Berlin's Wurst Tourist Traps: Alexanderplatz
Jaunted's assistant editor Cynthia is currently kicking it in Berlin and all this week she'll be telling us what to do and not do in town. Any suggestions or questions? Let us know.
When we were living in Rome, we used to frequent a miniscule, cave-like jazz club named "Alexanderplatz." Knowing that it was named thus because of the historical cabaret district around the Alexanderplatz in Berlin, we suffered from a romanticized idea of the square.
It's been seventy or so years since the cabarets left, fifty-plus years since the Soviet architectural aesthetic converted it into a massive concrete platz anchored by the Fernsehturm (TV tower) and office blocks, and fifteen years since the giant Kaufhof department store emerged as king of the place. And yet, the tourists flood in for more than just access to the transportation hub; the draw being that finally, one is standing in Alexanderplatz.
Aside from the graffiti-covered Friendship fountain, whose proper name is the Brunnen der Völkerfreundschaft, the biggest attraction is perhaps the straight-up view of the Fernsehturm and the ubiquitousness of cheap wurst vendors in the square—both are pictured above.
To escape the direct sunlight and bustle of one of Berlin's busiest squares, but still soak in the old Soviet aura, we recommend exiting the square to the northeast, and walking down Karl-Marx-Allee. This grandiose boulevard, formerly the Stalinallee and not much of an alley at all, is flanked on both sides by massive socialist housing and the occasional sidewalk cafe or evening cabaret.
Walk far enough down the street, marveling at how monumental and symmetrical everything is, and you'll find yourself in the Friedrichshain neighborhood, which hosts a great market on Sundays in Boxhagener Platz as well as buffet brunches along Simon-Dach-Strasse. The trip from the tourists of Alexanderplatz to the leafy streets of Friedrichshain may be one small walk for visitors, but it's absolutely one huge leap for Berlin visitor-kind.
Related Stories:
· Berlin's Wurst Tourist Traps: The Reichstag [Jaunted]
· Berlin's Wurst Tourist Traps: Brandenburg Gate and The Wall [Jaunted]
· Berlin's Wurst Tourist Traps: Checkpoint Charlie [Jaunted]
· Berlin Field Trip Coverage [Jaunted]
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