Soviets in order to capture Hitler, who had already been cremated outside of his bunker in order to avoid having a post-mortem carried out on his body, although, the bunker went abandoned for a long period of time. Currently, they say that only a few of the rooms remain underground but it's impossible to get to them seeing as they are underneath three metres of solid concrete.

Seal your passport in Checkpoint Charlie

After that stop, we went to one of the most famous places in all of Berlin: Checkpoint Charlie. This used to be a border crossing during the Cold War so people could get from the west to the east of Berlin. This is where you could get a visa in order to cross over for a few hours, although there were a lot of cases where people definitively fled from East Berlin on the basis of deception to the military who controlled the passing - those who were caught were assassinated.

For touristic and historical reasons, there is a replica of what the border was like some years ago, saving such minimal details like the sign advertising "you are leaving the American sector". You will also find a type of desk with guards and American flags. They even sell the stamps for passports as they were at the time. Of course these merely representative stamps will cost you like 5€ or even more, depending on where you want them to mark it for you.

This is what the Checkpoint Charlie desk looks like with the American flag, the sign and the guards. You can actually get close to them seeing as they are quite friendly.

This is part of the wall which wasn't knocked down, creating a deep feeling of sadness.

You can also find out which places used to have a wall standing from these kinds of signs on the floor.

In the surroundings, you will be able to see a lot of photographs of the zone back in the day and how it's changed and very close to this point is the Checkpoint Charlie Museum which is a very small museum and doesn't take much longer than half an hour to look around. You can learn more about the history and events during the Cold War.

Relax a little or enjoy the Topography of Terror

There was a break where we stopped in a cafe to relax for a few minutes before continuing the tour. They last for more or less 15 minutes which is the amount of time they give you to relax. During these 15 minutes, people were able to have something to eat in the cade which was the meeting point or even cross the road to go and enjoy even for a short time, the free museum of "Topography of Terror" where they could walk around outside the old building which was an old SS and Gestapo barracks that was in this area to observe its debris and enter to see a photo gallery about Old Germany and the history of the Third Reich, a lot of people would consider it a "must-see".

This part of the Topography of Terror is what remains of the old SS barracks.

This is me in the restaurant/cafe where we were waiting to restart the tour. I forget the name but I remember that the food was really good and I loved the artwork. Behind me is a painting of a Trabbi passing through Checkpoint Charlie.

If I can recommend anything to order from this restaurant, it's this apple strudel which stopped me from being cold and saved me.

The Nazi Building: Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM)

I don't know if it's just me, but I feel cold just from looking at this building. What do you think?

After relaxing, we walked by "Wilhelmstraße" to get to "Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus" which is one of the few administrative centres which survived the bombings, it was also a part of Hitler's ministry. It was built in 1936 and they say that it wasn't destroyed by bombs because there was important information inside. This building is one of the few that still stands today, showing what Nazi architecture looked like. After the 2 sides of Germany reunited in 1992, they changed the name of this building from "House of Administrations" to "Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus" and now it's used as a federal ministry of finance since 1999. That is to say, this is where people come to pay their bills.

The "Trabbi"

We walked a little more (because this tour was a walking tour) until we came to outside of the Trabant museum (Trabbi was a nickname), the famous car from Communist Germany. This particular vehicle cost very little and was produced in the Saxony region for the German Democratic Republic or for other Communist countries. It was so Communist that "Trabant" means "satellite" in honour of Sputnik, which was clearly launched by the Communists.

These cars are so small and so funny. We saw that you could rent them out and we all wanted to rent them for the rest of the tour around Berlin.

As it was difficult to buy one because they were made quite slowly, people used to take great care of them until Germany was reunited where little by little, the cars were forgotten. In the last years, their popularity had risen again and there was even Trabbi safaris which consisted of more or less 100 cars in perfect condition which were rented out to take trips around Berlin and to go on historical tours in one of the cars from back in the day. Very fun, no?

Marvel at the architecture of Gendarmenmarkt

A photo of one of the churches, although now, I don't know how to differentiate them by their architectural style.

Konzerthaus

This is one of the most pretty squares in the city and it's simply impossible to not marvel at the architecture of three impressive buildings that are found there. Just like everything else on this tour, there is so much history here. The three main buildings that you will see here are the Konzerthaus, which is the concert hall in Berlin; it was completely restored after having received a large amount of damage during after the war. This building has some of the best acoustics in the whole world, listening to the symphony orchestra of Berlin is such a delight.

In this photo I managed to capture the concert hall or the Old Opera House and also the calm atmosphere which is present in the square everyday.

Französischer Dom and Deutscher Dom

Here we can find the so-called French cathedral which was designed for an Huguenot community which gave it its name. The German cathedral was constructed at the same time as the French one to give symmetry to the square, the masses at this church have always been held in German. Honestly, the square looks so impressive, more so than in photos. The buildings are immense and it's impressive that the style has been maintained despite being reconstructed by damage from the war. In December the buildings are beautifully decorated and there is also a Christmas market.

Opernplatz, where the Nazis used to burn books

The building that used to hold thousands of books which were burnt, they were chucked out of the windows to the ground below.

It was in this building where on the 10th May 1933, a group of uniformed students belonging to Nazi organisations threw more than 20, 000 books into piles in order to set them on fire and burn them in the square simply because they were "contrary to the German spirit". Books from authors such as Henrich Mann, Ernst Glaeser, Enrich Kästner and a majority of Jewish authors were burnt - some of the authors were even present at the burning, witnessing their own books go up in flames as they were "going against decadence and morality".

Some years later, an empty, underground library was built in the square, which can be appreciated through a window in the floor. These empty bookshelves represent the burn books, the death of expressed ideas there and other acts of intolerance during this period. A Jewish author (who obviously also saw his books being burnt) called Heinrich Heine well said that "Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too".

Humboldt University

Here we can see the façade of the prestigious Humboldt University.

This is the last stop on this walking tour, the university stands on the side of Opernplatz. This Univeristy is one of the best in the world since it is a winner of 29 Nobel prizes since its founding in 1810. A lot of famous people have been here; from the worlds of literature and philosophy as well as the sciences. One of the examples that stands out the most and that we all know is the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, the philosopher Karl Marx who was the founder of Marxism and the physicist Albert Einstein, who has also won a Nobel Prize. The educative model of this University was a pattern for many other top universities such as Harvard or Yale.

The walking tour finished

After two and a half hours which flew by, the tour ended. We were quite happy and not too tired as we had expected whilst we were walking around. We had also made some new friends - Latin Americans, mainly Chileans with whom we had a great conversation. Now, we were very hungry but one of the things that was encouraging us was that the food in Berlin was so tasty and cheap too(! ) than in other countries that we had been to, so finally we were able to get some kebabs.

Looking for a place to eat, we continued walking around the area and we found some other important attractions that hadn't been included in the tour, but at the same time they were told to visit them when they came here.

Berliner Dom or the Cathedral of Berlin

Not even after 10 minutes of walking, we managed to find this astonishing Baroque marvel with a greenish dome. The Cathedral of Berlin is considered as the most beautiful church in the city and it's made even more mystical by its proximity to the Spree River. Without a doubt, getting to listen to its chiming in the afternoon is a touch of luck which not many people have, but which is appreciated.

This is me and my mum and behind us is the precious cathedral which we used as a backdrop for this cute photo.

In front of the church there is an immense and well looked after garden, the Lustgarden garden where we can always find well looked-after grass and a fountain which gives life to this place. This building is quite important since it was built between 1894 and 1905, a time period when the Hohensollern dynasty attended frequently. It's even host to basements which contain the sarcophaguses of a lot of the dynasty's imperial family members. It's really worth a visit to go in and marvel at the works made from black marble and yellow onyx which can be seen in the recinct of the altar.

The Spree River seen from one of the streets close to the Cathedral of Berlin.

As in almost all of Berlin, this dome had to be restored because in 1944, part of the temple was destroyed - especially the dome - by a bomb in the war. The church took more than 30 years to be completely restored and it wasn't until 2002 that it reopened its doors to the public.

Alexanderplatz

This place is really well known in Berlin, a lot of the Berliners simply call it "Alex". It's a very active area because it's a place of transhipment passengers and the most emblematic symbol of this place is the Fernsehturm, which is a television tower that can be seen almost from any part of the city because it's the tallest in all of the European Union. In fact, being able to see it helped us a lot by guiding us and taking the metro that you want to take in this zone.

The television tower of Alexanderplatz can be seen from almost any point.

In this urbanised square there are various pedestrian areas, as well as important buildings, leisure places and various shops.

Rotes Rathaus

It first, I didn't know what this building was, it was actually after our trip that I did some investigating, but I remember taking this photo of it due to its odd design.

This enormous, red building which is characterised by its giant clock is the Berlin town hall. This is where the mayor is found and it has that name thanks to its red façade, which is due to the multiple bricks used.

Nikolaikirche or Saint Nicholas Church

The immensely tall church as seen from below.

Another beauty that was affected by the Second World War but its almost total reconstruction is done so well that it still looks like it has its 800 years of antiquity, since it still has renaissance touches and Baroque touches. The reconstruction of this church was not so delayed like the previous one, since it only lasted 5 years.

The area that it's located in is also gorgeous because it seemed like I had gone through a time machine to go back to medieval Berlin thanks to its central-European style. The streets are completely pedestrian and the atmosphere is fairly calm, since we didn't see so many people walking around here. At the roundabout, there are restaurants which are a little more exclusive than a kebab shop or McDonalds and there are some places where you can do some souvenir shopping, which is exactly what we did.

Dinner and packing our bags

Finally, we ate dinner near the monument dedicated to the assassinated Jews in Europe. What did we eat? Well, some delicious hamburgers in a Chinese place that were quite tasty and cheap. From there, we returned to the flat to replace the coffee machine that we had burn almost together with the flat (You can read about that adventure in this post). The only other thing we had to do was rest from the long day we had and pack our bags, since the next day was the end of this marvellous adventure of almost 2 weeks before returning to Madrid, the city that was my home for six months. We only had a couple of days in Madrid and I was going to go back to Mexico, so there was a mix of emotions because saying goodbye to my friends started off in Berlin.

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