Berlin and Prague are two of the most beautiful capital cities in Europe. They are both located in Central Europe, where Berlin is capital of Germany and Prague is capital of Czech Republic. Czech Republic is located in the South East boarder of Germany. My original plan was to visit only Berlin and while we were there, my husband surprised me with a trip to Prague and then we stopped in Dresden. Therefore, this was a very spontaneous trip as only Berlin was planned.
Berlin and Prague are part of the European Union and visitors require to consult their travel requirements as some countries can get a visa on entry and others required to apply for a Schengen Visa. Schengen visa is an EU passport-free zone which covers most of the European countries and allows people to travel within the area for up to 90 days. Therefore, if you required a Schengen visa apply with time as all travel papers required a lot of time and effort from the beginning.
Berlin is one of those cities that you read a lot during school years due to the conflicts but my interest has always been the science aspects. Berlin is the largest city of Germany in area and population. Berlin has a very long heritage starting on the 13th century and has a multicultural influence. Berlin is one of those cities that has changed with time. Berlin was formed on 1197, but the central Berlin was formed in 1920 when Spandau and Kopenick areas were joined.
Prague for me was one of those cities that you see on the map just because is next to Berlin, however, it is a jewel of city. Prague is the largest city of Czech Republic and was the historical capital of Kingdom of Bohemia. Prague was founded in the 7th century and has a multicultural influence from Romanesque, gothic, renaissance and baroque eras. In 1992, UNESCO classified the centre of Prague as a World Heritage Sites and most sights are within working distance.
Dresden is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and the fourth largest area of German. Dresden has a long history as the royal residence of the Kings of Saxony and is known as a Jewel Box due to its baroque and rococo styles. Dresden was found in the 12th century.
As part of my research, I check out the most seen places of the cities, however, in this case my only plan for Berlin was to visit the Wall and other places related with Second World War. The research for Prague and Dresden was not in my plan and for those cities we picked a map and started at the city centre. The currencies for the European trip were the euro for Germany and the Czech crown for the Czech Republic. In any case, it is recommended to exchange at the airport just after landing, as who has the time to search for it. My adventure started on Sunday 18th November 2018.
On Day 1, we left London and took a direct flight from Heathrow and arrived to Berlin Airport on the evening. We decided to rest before we went to pick up our rental car and drove towards the hotel. We picked a nice hotel with a parking spot and after checking in, we picked a restaurant within walking distance from the hotel to have dinner. We had a nice and relaxing candle light dinner and after dessert, we returned to the hotel. My husband told me that we were taking the car and drove to Prague the next day.
On Day 2, after a nice breakfast at the hotel. We packed our bags and drove to Prague. The drive to Prague was around four hours, therefore midway we stopped for lunch. After arriving to Prague, we went to the hotel to park the car and then check in. After checking in, we decided to take a night tour to the city centre and we walked all the way there without getting lost.
On our way to the city centre, we did a lot of window shopping and then we bought all the souvenirs for our families and continued our walked to the Old Town Square. Once we arrived to the Old Town Square, we decided to sit in a lovely restaurant to have dinner and a nice glass of wine. After dinner, we decided to see the sights and we walked to the astronomical clock.
The astronomical clock (Orloj) is a medieval timepiece located in the south wall on the façade of the old town hall which dates from 1410. The clock has three parts which are the astronomical dial which depicts various astronomical details, the walk of the apostles which is hourly, and the calendar dial which depict the months. These parts were added at different stages and it was severely damaged on 7th May 1945 when the Nazis fired at the Old Town Square. The clock has undergone several renovations following the reconstruction of the Old Town Tower.
Once we arrived to the astronomical clock, I took a lot of photographs as it was an amazing mechanical clock and one of its kind. However, we arrived before the hour to see the walk of the apostles and decided to find a coffee shop while waiting for the parade. Around 15 minutes before the walk of the apostles, the crowd started to gather and we decided to wait until the last minute to see the show. The show was amazing and worth of the wait.
After the walk of the apostle, we decided to continue walking and found the HRC shop and after a little retail therapy. We decided to return to the hotel so we called a cab. After arriving to the hotel, we made preparation for the next day and booked two tickets for the Prague tour bus for the following day.
On Day 3, after an amazing breakfast at the hotel and checking out, we left our bags at the concierge and made our way to the bus stop. We decided to take an all-day tour around Prague as it has two routes.
The bus that we took was the city sightseeing tour because it had a stop next to the hotel and made the most sense. We took the red route, our plan is usually having a full round and then if anything looks good to drop later, however, it was our last day and we needed to cover all the city before leaving. Therefore, we only stopped at Café Savoy to have lunch.
Café Savoy is a nice restaurant with a menu depicting very tradition Czech food. We enjoyed our nice lunch and after dessert, we took some pictures of the Legion Bridge (Most Legii) which was nearby. After this nice stop, we decided to change to the blue route which stops in at the Old Town Square.
We decided to take the full circle with the blue tour and we finally dropped at the Dancing House to have our final change to the red tour towards the hotel. The Dancing House (Tančící dům) which is a curving modern office block was designed by architect Frank Gehry. However, we only stopped to change buses and when it started raining, we waited at the lobby of the building.
After an amazing long day of visiting all the sights in Prague. We took the bus back to the hotel and made arrangements for our way back to Berlin. We returned to the hotel and had a nice break before making our way to Berlin.
However, on our way to Berlin we saw that detour for Dresden and we made the spot decision to stop and followed the directions towards the Dresden Castle. We managed to reach as close as possible to the castle, we found a parking lot and then we walked towards the castle.
On our way to the Castle, we stopped at a hotel to pick a city map and then continued with our night tour. Our first stopped was the Fürstenzug.
Fürstenzug was painted between 1871 and 1876, and between 1904 and 1907 it was replaced by Meissen porcelain tiles. The mural is 101.9m long and 10.5m high with each square tile measuring 20.5cm and it is located on the outer wall of the stables (Stallhof) of the Dresden Castle. The mural was built in order to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Wettin Dynasty which was the Saxony’s ruling family. The mural depicts 35 portraits of the mounted procession of the rules of Saxony consisting of margraves, electors, dukes and king of the House of Wettin between 1127 and 1904.
After the Fürstenzug, we continued walking and reached the Theaterplatz, which is a square formed by the Dresden Opera House (Semperoper Dresden), the Dresden Cathedral (Katholische Hofkirche), and the walls of the Dresden Castle (Zwinger Palace). Due to the time the castle was closed so we made our way back to the car.
On our way back, we passed next to the Dresden Porcelain collection museum, then the Martin Luther Statue and ended at Dresden Church (Frauenkirche).
After collecting the car, we made our way to Berlin where we stopped before arriving to the hotel. Once in the hotel, we planned the next day.
On Day 4, after a nice breakfast at the hotel we decided that since it was our last day with the car, we should take advantage of this. Our first stop was the Charlottenburg Palace (Scholass Charlottenburg) as I was searching for the Egyptian museum which I never found.
After struggling with the parking, I left my husband at the car and took some photographs around the area.
After not finding the Egyptian museum, we decided that it was time for souvenir shopping and therefore we went to the area around the Berlin Zoo where the HRC is. We decided that this was the best place to buy souvenirs for the family and enjoyed a little nice afternoon snack.
After an afternoon of shopping, we decided that it was time to start our Wall tour and therefore, we made our way to the East Side Gallery Wall Museum which is part of the Berlin Wall Foundation. However, since we were driving and the location was at the opposite direction, when we arrived it was already night. We were able to cover a good part of the gallery for both sizes and while I was taking photographs my husband was shopping for wall souvenirs.
The East Side Gallery is an open-air gallery located at the centre of Berlin and consists of a series of murals painted directly on long fragment of the Berlin Wall. The gallery is 1.316km of heritage-protected landmark. The East Side Gallery is a monument that depicts the fall of the Berlin Wall and the peaceful negotiations that lead to this.
After the East Side Gallery, we needed to return to the car at the city centre so we made our way there. After returning the car, we decided to walk towards the Brandenburg Gate (Tor). On our path, we found the Gendarmenmark which is a market square. Since we went during November there was a Christmas market there.
The Gendarmenmark is a square consisting of the Concert Hall (Konzerthaus Berlin), French church (Französischer Dom), German church (Deutscher Dom) and a statue of Friedrich Schiller the poet. The square suffered some major damage during the Second World War where the buildings were very damaged which currently had been completely restored. After browsing around, we decided to stop for dinner in a nice lovely bistro next to the market.
After dinner, we continued our walk towards Brandenburg Gate. On out path, we reached the Bebelplatz (Plaza) which consists of the opera and the university building, where the memorial to the Nazi book burning is placed.
After the square, we arrived to the avenue that ends at the Brandenburg Gate. We made our way to the gate and we took advantage of our walk I took advantage to do some souvenir shopping. We decided to enjoy the walk and it was a great walk, and after an hour we arrived to the Pariser Platz.
The Parise Platz is a square and consists of the French Embassy, the USA Embassy, some retail shopping areas, a five-star hotel, the Allianz Forum and the Brandenburg Gate.
The Brandenburg Gate is an 18th century neoclassical monument constructed between 1788 and 1791 by architect Carl Gotthard Langhans during the ruling of Prussian king Frederick William II. The Brandenburg Gate was the symbol of freedom and the desire to unify the city of Berlin as they gather there on 9th November 1989 when the border crossing was opened. Currently, the Brandenburg Gate is the largest public space in Berlin as it’s a pedestrian zone where over a million people can gather for sporting events and the New Year’s Eve fireworks.
After taking all kinds of photographs, from the simple selfies to the most complex night compositions. We decided to buy the Belin Welcome Card which is a 48hr all included transportation for zones AB and a discount notebook, the cost was around 23.00€ and is only available in main underground stations. After buying our tickets, we decided to continue our walk towards the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.
The memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is a monument dedicated to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The memorial was built between 2003 and 2004 and consists of a 2,711 concrete slabs (stelae) arranging in a grid pattern on sloping field over an 19,000 sq ft.
After taking a huge number of photographs, we decided that it was time to go back to the hotel and after a two-bus ride, we arrived to the hotel where we planned the next day.
On Day 5, after an amazing breakfast, we decided that today will be the day for our train locations. Therefore, we started with our farthest location first and we went to the Wannsee Conference (Wannseekonferenz). In order to reach there, we took the S7 train and dropped at Wannsee Bhf station, then we took bus 114 and dropped at Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz.
The Wannsee Conference was the meeting held by senior government official of Nazi Germany and SS (Schutzstaffel) leaders on 20th January 1942. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the Final solution to the Jewish question where the decision was made of deporting most of the Jews from German-occupied Europe to Poland for murdering. The Wannsee Conference took place at the Wannsee Villa overlooking the Great Wannsee river (Großer Wannsee) in the suburb of Wannsee in the outskirts of Berlin.
On 20th January 1992, the site was finally opened as a Holocaust memorial and museum and is known now at the House of the Wannsee Conference (Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz). The museum hosts a permanent exhibit of documents and photographs depicting the events of the developing, planning and executing the Holocaust. The Joseph Wulf Bibliothek/Mediothek (library) houses a large collection of Nazi era books, microfilms and documents.
We spent most of the morning and some part of the afternoon on site as the museum had a lot of information to process and the location had amazing views of the river and gardens. After finishing the visit to the museum, we returned to the train station via bus and we enjoyed a lovely lunch. After lunch, we took the S7 train and dropped at Grunewald station.
The Grunewald station was the main location used for deportation of Berlin Jews to the East during the Holocaust until February 1945. At the beginning, the trains left for the ghettos in Eastern Europe but in 1942, the trains left directly for Auschwitz and Theresienstadt concentration camps. At the end of the war, more than 50,000 Jews were deported from Platform 17 at this station.
On 27th January 1998, the German railway company established a memorial known as Platform 17 (Gleis 17), where all the dates of each transport with the number of people and their destination are recorded. Although the memorial is within the Grunewald station, the platform is closed in order to stand still for all the memories that it holds and its part of Second World War history.
We arrived to the platform around sunset and we were able to walk the entire platform in order to understand its importance in history while still able to read all the records. After walking the platform and being part of history, we made a quick coffee stop and continued our train tour. Our next stop was the Olympic Stadium, so we took S3 train and dropped at Olympiastadion station.
Since being at the London 2012 Olympic Games, I decided that if the city that I am visiting has an Olympic Stadium, I will make an effort to see. Therefore, in this trip we went to the Olympic Stadium. We arrived at the station and it was already night so we decided to find the entrance in order to take a lot of photographs.
The Olympic stadium (Olympiastadion) was built by Wener March for the 1936 Summer Olympics. The games took place between 1st and 16th August 1936 and were opened by Chancellor Adolf Hitler. After these games, there was a 12-year disruption due to Second World War.
We decided to walk to the entrance and I was lucky enough to find at the entrance the Olympic rings and it was an amazing sight of the rings and the Olympischer Platz. After enjoying the night, we decided to return to the train station and returned to Berlin. We decided to enter the Spy Museum, so we dropped at Potsdamer Platz station. Unfortunately, we arrived around 7pm and with only one hour to see the museum we decided that this was not a good use of our time. However, it was enough time to go shopping and we bought plenty of spy souvenirs.
After the shopping at the Spy Museum, we decided that it was time for dinner. We decided that it was time to try those famous bratwurst (German sausages) and we entered the Mall of Berlin. We were able to find some bratwursts and then we had an amazing frozen yogurt. After dinner, we decided that we were closed enough to search for the Führer’s bunker (Führerbunker).
The Führer’s bunker was the air raid shelter located near the Reich Chancellery and was part of the subterranean bunker complex constructed between 1936 and 1944. This was Hitler’s last residence from 16th January 1945 until committed suicide on 29th April 1945. After the war, the buildings were levelled by the Soviets but some corridors still exist but are sealed off.
We were able to find the site and found the information board which marks the location of the bunker. Although we knew that the bunker was levelled, I was still hopeful to find something else. However, I do understand the governments reasons to destroy all vestiges of these Nazi landmarks to avoid any controversy.
After an amazing day all over Berlin by train, it was time to return to the hotel and planned for the next day.
On Day 6, after an amazing breakfast at the hotel and since it was our last day, we decided that we should stay local and take as many buses as possible to enjoy the city. As before, we decided to start with the farthest location and in this case was the Soviet War Memorial Treptow. In order to reach there, we took the S9 train and dropped at Treptower Park station, then we took bus 165/166 and dropped at Rethelstr stop.
The Soviet War Memorial is also a military cemetery located in Treptower Park. This is one of three Soviet war memorials built in Berlin to commemorate the people that died during the Second World War and the Battle of Berlin. The memorial was designed by Yakov Belopolsky and was established on 8th May 1949.
The entrance to the park is through and arch bearing a Soviet star, once inside the memorial starts with a figure of a woman depicting the Motherland weeping at the loss of her sons. Then the entrance was framed by a portal consisting of the Soviet flag built of red granite flanked by two statues of kneeling soldiers. In the central area, there are 16 stone sarcophagi on each side which are the final resting place for 5,000 Red Army soldiers. At the end of the memorial there is 12m tall statue of a Soviet soldier with a sword holding a German child, standing over a broken swastika.
The memorial is in the middle of the Treptower Park and in order to reach it is a long walk from the entrance of the park. The memorial is a combination of size and significance regarding at its location and sculptures. After an amazing walk while enjoying the peacefulness of the place, we decided to continue our trip. We returned to the station via bus which is located in the opposite side of the park and also was framed by a Soviet arch. After this walk, we went to Flak Tower III anti-craft gun tower and for this we took S1 train and dropped at Humboldthain station.
The Flakturn tower III is a first generation of flak tower. Most of the building was demolished after the war, the only side that remains visible is the G-tower. The bunker had enough space held 20,000 people and was designed as a bomb shelter and was equipped with flack (flugabwehrkanone) anti-aircraft gun. The G-tower’s size is 70.5×70.5×39 m with eight 128mm guns.
After arriving to Humboldthain station, we hiked to find the structure as it was surrounded by the Humboldthain park which had very tall trees. We hiked until there was a red bridge and on the other side there was a huge structure. After crossing the bridge, the structure was visible and in order to reach the top there were some stairs to climb but at the top there was an amazing view of the park. The size of the crate depicted the huge size of the guns needed to defend the city and thinking that this was one of three towers in berlin.
After the hiking, we decided to stop for lunch and then we decided that we were able to reach our next location via bus. Therefore, we took bus 247 and dropped at Nordbahnhof stop which was the last stop. After reaching the stop, we decided to walk towards the Visitor Centre of the Berlin Wall Memorial.
The Berlin wall enclosed West Berlin from 13th August 1961 to 9th November 1989. The wall was meant to stop East Berliners to flee to the West, however, since the simple method failed the Soviet added more fortification and created a many-layered system of barriers. The fall of the wall led to the collapse of East German state and end of the dictatorship.
The Berlin Wall memorial is dedicated to the division of Berlin by a wall and the deaths that occurred due to this. This memorial is part of the Berlin Wall Foundation. The monument was created in 1998 by the German government and it extends along 1.4km of the former border strip. This memorial contains the last pieces of the Berlin Wall with the preserved ground behind in order to convey the impression of how the border fortification was developed. The memorial grounds are divided into four sections: a) the wall and the death strip, b) the destruction of the city, c) building the wall, and d) everyday life at the wall. The document centre is a permanent exhibition depicting the entire history of the division of Berlin from the construction, fall to reunification of Germany. The exhibition contains numerous artefacts, biographical documents and audio-visual media.
We started our trip at the visitor centre and we found out what does this memorial consists. After watching the introduction film, we decided to focus just in section A and we crossed the street and explored the open-air exhibition on that section. The exhibition depicts the last remains of the original Wall and the representation of the border wall. Within the field, there are archaeological, remembrance and representation windows. We finished walking this area and found the document centre. After exploring the document centre, we climbed to the top of the observation tower to see the death strip, which is an exact replica of a section of the wall including the observation tower. We spent a lot of time at the memorial wall and we saw the sunset while at the observation tower.
After an amazing time at the memorial wall, we decided to continue with our trip. Our next stop was the checkpoint Charlie and museum. In order to reach there, we decided to take tram M10 until Naturkunde-museum stop, and then U6 subway and dropped at Kochstr station.
The Checkpoint Charlie Museum is a private museum named after the crossing point bearing the same name. The collection includes photos, documents and artefacts associated with successful escape attempts from East Germany. The first exhibition opened on 19th October 1962 and since it has focused on exhibitions on international struggle for human rights.
After arriving to the Checkpoint Charlie, we decided that we should tried to enter the museum. We were very lucky and this was still opened. The museum gave a very insightful point of view of the history of the wall and the importance of the museum within the wall period and afterwards. In particularly, the most interest part was the amazing artefacts like the spy cameras, the hidden compartments inside small cars and all the creative ways used in order to space to the West.
After an amazing visit to the museum, we decided to find the marker where the wall used to stand. Within the city, there are no remains of the wall and in its place, there is a marker where that the wall used to be. We were very lucky and we found within the expected area.
After taking some photographs, we decided to attempt entering the Berlin Story Bunker. In order to reach there, we took bus M29 until Anhalter Bahnhof stop.
When we arrived to the museum, this was closed and we were only able to see the size of the bunker and imagine what would be inside. Although, it says that is the Führer’s bunker it also covers the history of Berlin from the beginning of the city to the present day. However, if you want to visit just make sure that you read the dress code before so you are able to enter without problems.
After a failed attempt to enter the museum, we decided to return to the hotel. We took two buses to return to the hotel in order to pack as the next day we were returning to London.
On Day 7, after waking up very early, we checked out and waited in the lobby for the taxi to take us to the airport. Once we arrived to the airport, we had an amazing local breakfast with nice coffee and pastries at the only opened coffee shop. After this, we waited first for the counter to open and then to board the plane. After two sleepy hours, we returned to London and then took a taxi to our home.
The Berlin trip had the perfect balance between sights associated with Second World War and the Berlin Wall. Additionally, this trip had a mixed of sights that I wanted to visit and my husband wanted to visit and, in the process, enriching this trip even further, which included the surprise trip to Prague with a stop in Dresden.
Visiting Berlin, Prague and Dresden had the potential to be many different trips depending of each person’s interest. However, due to the extensive amount of possibilities it is important to draft an idea of what to visit considering your interest and timeframe. In our case, it was a great idea renting a car to travel to Prague and Dresden but horrible to drive in Berlin due to the traffic. Also, the number of places that we visited on one day, meant that a lot of them we took photographs at night because it was November and the days were becoming shorter.
My recommendation is to be flexible and pick the places that you are really want to visit as the main event per day, and then group around the other places per location in order to reduce the stress of getting there and just enjoy what each place has to offer. In any case, these cities are so beautiful in their own way that it does not matter which area you chose to explore, just have fun exploring and take time enjoying the local cuisine.
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