Berlin – a city made in Germany?

Berlin is the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany and at the same time one of the most easily accessible cities in Poland. By car from Warsaw, we will get there in about 6 hours on the A2 motorway, but from Wrocław we will get there in four, Poznań in less than three, and from Szczecin a maximum of two. The capital of Germany is therefore a great city for a weekend car jump from PANEK Rent a Car. 

Lovers of ancient buildings from the times of the Roman Empire and Renaissance gems may be a bit disappointed with a visit to Berlin, because the city is full of the history of recent years. You can even risk saying that it is one of the youngest places in Europe in terms of tourist attractions. The bombing of the Allied forces at the end of World War II led to the complete destruction of everything that had any value and significance, but it is a place that attracts lovers of 20th century history and artists.

Go West! 

Getting to Berlin should not be a problem even for novice drivers. It is connected with Warsaw, Wrocław, Kraków, Poznań or Szczecin by expressways, which are free in Germany. Most of the motorways leading to Berlin have a speed limit of 130 km / h, but there are also sections where this value is only recommended, which encourages you to legally try out the capabilities of your car. In the PANEK CarSharing you will find modern vehicles that can easily reach maximum speeds well over 200 km / h, so the journey itself can be a big attraction. Unfortunately, there is also bad news, because there is a speed limit of 120 km / h on the entire section of the A2 motorway from the Polish border to Berlin. Berlin itself is a well-connected metropolis and you can get almost anywhere by car using multi-lane thoroughfares. Thanks to the well-organized paid parking system, there is also no problem with finding a parking space. However, if we are focused on intensive sightseeing, the best means of transport will be public transport, headed by the metro.

The city divided by a wall 

On August 13, 1961, the inhabitants of Berlin woke up in a completely new reality. The city was divided by a wall into two parts – eastern, under the jurisdiction of the only rightful communist power in the GDR, and western, which was part of the rotten, capitalist West Germany. The western part of the city developed at its own pace, while the eastern part stopped, sinking in gray blocks of flats made of large slabs. Although more than 30 years have passed since the fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989, the differences are still visible here, and fragments of the wall itself and former border crossings, such as the famous Checkpoint Charlie, are a testimony to times gone by. Particularly worth visiting is the section of the Berlin Wall located on the bank of the River Spree. This is the East Side Gallery, home of the local Street Art. It is here that you must take a photo against the background of the famous kiss of Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker. On the eastern side of the city, you should also visit the Trabant Museum, Topography of Terror – a museum located in the place where the Gestapo and SS buildings used to stand during the Third Reich, and the Berlin Cathedral, Berliner Schloss, the Opera building, or the GDR Museum standing in the axis of Unten den Street Linden, running from the Brandenburg Gate to Alexanderplatz with the famous TV tower.

International street food and traditional German flavors 

One of the most famous Berlin snacks is Currywurst, a grilled sausage in hot sauce. It is also worth trying Buletten, i.e. minced meatballs served with mustard. In the 1950s and 1960s, a large influx of emigrants from Turkey was observed in western Berlin, who brought the famous Doner Kebap with them. The Berlin one is supposedly the best outside of Turkey.

For lovers of traditional dishes, we recommend hot Kartoffelsuppe and schnitzel, served in the style of the Viennese. Interestingly, there is a dish called “Berlin Schnitzel”, but its basis is not meat, but cow udders, and you can get it in the culinary underground of the city. You should also try pork knuckles and meatballs from Królewiec. Look for desserts and sweet snacks yourself. We will only suggest a few intriguing names like Berliner Luft (Berlin air), Berliner Apfel and easy-to-guess Apfelstrudel.

Berlin is definitely a unique city. The old history of the city has been practically obliterated, but there are many places of great importance for the history of not only Germany, but the whole of Europe. The cosmopolitan character can be seen at every step, and the free style of the inhabitants is conducive to the development of art.