Sibiu, the Transfagarsan…and Wild Bears!

Today I was in Sibiu, originally a Roman village called Cibinium, then becoming yet another Saxon town and later an administrative centre for the Austrian province of Transylvania under the Habsburgs. Sibiu is also called by its Saxon name of Hermannstadt, and signs in German are visible everywhere, even if the language is no longer spoken here. The city is also an artistic centre. In the 19^th century famous figures like Strauss, Brahms and Liszt performed here; today the city has become a sleepier backwater, but still hosts Romanian’s most important jazz festival.

Sibui — The elegant squares of Sibiu in the early morning

Sibiu has lots of beautiful buildings dating from different centuries and is a great place to simply stroll around, hopping from one outdoor café to another and occasionally visiting a pretty church – which is exactly what I did.

Sibiu Orthodox Cathedral — Outside and inside the orthodox church, Sibiu

After a relaxing day in Sibiu, it was time to head back to Bucharest. I chose to take the famous Transfagarsan Road, claimed by the UK TV show Top Gear to be the greatest drive in the world. The road snakes steeply up a mountain, with lots of hairpin bends. It might be a great place for testing out a sports car, but in my opinion, it is far from being the world’s most scenic or most difficult route. The views were impressive, but I have seen better in the Central Asia, Alps, the US or Scotland.

After Top Gear’s endorsement, the Transfagarsan road became very popular; fortunately, I got there early and was visiting outside of the main tourist season, but there was still a steady stream of traffic. This included a few idiots in supercar Porches and Lamborghinis, who overtook on blind corners. The best view of the road is from the top, where nearly all the hairpins can be seen at once, but the parking area there was overflowing so I settled for photos I had taken further down.

Transfagarsan Scenery — More pretty scenery

Transfagarsan Hairpin Bends — Transfagarsan Hairpin bends

Descending back down from the mountain, the road plunged into a dense forest beside a large lake. I was driving along carefully when suddenly I had a very pleasant surprise – in a lay-by there was a young, friendly fellow bear – one of roughly 9,000 that live in the wild in Romania. I pulled over; he was unperturbed by my presence and let me stop to take photos from a few metres away (from the safety of my car – unlike teddies, wild bears can be unpredictable).

A few kilometres further along the road, I met another bear. He was older and looked rather tired and sad. Maybe he would be a good candidate for the “Libearty Sanctuary”…..

Meeting fellow bears in the wild more than made up for the slight disappointment of the Transfagarsan road, and after leaving the mountains I drove the remaining rather dull three hour stretch to Bucharest in excellent spirits.

Next Post: Bucharest

Previous Post: Sighisoara and Alba Iulia

11th September 2024 3

Sighisoara and Alba Iulia

I arrived at my destination – Sighisoara – in the evening, and immediately went out for dinner. On the way back to my hotel I admired the spectacular old town, sitting on top of a steep hill.

The next day I had breakfast in the small courtyard of my hotel with a great view of the castle, before setting off to explore.

Sighisoara was – inevitably – founded by Saxon settlers in the 12th century and grew to become an important trade centre in the Middle Ages. Today it is one of the best preserved and prettiest fortified towns in the world and is very popular with Romanian tourists in the summer. I climbed up some steep steps to the old town and spent a very pleasant morning strolling around and taking in the relaxed atmosphere.

A peaceful square in the Sighisoara backstreets

One curious sight was a long, covered staircase, built in 1652, to give children protection on their walk to the school right on top of the hill.

The school still functions to this day. I ended my tour at the central square, where, of course, I had coffee at one of the cafés.

…which is hard to photo without other tourists getting in the way!

It was time to move on. I checked out of my hotel and continued driving west. My first stop was yet another Saxon village, called Biertan, which of course had a fortified church.

One original feature of the church was a prison for unhappy couples. The local priest kept squabbling spouses locked up there in a small room, until they resolved their differences.

A prison for unhappy couples, Biertan Church

From Biertan I drove to the city of Alba Iulia in the centre of Romania. This had been the largest Roman settlement in the Dacian province of their empire, and housed an important fort, some of whose ruins are still visible. Centuries later, the city was a major hub of the eastern part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, whose rulers built the impressive citadel that is the main tourist attraction of today.

A defensive gate at the entrance to the citadel of Alba Iulia

Later, churches and monuments were added inside the defensive walls. At the end of the first world war, the citadel was where the union of Transylvania with the rest of Romania was signed, creating the modern-day Romanian state, and a few years later in 1922 Ferdinand and Maria were crowned here as king and queen of all Romania in the newly constructed Coronation Cathedral.

I found Alba Iulia to be a pleasant change to visiting Transylvania’s charming Saxon villages and towns, and to be well worth the ninety minutes detour to get there. My next destination was yet another former Saxon stronghold, the city of Sibiu – to be covered in tomorrow’s blog.

Next Post: Sibiu, the Transfagarsan…and Wild Bears!

Previous Post: Transylvania – Bears and Churches!

10th September 2024 4

Transylvania – Libearty Bear Sanctuary, Harman, Viscri and Saschiz

My first stop today was to a very novel tourist attraction, and a must-see for any teddy bear – the Libearty (sic) Bear Sanctuary. The people here take in bears kept in appalling conditions in circuses or as pets and give them the chance to end their years in large, forested enclosures where they are cared for and fed (these bears would be too traumatised to survive if released back into the wild). Many of their 145 guests come from Romania, but some come from further afield – even from places as far away as the USA.

It was heartwarming to see some of my fellow species, even if the stories of what they endured in captivity were very sad. One of the residents spends their time walking around in circles, ignoring the open space of her enclosure – as she had been forced to do in the circus. Another had been blinded, his claws removed and then regularly drugged with beer, to make him passively accept having his picture taken with tourists outside a castle. Fortunately, it is now illegal to use bears in this way in Romania.

Libearty provides happy endings to sad stories

My next destination was a short drive away – the fortified church of Harman. This was built in 1240 by Transylvanian Saxons, people of German origin who were encouraged by the then Hungarian rulers of the area (Transylvania only became Romanian after the end of the first world war) to settle here to help protect the eastern border of their kingdom. Traces of the Saxon village have long since disappeared from the now Romanian town of Harman, but the church remains and deserves its reputation as one of the most beautiful of its kind.

Unlike Bran castle, there were very few visitors to Harman, and I had the church almost to myself. The man at the ticket office advised me to be careful of the steps. I was a little surprised by this until I saw the ladder/staircase leading up to the bell tower, which was steep, wobbly and crooked. I made the risky ascent, only to find that the views from the top were very limited. Fortunately, the parts of the complex which were accessible at ground level more than made up for this disappointment.

After Harman, my exploration of the Saxon influence in Transylvania continued with a visit to the village of Viscri, which felt like it had remained frozen in time since the Middle Ages. Unlike Harman, where a modern town had sprung up around the old church, here development had stopped a long time ago, leaving only the original houses built by the early Saxon settlers. Many of the original families had moved out – the region saw mass emigration back to Germany after the fall of the Iron Curtain – but the village remained well maintained, and some new Romanian arrivals had opened small cafés and craft shops. One notable new owner is King Charles III of Great Britain, who likes Transylvania so much that he has bought two properties there, one of which is at Viscri.

After strolling through the peaceful village, I headed for the fortified church, whose bell tower offered much better views (and a safer set of stairs) than the one at Harman. I stayed there for a while enjoying a gentle breeze.

From Viscri I drove towards Sighisoara (subject of tomorrow’s blog), where I had booked a hotel for the night. On the way, I passed through another charming Saxon town called Saschiz, whose fortified church was supplemented by a protective fortress. In total there are seven Saxon towns and around 250 Saxon villages in Transylvania. It would have been possible to spend my entire holiday visiting them, but Romania has many more attractions to offer.

Next Post: Sighisoara and Alba Iulia

Previous Post: Brasov and Bran Castle

9th September 2024 5

Romania Day 1 – Brasov and Bran Castle

The bear is back!

This time, my trip is to Romania in Eastern Europe, a little-known destination for most travellers, famous mostly for Dracula, Transylvania and spooky castles. After a short overnight in the capital Bucharest (more about this in a later post) I drove north by hired car to the city of Brasov, to find an interesting warning sign on the street outside of my Airbnb flat. It appears that bears are common in Romania but sadly not welcomed by the human population. Maybe I will be lucky enough to meet one of my fellow species!

My first morning was spent visiting the city, which sits in a valley surrounded by steep green mountains, and which has a very pleasant historic centre with lots of outdoor cafés.

Having explored Brasov itself, I set off to visit a remote Romanian village, which my guidebook said was still locked in the past, with horse drawn carriages and people in traditional costume. I found it that had now become a place for the second homes of people earning their living in Bucharest. BMWs were more common than horses. This was to be a recurrent theme of my trip – the parts of Romania I visited were much more modern and developed than I had expected. I got over the slight disappointment of not seeing a traditional village and instead made a pleasant walk through some pretty Transylvanian countryside.

Next, I headed on to the town of Bran, home to Romania’s most visited castle. Although heavily marketed as “Dracula’s castle”, Vlad Tepes (the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s vampiric count) probably never lived here. It was originally built in the 14^th century by Saxon knights who had been invited by the local rulers to settle in the area and build protective fortifications. For over five hundred years the castle served a purely military purpose until it became a royal residence in 1920 and the favourite home for Queen Marie, who had the place extensively renovated. Despite the lack of a historical link to the real Dracula, Bran Castle certainly looks the part from the outside, and would not be out of place in a vampire movie. Inside, it was a pleasant – if crowded – place to visit, with lots of elegant towers surrounding a quaint interior courtyard.

Bran castle – from the outside, imposing and spooky….

From Bran, I returned to Brasov to enjoy dinner on the terrace of my flat, which was surprisingly well-appointed and had a terrace overlooking the town. I tried some rather good Romanian wine with dinner as I watched the sunset. Good accommodation, good food, good wine……I like Romania already even if it is not the wild frontier destination I had been expecting.

Next Post: Transylvania – Libearty Bear Sanctuary, Harman, Viscri and Saschiz

9th September 2024 3

Warsaw and its turbulent past

The final leg of this trip was a short visit to Warsaw, a further 2 hours away by train. The city was founded in 1300 and became Poland’s capital in 1596. Over the next centuries, it had more than its fair share of wars, plagues and famines. From 1795 until the end of the WW I, it spent a prolonged period as a provincial city in the Russian empire, during the time when Russia and Prussia had decided to divide Poland amongst themselves. Warsaw’s biggest suffering however came during WW II, when it was occupied by the Nazis. First its Jewish population was confined to a cramped ghetto, and then completely exterminated. Later, as Soviet troops advanced towards the city in 1944, the Polish resistance rose up against the German occupiers. Stalin cynically ordered his army not to help, and after a sixty-three day battle the uprising was brutally repressed. Hitler ordered the systematic destruction of the city as revenge, and by the end of the war Warsaw had lost 85% of its buildings had a similar proportion of its population. Given its turbulent past, I had expected Warsaw to be rather grim and grey. But once again, Poland confounded my preconceptions. As I emerged from the train station, I saw a clean, well-organised and modern city.

I found my hotel and set off to explore. First on my list was the old town, which was reconstructed to be exactly as it was before the war, in a process involving meticulous research and then a building programme that lasted until the 1960s. The result is amazingly successful, and the old town today looks like much like the centre of the many other beautiful Polish cities that were fortunate enough to avoid Warsaw’s fate.

Entering the Warsaw Old Town, near the castle

The rebuilding project including recreating the Royal Castle, which I of course visited.

A reception room in Warsaw’s Royal Castle

Next I strolled around the old town, through narrow streets….

…to the inevitable market square. On the square is the interesting Museum of Warsaw, which chronicles the city’s remarkable and tragic history.

Next I discovered the old town’s fortifications.

Polish cities have lots of monuments to writers, statesmen and artists who were unknown to me. I was happy to finally stumble across a statue of someone that I did recognise.

I strolled away from the old town to explore different parts of the city. On the way I came across this marker for the former wall of the Nazi’s ghetto for the Jews.

Marking the boundary of Warsaw’s WWII Ghetto

Next I found this pretty palace, one of many in Warsaw, which is now a library..

I had dinner in one of Warsaw’s many up-market restaurants. The next day I had time to make two more quick visits before my flight – the first to the beautiful Wilanow Palace, a short bus ride to the south of the city. It was built between 1677 and 1696 for King Jan III and was later a residence for various aristocratic Polish families, most notably the Potockis. Remarkably, the palace survived Warsaw’s various crises intact (although it was damaged during WW II) and it remains one of the finest examples of baroque art in the world.

One of the oriental rooms in the Wilanow Palace

Apart from suitably impressive reception rooms, the palace also houses an art museum. I was the only person there – I think the other visitors failed to find the rather small door leading to the gallery. On the approach to the museum there was a display of empty frames, symbolising the pictures taken by the Germans or Russians during the war and so far not returned. I ended my visit with a stroll around the palace’s park.

The Wilanow palace also has a pleasant park.

My final visit of this trip was to the Palace of Culture and Science, right in the centre near the main train station. This was built in the 1950s as a “gift” from the Soviet Union to Poland and when completed was the eighth tallest building in the world. It closely resembles the “seven sisters” buildings commissioned by Stalin for Moscow, and for many years dominated the Warsaw skyline in much the same way that Russia dominated Poland.

The imposing Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw

The palace is a maze of buildings including concert halls, cinemas and a theatre but the tower is its most popular part and is Warsaw’s most-visited tourist attraction.

The view from the top of the Palace of Culture and Science

I took the fast lift to the top, admired the views and enjoyed the cool breeze blowing through the observation platform. It was a good way to end my second visit to Poland, a country that I am getting to like a lot. Stay tuned (i.e. subscribe!) for my next trips – Romania in September, and then Japan over October and November!

Previous Post: Torin

27th July 2024 3

Torun, a little-known highlight of Poland

My next destination was Torun, an ancient city first settled in the 8^th century, which became a base for Teutonic Knights in 1233 and a later a major trading hub and member of the Hanseatic League. Today it is a small place with a population of only 200,000. Even though it is a UNESCO listed world heritage site, few people seem to have heard of it and it attracts many fewer tourists than, say, Krakow. So much the better for me, for I was able to visit at a relaxed pace without crowds. My first view of the city and its ancient walls was as I crossed the bridge from the train station over the Vistula river, ….

Torun on the Vistula — Torun and the Vistula river

A first stroll through town revealed Torun’s charms. First, there was the inevitable market square and town hall…..

….with a tower offering views of the city….

….and lots of cafés. I treated myself to this rather strange coffee, topped with cream, then burnt like a crème brulée, and sprinkled with small marshmallows. Yum.

Mid-morning coffee stop in Torun’s square

Torun has several museums. The town hall itself had an interesting art collection, whilst a very pretty building on the market square called the “House Under the Sun” had a collection of far eastern art. Probably the most famous museum though is the place where the polymath Nicolas Copernicus was born and spent the early years of his life. Copernicus changed the thinking of the world through his major work, published close to his death in 1543, devoted to the then revolutionary idea that the earth rotated around the sun. The museum covered the everyday of the Copernicus family (his father being a merchant) and Nicolas’ works and their reception (his ideas were slow to take on, and his book was banned by the church some sixty years after it was first printed).

After educating myself about Copernicus I visited the final main attraction in Torun – the ruined castle of Teutonic knights, an extensive European religious and military order who were involved in protecting the Catholic Church’s interests and went on crusades to the Holy Land and Eastern Europe. The knights based in Torun also imposed restrictions and taxes on the city, which annoyed the townspeople so much that one night they stormed the castle and then set about dismantling it.

The ruins of the castle of the Teutonic Knights

After visiting the castle, I had completed all the “must-see” sights in Torun and spent my time pleasantly wandering the streets. I found a prison, bizarrely located in the centre of town….

Not the greatest advert for the Gotyk Hotel

…..an unusual parking sign…..

….and the leaning tower in the city walls, reputedly built by one of the Teutonic Knights.

Torun is famed as a centre for production of gingerbread, and there were shops everywhere selling the stuff, and even two museums devoted to it. I ended my day – as so often in Poland – at a pleasant pavement café. This one brewed its own craft beers, including one which was flavoured with gingerbread. It turned out to contain 11% alcohol, which is why I am slightly unsteady on my paws in this picture.

And Torun’s leaning teddy. 11% by volume…almost the same as wine

Next Post- Warsaw

Previous Post – Poznan

26th July 2024 6

Poznan in Poland – a pleasant surprise

Today I took the S-Bahn to the Hauptbahnhof to make the trip east to Poznan in Poland, a trip of about two and half hours. Poznan is the country’s fifth biggest city, and one of its oldest – it was once one of the four historic capitals of medieval Poland. A few dejected English football fans joined me on the train, having seen their team lose the final of the European Championship the night beforehand – they were no doubt heading for Poznan’s airport, which has direct flights to London. On my trip to the south of Poland last year I had been surprised that the country was very clean, green and looked affluent – quite different to the post-industrial landscape of decay that I had expected. I thought that maybe this time, travelling in the north, I would see a different side to the country – but no, from the train I saw nothing but pleasant green fields and on arrival, Poznan’s station was much more modern and cleaner than Berlin’s.

I checked into my hotel, had a quick snooze to avoid the worst of the afternoon heat (it was finally hot and sunny) before walking through town to visit the impressive cathedral to the east of the city.

Near the cathedral was a clever trompe l’oeil mural occupying the entire side of a house

I strolled back to the old town and visited a magnificent baroque church, the Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help, which is one of the most beautiful I had ever seen.

Outside and Inside Poznan’s beautiful basilica

The centre of many Polish cities is the old market square, and Poznan had a very photogenic one, with a particularly beautiful town hall. The latter was first built in 1253, rebuilt in its current style in the 16th century, badly damaged during the second world war and reconstructed in the 1950s. Except for a few scattered groups of England fans (who were much quieter than they had been in Berlin!) there were almost no tourists, no tacky souvenir shops and no money changers.

Poznan’s market square and town hall in the afternoon

After coffee on the square, I continued my exploration. On first appearances, the centre of town appeared small, and I thought I would soon run out of things to do. But the more I walked, the more interesting things I found – old buildings, monuments, small parks, little squares, and lots more beautiful churches.

A monument to the victims of the 1956 anti-soviet uprising

I also stumbled upon the “Imperial castle”, built under German occupation for Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany in 1910, but which is now part of Poznan’s university and was where Polish mathematicians first started working to break the German Army’s Enigma code.

I ended up enjoying the early evening sun in a pleasant park with a few locals….

….before having dinner on the square and then a cocktail in one of the many of busy bars in a nearby street – many students study in Poznan, and the nightlife scene reflects this.

The next morning I had a couple of hours to continue exploring before my train at noon. I revisited the market square to take pictures without any other people around…

…..and then found that the old “Royal” castle was open and took the lift to the top of its tower for a last view of the city. Unlike the Imperial Castle, this one was built for a Polish king, and originally dates from the 13th century. Most of what you can see today is reconstructed, after heavy damage suffered during the second world war.

Poznan’s “Royal” Castle, largely reconstructed

I had been very impressed by Poznan – a pretty, clean place with lots of things to do. And like everything else in Poland, amazingly cheap. I think I will be back some time on the direct flight from London, but for now my next destination was the ancient town of Torun, another two hours’ train ride further east.

Next post – Torun

Previous post – East Berlin

25th July 2024 4

East Berlin and the East Side Gallery

Today was my last full day in Berlin and I used it to explore the city’s eastern part. I hopped on the S-Bahn to the Ostbahnhof and made the short walk to see a roughly 1.3km section of the former Berlin Wall. Its western side is covered with uninteresting crude street graffiti – just like it was when it functioned to imprison the citizens of East Berlin. In contrast, its eastern side is now the world’s longest open-air art gallery – the East Side Gallery. 128 artists from around the world started painting immediately after the wall fell in 1989, and their work has been preserved and occasionally repainted ever since.

The gallery has about 100 modern art paintings, often on topical political themes of the time. Some have become famous, such as Honecker and Brezhnev’s socialist kiss, which was so popular it was impossible to photograph without a fellow tourist posing for a picture….

This famous East Side Gallery picture is impossible to photograph without people getting in the way…

I had more luck with this well-known picture of an East German Trabant car breaking through the wall………

….and this painting of hands…….

I continued my stroll east and found that the city began to resemble Moscow, with the style of its architecture and gas pipes sticking out of the ground.

Next, my walk took me to the RAW area – formerly a site for repairing trains, but now a centre of post-industrial Berlin counterculture, with galleries, clubs, street food and skateboarding arenas. It was a bit like Camden market in London, only less commercial. I felt a little out of place as I was by far the oldest visitor (of course I was also the only bear, but I have got used to that).

From RAW I headed north to an area where the communist East German government had constructed a long, broad avenue lined with tall buildings in an attempt to show off to the west – Frankfurter and Karl Marx Allees. I found the architecture interesting rather than spectacular – it reminded me of the great Moscow streets like Tverskaya, only rather less impressive. I found myself almost alone except for small groups of Spanish football fans – this part of the city does not attract many tourists.

Frankfurter Allee and Spanish football fans

Feeling underwhelmed by the communists’ architectural efforts, I continued to the very heart of Berlin to the city’s last unmissable sight – the Brandenburg Gate, a triumphal arch built over 1788-1791 on the orders of….yes you guessed it…..Frederik II. Now there was a king who knew how to build impressive monuments!

The symbol of Berlin – the Brandenburg Gate (courtesy Nino Keller/Pexels)

Next, I headed home on the U-Bahn. My line continued all the way to the Olympic Stadium, where the finals of the European Football Championships were being held that evening, so I shared the train with lots of football supporters. Most were English and sang happily and noisily. The few Spanish fans sat quietly in their seats, trying not to draw attention to themselves. I was relieved to get off at Charlottenburg and leave the noise behind, and to watch the match over dinner with friends on television rather than at the stadium. We ate pizza and the traditional German football food – currywurst and chips. Tomorrow is farewell to Berlin as I head on to Poland.

Next Post – Poznan (Poland)

Previous Post- Potsdam

24th July 2024 4

Potsdam – an exceptional day out from Berlin

Today I went to Potsdam, a town to the west of Berlin with an amazing collection of things to visit. My first destination was the Neues Palais, a huge palace commissioned in 1764 by King Frederik II of Prussia and completed in only five years. It was built to house and entertain visiting dignitaries – although it had rooms for Frederik, he rarely stayed there, preferring to return to his favourite Sans Souci residence a short distance away (covered later in this post). The colossal Neues Palais was partly modelled on Versailles and built to impress……..which it certainly does.

Views of the colossal Neues Palais, Potsdam

The entrance to the Neues Palais, Potsdam

I could only visit as part of a guided tour, which was conducted only in German. They gave foreign visitors an audio guide, but from the reactions of the local visitors, its descriptions were much shorter and less amusing than the guide’s anecdotes. All the same, no explanation was needed to be taken aback by the magnificent rooms – first an unusual, sea-shell themed Grotto Hall……

…and then a bit later the amazing Marble Hall located directly above the grotto.

Frederik was actively involved in designing the Neues Palais and he insisted that no extra supporting pillars be added to the grotto underneath to carry the huge weight of the Marble Hall. This requirement led almost immediately to structural problems which engineers have wrestled with over the centuries.

From the Neues Palais I headed through an attractive park back into the town of Potsdam. On the way I stumbled across the incredibly cute Chinese House.

I grabbed some lunch in Potsdam, a pretty town, before heading to the Barberini Museum, housed in a baroque palace also built by Frederik II. It had both an impressive temporary Modigliani exhibition and an amazing permanent collection of impressionist paintings, assembled quite recently by Hasso Plattner, billionaire founder of the SAP software company and patron of the arts.

Part of Hasso Plattner’s collection of impressionists in the Barberini Museum

After a couple of hours in the museum I had to hurry back towards the royal park to visit Potsdam’s main attraction – Sans Souci Palace.

Sans Souci – the pinnacle of baroque taste

This is a much more modest construction than the Neues Palais, and Frederik much preferred to spend his time in this more intimate and relaxing residence, whose name means “without worry” in English. Sans Souci is exquisite and tasteful, and if I had the choice, I would probably agree with Frederik and choose it as my home. However, although it is the best known and most popular attraction in Potsdam, I would rate it as the least interesting tourist experience of a day that had so many highlights. Entry is by timed slot, and since space inside is limited, you join a continuous dense stream of fellow tourists, all attentively listening to their audioguides.

It felt rather mechanical and cramped compared to our tour around the vast spaces of the Neues Palais. After my visit I had time to stroll around the park and enjoy the gardens and glimpses of yet more huge royal edifices. The early evening was enhanced by the fact that the sun had finally emerged.

I rounded they day off with dinner with my friends at a restaurant on the banks of the nearby Wannsee lake – a perfect way to end an exceptional day.

Next Post – East Berlin

Previous Post – Berlin

23rd July 2024 4

The Bear is Back! in Berlin and Museum Island

The Bear is Back! And what better place to start a new trip than Berlin, a city that has a bear as its symbol.

The author with the coat of arms of Berlin

I am here for two reasons – firstly to visit friends, and secondly on a long-term project to completely cross the earth in multiple trips by land or by boat, without using a plane. I have already crossed Russia by train, the USA by bus and most of Europe by car or rail. I am missing a final section through Eastern Europe, either from Krakow to Kiev (which looks difficult for the moment) or from Berlin to Kaunas in Lithuania. So, after Berlin my trip will carry on through Poland to Warsaw covering about half of the missing section.

Museum Island – one of Berlin’s highlights

On this trip I was also hoping to get some much-needed sun after the wettest, coldest start to a summer in London that anyone can remember. Sure enough, I arrived in Berlin’s new Brandenburg airport (finally complete years late and well over budget) in bright sunshine in the late afternoon and found my flat in the west of the city without trouble. Imagine my disappointment when, contrary to the forecast, I woke up the next morning to hear heavy rain beating against the windows.

I had a visit of the Reichstag terrace booked for the morning, but in view of the weather changed my plans and started with stroll around town, including Checkpoint Charlie, the main point of entry or exit between the west and east parts of the city during the period when the city was partitioned by the Berlin Wall. I was last here in 1985 when I made the crossing to the east and it was a functioning US/Soviet checkpoint. Today it is a popular tourist destination with a small booth remaining from the US side, an interesting display about the history of the Wall, and lots of tacky tourist shops.

From Checkpoint Charlie, I headed east to Museum Island, home to some of Europe’s best museums. Unfortunately, the most famous of them all, the Pergamon, had recently closed for major repairs and is scheduled to reopen in 2028 (but given Germany’s record for public construction projects, don’t hold your breath). But there was still plenty of choice. It had stopped raining, so first I visit Berlin’s impressive cathedral (Dom) with its cavernous interior and then climbed the tower for the good views from its roof.

The view from the roof of the Dom on a rainy day

Next, I visited the Neues Museum, built in the middle of the 19^th century, but looking a lot older, having been damaged by bombs in the second world war and then neglected during communist rule. It was brilliantly restored after reunification – in many of the rooms the original brickwork is left exposed, giving an old, decaying atmosphere that I found was a great way to present the exhibits. Highlights included a famous bust of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti (no photos allowed here!), a ceremonial gold hat from the bronze age which made me think of Hogwart’s sorting hat in the Harry Potter books, and parts of the treasure of Troy found by the enterprising German business and amateur archaeologist Schliemann.

The hat from Hogwarts? – Neues Palace, Berlin

After a wonderful couple of hours wandering around, I visited the nearby Altes Museum, built slightly earlier and looking much older from the outside, but modern on the inside with bright white walls. Its collection is not quite as good as its neighbour’s, but it does have some great pieces like this statue of a roman actor.

Originally I had planned to visit one more attraction on the island, the Alte Nationalgalerie, but there was long queue outside even for people who already had tickets. I didn’t fancy waiting for an hour in the rain, so headed home to relax. I had dinner with old friends who live in the Charlottenburg area of western Berlin. During our meal it had finally stopped raining, so afterwards we strolled around to explore the area, which had an interesting mix of architecture………

Post-industrial architecture in Charlottenburg, Berlin

….and was also home to Charlottenburg Palace, whose construction was started around 1700 by Frederick I, King of Prussia and continued through the first half of the 18^th century until it became one of the biggest palaces in Europe. I could only admire the building from the outside but did not mind, since on the next day I planned to visit an even more impressive place…….

Next Post – Potsdam

22nd July 2024 2