One of many challenges of writing any journey information is that there is at all times the chance it is going to be outdated by the point it is revealed. In a metropolis as dynamic and quickly altering as Berlin, holding a information updated is almost inconceivable.

However author Oliver Kiesow and Berlin-based video content material creator Kai Steinecke have been undaunted. They’ve struck a stability between conventional sightseeing and insights right into a fast-paced city tradition. Their ebook “Das andere Berlin” — which interprets to “The opposite Berlin” — covers the culturally and traditionally vital and iconic websites which are staple to any go to to the town, together with the standard necessary points of interest just like the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the Museum Island.

Legendary nightlife

However Berlin has additionally gained a repute for its nightlife, and the ebook’s authors set that tone proper from the primary chapter.

The German capital’s membership scene is particularly well-known, with names like Berghain, Tresor and Bunker having gained legendary standing all over the world.

Readers be taught that shortly earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic, membership tourism introduced in some €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) to Berlin’s lodge and restaurant sector.

However they will additionally be taught the place to go to social gathering away from the vacationer hordes, the place there’s stay music, which pub crawls are on supply and the place the most effective beer gardens are. “The entire metropolis is a celebration location,” says DW host Kai Steinecke.

A metropolis in transformation

The scene adjustments quickly, however anybody who’s launched in such element to the “Kieze,” as Berliners name their neighborhoods, with their unbeaten paths and insider ideas, is effectively outfitted to make their very own discoveries.

For Steinecke, Berlin is a “metropolis in everlasting transformation.” Over the centuries, it has been a discipline of experimentation for architectural visions.

The ebook describes and illustrates the historic ruptures, the destruction following World Battle II, the post-war reconstruction of the divided metropolis and the virtually 35 years for the reason that fall of the Berlin Wall.

Better of the currywurst stands — with vegan choices

This Berlin information is filled with ideas and details about the quirky, the weird and the sensual.

A number of chapters are devoted to the most effective addresses for the town’s attribute culinary choices: currywurst, a pork sausage drowned in ketchup and curry powder; döner kebab, stated to have been invented in Berlin, which is meat (often veal) sliced off a spit and filled with salad right into a flatbread sandwich; the unique Berlin hearty pork knuckle. Even a blood-sausage-maker in Neukölln is talked about, its handle and the closest subway cease duly famous.

However there are additionally loads of listings for these on the lookout for plant-based delights.

After London, Berlin is the second largest vegan metropolis on this planet. From road meals to tremendous eating in Michelin-starred kitchens, the journey information gives dozens of addresses and brief profiles.

The dated criticism that Berlin is a culinary steppe — Prussian, Protestant and barren — has typically been refuted in latest many years, and immigrants from virtually each nation on this planet have contributed to this. A chapter can also be devoted to their place in Berlin’s culinary scene.

Berlin’s queer historical past

However “Das andere Berlin” additionally exhibits what units Berlin other than different cities. Few cities have such a various and historic homosexual, lesbian and queer scene because the German capital. It is linked to the political wrestle for equality and freedom that started greater than 150 years in the past. Part 175 of the German Felony Code was launched within the former German Reich, making gay acts a punishable offense.

One chapter takes you to the websites in Berlin that commemorate persecution, for instance in the course of the Nazi dictatorship.

At this time, Berlin will not be solely a celebration metropolis, but additionally an LGBTQ+ metropolis. The virtually 200-page journey information ends with dozens of ideas for going out in that scene.

The great factor is that even those that communicate little German will rapidly discover their method round this journey information. The pictures and the addresses, all with the closest public transportation choices, are simple to identify.

And if you wish to entry a video of the highlights, you solely have to scan the QR code along with your smartphone and watch.  

Oliver Kiesow: Das andere Berlin – Life. Fashion. Metropolis. Mit Insidertipps zu Kunst und Kultur, Architektur, Hotspots, Meals, Nightlife, Queer Life.  Photographed by André Götzmann.192 pages, 115 pictures

This text was initially written in German.