Destination Berlin

I first visited Berlin nearly ten years ago. I came away with one overwhelming conclusion: if there was to be a new capital of Europe, this was it. After a visit this summer, that seems more the case than ever before.

At the turn of the century, the city seemed ill at ease with the weight of history, an adolescent finding its way in a tough new world. Although it was already a magnet for young West Germans looking for excitement during the seventies and eighties, it was only after the wall came down that artists from everywhere descended on this newly minted but olde worlde city. The cheap rents helped, of course.

The good life

In the early noughties, there was a sense then that this vibrant, post-Cold War city was on the cusp of greatness, but what lay ahead remained undefined.

In 2012, when Europe’s, and the world’s, economy seems almost entirely reliant on Germany, Berlin is far more comfortable with its place at the centre of these newly united states. Largely, of course, this is because of Germany’s place at the head of the table of European nations and its economic strength.

The second most populous city in the European Union (after London) is clearly a lovely place to make a life. Families with baby strollers are everywhere, the result of a baby boom in the past few years. Having found work in the new Germany, it seems the creative types simply put down roots.

There’s money to be spent here, and in Berlin there’s always something to spend it on, there’s always something going on. Which perhaps explains why it’s such a tourist magnet.

Now 775 years old — it marked its birthday with a series of exhibitions and parties all summer — the reunited city is many things to many people. Some come for the culture, others for the excellent health care, yet others for the decadent nightlife. It is a popular location for film shoots and is home to a series of must-attend business conventions.

For the visitor with a day to spare, operators such as GoArt! offer customised art, fashion or history tours. On a recent weekend trip, guided by GoArt!’s Thomas Abbot, we attempted to travel through as much of Berlin’s history as we could. We started the tour by meeting the city’s most beautiful woman. >

One of the most iconic, and widely reproduced, images of ancient Egypt is the 3,300-year-old painted limestone bust of the pharaoh Akhenaten’s Great Royal Wife. With her long neck and angular features, Nefertiti would have been a stunner in any age, a missing eye barely detracting from her beauty. The bust at the Neues Museum, which was discovered by a team of German archaeologists 100 years ago, will form the centrepiece of a four-month show beginning in December on Akhenaten’s capital at Amarna, built to establish a new monotheistic religion.

The Neues Museum sits on a tiny island in the middle of the Spree that offers an immersive cultural experience, with collections of Byzantine and 19th-century art, and monumental buildings from Babylon and ancient Turkey.

Two blocks away, the interactive DDR Museum offers a window into life under socialism. East Germans were cut off from the world and their lives monitored by the state. Some of these experiences are recreated here, from typical living rooms to prisoner interrogations. The on-site restaurant, Domklause, serves Russian Soljanka, a hearty and surprisingly tasty sour and spicy tomato soup with bits of gherkin, vegetables and indeterminate meat. It’s best had with the fruity Vita Cola, a relic that has won new fans with the advent of Ostalgie, or nostalgia for the life in the DDR.

Or dig into a West Berlin invention on the streets outside: currywurst. The hot snack, which is little more than a sausage doused in ketchup and curry powder, can be had in a sandwich or on its own.

Close by is Berlin’s oldest restaurant, offering a taste of life under the reign of Frederick, the Great Elector. Zur Letzten Instanz dates back to 1621 and in its garden, in the shadow of the oldest of the city’s many walls, you can order pickled eggs or liver served in Berlin style, with sliced apples, onion rings and potato purée.

If that doesn’t appeal head to the city’s 13 Michelin-starred restaurants or to one of the many Bavarian-style restaurants in the Hackescher Markt area.

The wall rebuilt

Over 75 per cent of Berlin’s nearly ten million annual visitors say 20th-century history is the main reason for their trip. Life in a divided city is best experienced at Checkpoint Charlie, the most well known of the crossings between East and West, and where the Third World War nearly broke out in 1961. While a museum on the site shows how East Germans were smuggled over the border under car seats and behind dashboards, a new two-year-long project by the Iranian-Austrian artist Yadegar Asisi offers a 360-degree experience of everyday life in the eighties.

Visitors standing on a central, elevated platform can look out over the “death strip”, past watch towers and with guards trained to shoot at sight, to the dark, dilapidated houses of East Berlin, where just a few windows are warmly lit. The site is Kreuzberg in West Berlin, where children play in the shadow of the wall, a few metres away from graffiti artists. For the ultimate, though clichéd souvenir, apparently genuine pieces of the wall are on sale all over the city.

A section of the wall is still on view at Potsdamer Strasse nearby and from there the once-divided Potsdamer Platz — once Europe’s largest building site and now home to the city’s most contemporary architecture — is a short hop away. It’s also a great place to shop if the weight of history gets too much.

But serious shoppers will want to investigate Berlin’s own signature style. A.D.Deertz, the travel-inspired label by the designer Wibke Deertz, is perfect for the global nomad. She focuses on a limited edition of classic, quirky garments that reflect her own itinerant lifestyle.

The area around her Torstrasse shop is a haven of trendy stores. Nearby Mulackstrasse is home to Lala Berlin, a label of luxurious knits by the designer Leyla Piedayesh, while C’est Tout, on the same street, retails smart dresses that bridge the Franco-German cultural divide.

If it’s more mainstream lines you’re looking for, head to the Kaufhaus des Westens or KaDeWe in Schöneberg. Its eight floors stock a mind-boggling variety of garments, but the biggest attraction for us was the sixth floor: home to 1,800 kinds of cheese and 1,200 types of sausage.

For those untempted by retail therapy, Schöneberg is home to a slew of tame and racy nightclubs, including the notorious KitKatClub, whose rigid door policy has filled reams of newsprint.

There are plenty of places to party in Berlin, and like we said before, something for all tastes. But that’s already been written about.