Berlin is a unique mix of breathtaking scenery and modern culture in the midst of major change. As Germany’s largest city, Berlin, combines a colourful history, dramatic architecture, green parklands for relaxing and exploring,with hostels, backpackers near to all Berlin has to offer and a huge array of shops, galleries and museums. Since the Berlin wall came down in 1989 Budget backpackers and hostels have sprung up everywhere and Berlin has become Europe’s most dynamic and happening city. However, developments have been surprisingly complex and diverse. Streets that had been divided by the Berlin Wall were opened again, train lines were brought together, and telephone cables patched up, the water and electricity supply linked together.
In the 17years since reunification, Potsdamer Platz, in Berlin which had become a dreary wasteland, was rebuilt with a massive investment programme and has become a new urban centre of the 21st century. Friedrichstraße has developed into a shopping precinct comparable to Kurfürstendamm, and a government quarter has emerged that has transformed the area between the Reichstag and Schlossplatz into Berlin’s “living room” once again.Backpackers and hostel owners love the new Berlin.
Between Hackesche Höfe and the New Synagogue a quarter has grown up, an area full of Jewish symbolism and meaning, that is unparalleled in postwar Germany.
Berlin Flag
The golden dome of the New Synagogue is now one of the city’s landmarks again. In the metropolis on the Spree once enclosed by the Berlin Wall, in the legendary RIAS radio programme from “the city at the front”, “The Islander”, they used to say that the island of Berlin might become a mainland once again. On Berlin’s 750th birthday in 1987 people said: “One city, two worlds”. Today you could say “one city, many worlds” - from the local neighbourhood in Neukölln to the shopping precincts at Potsdamer Platz, from the patterns of Jewish life in Mitte to the flair of a metropolitan city around the House of World Cultures, from the museum metropolis between Museum Island, Charlottenburg Palace, the Cultural Forum and the museum world beyond Europe in Dahlem, right up to the seat of government. Just like when it was founded in 1237, Berlin’s main function is as a bridgehead to the east. It is, and remains, the most western city in the east and the most eastern city in the west. Berlin is a city that has something to offer everyone with many festivals and parades throughout the year and events for every day of the week – the city of Berlin just rocks!
Berlin New Synagoge
Berlin is becoming known as a ‘young people’s city’ due to all the new restaurants, bars and clubs that have opened since the wall came down in 1989. Berlin is a city that has something to offer everyone with many festivals and parades throughout the year and events for every day of the week – this city just loves to celebrate!
