Magical Berlin – Where East Meets West

Brandenburg Gate - Berlin Germany

Berlin, the capital city of Germany is the biggest city in the country. It is most famous for its historical places, nightlife, cafes, clubs, bars, museums, palaces, and further sightseeing options.

After the fall of the Berlin War, the city has become a genuine melting pot as far as culture is concerned. It has become a place where all types of art, music, and fashion come together.

The city has numerous museums. Museums managed by the government do not need to be paid for to enter four hours prior to their shutting down each Thursday, and there is also the three day Museum Pass which lets visitors have admission to about 70 museums.

Museumsinsel, also known as Museum Island is famous for housing the Pergamon Museum which has a huge compilation of Greek and Islamic art. Additional museums on the island consist of the Altes Museum with Egyptian collections, the Alte National galleries with mostly German collections, and the Bode Museum with Byzantine art.

You can discover a lot of museums that cover the history of the country, particularly the Holocaust. In addition, Berlin is one of those few cities that do not attempt to conceal the negative sides of its history. You can view remnants of the Berlin Wall as well as Jewish museums that cover the Holocaust.

The Deutches Historisches Museum has an enormous assortment of German history items covering all ages. This museum is extremely huge, so make sure you have sufficient stamina to spend hours looking at the whole thing. The Judisches Museum is the Jewish museum. There are many historical items about Jews in Germany in this museum. In addition there is a Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe which covers one entire block. There is an underground museum with information concerning the Holocaust. This is one of the most visited as well as most striking museums in Berlin.

The Berlin Wall may not be there anymore, but a portion of it is still visible along the river. This has been preserved as a gallery, and there are very nice murals on it. There is also a Berlin War Memorial for those that died crossing the wall. There is a viewing platform that lets you imagine exactly what it must have been like when the wall was still in place. Checkpoint Charlie used to be a crossing point between the two sides of Germany, and is also well worth a visit.

The Tempelhof airport is the airport that was used for the duration of the Berlin Airlift in 1948. There is now a memorial here to remember the airlifts around the blockade. This airport has also been featured in numerous films, and has a matchless architecture. With its countless halls and buildings, it was built to become an entry point to Europe, and is still one of the most enormous buildings in the world.

Berlin is an amazing city to see for tourists, and if you can only go to one city in Germany then you should go to Berlin. Its history will help you connect to it, and you will be haunted the rest of your life by many of the historic sites you see here.  Author: Robert M Freeman

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