This summer I stayed in Germany’s capital Berlin for two months. I was very lucky with the weather, with temperatures exceeding 25 degrees (Celcius) every day and almost no rain.
I stayed in the Friedrichshain area, in the eastern part of the city. Arriving there on my first day, I could relate to the description as “hipster capital” on Hoodmaps.
? So the neighborhood in which I will stay in Berlin is named “hipster capital” on @hoodmapsapp ?? https://t.co/mGjI0iccNr pic.twitter.com/pCXcdKZOEH
— Gijs Heerkens ??‍? (@gijsheerkens) 20 april 2018
That was without exaggeration. People walking around bare feet or asking for money while listening music and smoking weed, for example.
The most striking thing about Berlin for me in a couple of bullet points:
- 🇩🇪 It’s the opposite of German. Disorganised and not strict.
- 🚲 The city is very big but bike friendly. Very good infrastructure.
- 🍺 Drinking beer on the streets is being tolerated. So everyone does.
- 💳 The mayority of shops and bars don’t accept card payments.
- ⏰ Bars and clubs don’t have closing times.
- 🎨 Murals! Murals everywhere.
Not german at all
Berlin turned out to be not German at all. The opposite. If I think of Germany, I think of “organised” and “strict”. Berlin is “disorganised” and “not strict”.
Everything is possible. Bikes parked in the middle of the sidewalk everywhere. People drinking cans of beer on every street corner, although it’s forbidden by law. And the Polizei doesn’t care.
The streets are well structured and have the impressive German appearance though. But the atmosphere is chaotic and very informal. I liked this combination a lot.
Bicycles
One of the first things I do when I arrive in a new city is making sure I have a bike. As I like to do urban exploring but I hate public transport, I think a bike is the best way to do so. And of course because I’m Dutch.
In Berlin I bought a blue former rental bike on my second day. What caught my attention later was the great amount of bicycle sharing schemes available in Berlin. I actually got the idea for my new product biking.city there.
Späties
A Spätie (or Spätkauf) is basically a night shop, but with one big difference. Each Spätie has his beer fest table set to drink beer on the streets. Since this is tolerated anyway it’s a great concept to meet people and weirdos.
Every street has one or more Späties. This was also where I met with mein guter Freund an fellow digital nomad Stefan Meier.
Cash society
Berlin is still not very cashless. A lot of bars and shops don’t accept cards yet, even though it’s in central Europe in one of the most developed countries of the continent.
Germans can be a bit conservative sometimes.
Clubs culture
The clubs culture in Berlin is world famous. I was living a few hundred meters from techno temple Berghain.
I’m not into discotheques myself but I saw some weird things. Clubs don’t close between thursday night and tuesday afternoon. You can stay four days if you want. You notice this when you are drinking a beer at a Spätie on tuesdays, when a lot of weirdos are passing by.
Murals everywhere
You can still notice the recent history of the Berlin Wall everywhere. It is only 30 years ago that the wall felt and east and west Berlin became one again.
Especially in the eastern part, it seems time stood still at some places. This can be linked to the recent history without any doubt.
In this part you’ll also find a lot of murals; giant graffiti paintings on buildings. I made a bicycle route with my favorite ones.
My Berlin song
I’m choosing one song that represents my memories for each place I stayed. For Berlin it’s Avicii’s Hey Brother, as he died when I was there.
