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places – Lens on Berlin

brick buildings, each concealing a web of small, interconnected editions in St. Georges, the city’s best second-hand bookshop.
courtyards — the Hackescher Höfe— which house hip Another popular culinary destination is The Bird: the house
designer stores and independent craft-makers, in a vibrant, expressly forbids you the use of cutlery to eat their classic
urban atmosphere. Heading towards Weinmasterstraße, burgers. To burn off the calories, there’s nothing better than
you have to choose: either loose yourself exploring the a walk to the Planetarium, a soviet architecture of perfect sci-
Scandinavian boutiques and concept stores (take your pick, fi spheric madness. Finally, in the grid of small side-streets
from Monky, Weekday and Acne, to Swedish wool specialist, intersecting the two main avenues (Schönhauser Allee e
Klippan) or explore the side-streets off Auguststraße. Here, Prenzlauer Allee), you can enjoy a glass of Tannenzäpfle (a
you’ll find the gallery-museum KunstWerke—which in May typical Black-Forrest beer) at Lass uns Freunde bleiben and
will host the biannual arts festival curated by DisMagazine— end the night at Visit Ma Tent, to sample their vast selection of
and the restaurant/ballroom Clärchen Ballhaus, where, every French spirits.
night after eleven o’clock in winter, you can dance in its 1920s In the south-east of Berlin we find two more iconic districts:
chandeliered Mirror Salon. Close-by, we have Do You Read Kreuzberg and Neukölln. To get there following our circular
Me? A veritable treasure trove for those with a passion for trajectory, we cross through Friedrichshain. Hated and
independent publishing (another great bookshop specialized shunned by Berlin’s new wave of foreign residents, F-hain
in art-books is Pro-QM, near the Volksbühne Theatre of Rosa- was the first area to be colonized by artists and students. It
Luxemburg Platz). is a chance to experience socialist brutalist architecture first-
Adjacent to the Mitte there are two districts that are hand, particularly in the giant boulevards of Karl-Marx Allee
architecturally similar but differ widely in terms of and Frankfurter Tor. Here, take a glimpse at the mahogany-
demographics. Taking as our point of reference the nearby lined shop windows of Sternberg Press. The little square of
Rosenthaler Platz: on the north-west we find Wedding, and Boxhanger Platz still has the power to evoke by-gone days and
on the east, the iconic Prenzlauerberg. You reach Wedding is close to the art gallery NOME Projects (in Dolziger St. 31). If
via the interminable Ackerstraße that starts off from Mitte’s you are already in the mood for a spot of urban grit, take a turn
restored altbauten, and walking past the Bernauerstraße (a for Treptower Park and have a look at the Soviet war memorial:
passage-way through the Berlin Wall, its memorial site being not that you could miss it, its scale is alarming even if you are
far more interesting than the crowded East Side Gallery). familiar with the Egyptian pyramids.
This traditionally working-class district is still home to a Once you reach Kreuzberg, you have several options: the
few gems of unspoilt period architecture. It is this unspoilt typical tourist hotspots, from the Warschauerstraße bridge
atmosphere that surrounds the former crematorium (Silent to Kottbusser Tor; or Kreuzkölln, the most pleasant and
Green Kulturquartier, Gerichtstraße 35), recently transformed diverse; lastly, the more “traditional” Kreuzberg, spread over
into a vibrant cultural center: the gardens and bistro perfectly the hill of Viktoria Park and the grown-up Bergmannkiez.
encapsulate this newfound city spirit, especially in springtime. It is worth a visit especially for the food, the organic
Coming back east, here we are in Prenzlauerberg, the first delicatessens of Marheineke Markthalle (the Greek moussaka
area in Berlin to truly experience the impact of gentrification. is a delight) and the best Korean food in Berlin, at Madang
Having cast off the monotonous gray of its socialist days, the (Gneusenauerstraße 8).
local buildings have been restored to the pale ice-cream hues From there, it is a pleasant fifteen-minute walk to Kreuzkölln,
they had in the Twenties, when the district was the night-life where you can browse in the Graefekiez, under the shady
center of the city. Prenzlauerberg is divided by three main trees that line Dieffenbachstraße or explore Kadò, a shop
arteries; the westernmost Kastanienallee leads up to the famous specializing in liquorice from all over the world. The
Bernauer Park. Avoid it on Sundays, it is much better to lie low Maybachufer is also very close, and the best time to visit
in one of the Oderbergerstraße bars sampling alpine cheeses is Friday morning, when the canal side hosts the bustling
for brunch. Once you reach the top, near the Ebeswalderstraße Turkish market: despite being a popular tourist destination, it
station, walk down, heading towards Kollwitzstraße. It is the still sells remarkably fresh produce, try the delicious herring
most striking street in the area even when it is crowded with sandwiches sold at the fish-stall.
baby strollers. This is the chance to have the perfect German Northside of the canal we find the better known side of
breakfast experience at Anna Blume or a Vietnamese dinner Kruezberg. If you enjoy smoking (Berlin bars are still a
at Si-An (their house-special is crispy duck with pineapple) smokers’ paradise) you can treat yourself to a glass of Efes in
in Wörtherstraße, and browse through old and rare English the Kotti Café (located in that architectural monstrosity that

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