Berlin travel diary

Some time ago I went to Berlin, and then I wasn’t really updating my blog, so these pictures were never shared. I mainly went to Berlin to go to Lollapalooza festival, but my friends were coming from Lithuania too, so we spent a full week there. The first day I flew in from London, none of my friends have arrived yet, so since it was a wonderful sunny and warm September day, I went to some of the main touristic places by myself and took loads of pictures. The light was honestly just magical and I loved Berlin straight away. Also keep reading for a guide to my favourite bars in Berlin below!

My friend Jore and me went on a street art tour of Berlin and it was such a great way to see and learn about Berlin! Really recommend doing it, this way we also found some amazing outside bars and cafes.

I took some film pictures as well, mostly at night as we were exploring various bars and cinemas, some of the film shots you might have already seen in my recent blog post. My favorite part of Berlin probably was how many unique bars they have, each of them totally unique atmospheres and with a special idea (or just plain weird haha). And it seemed like even in the middle of the week, all bars were full of people drinking until late. I just felt so FREE there, just such a good vibe in the whole city. I’ve never seen so many people just walking around with open bottles drinking EVERYWHERE, on the trains etc. too, which we did as well and I realised how much I missed it and how much it reminded me of my teenage years too. It’s one of the best places for vegans as well, the food was just amazing and every little place had vegan options, every random pizza place would have vegan cheese etc. (could I have been just that lucky??).

We also watched Nick Cave movie “One More Time With Feeling” in the Babylon theatre (see below), it was also very special (I’m not going to start on how much that movie affected me, it would need a separate essay). Pic below taken by my friend Jore.

Berlin bars

My favorite bars in Berlin that are worth checking out if you’re into interesting/unique/cool bars (in no particular order):

• Dschungel (Jungle): Friedelstraße 12, 12047 Berlin (Neukölln). 
  As the name even says, it has a forest vibe – wood, full on forest wallpapers, trees covered in vines… If you know me, you know I love trees everywhere and the way they did it looked really cool.
  
• Das Hotel bar. Mariannenstraße 26A, 10999 Berlin. (Kreuzberg).
  The goth in me REALLY loved it. It’s a very small, cosy space with a romantic/dark candle atmosphere, and it’s full of lilies, so the whole place smells like a funeral.
• The Black Lodge. Sanderstraße 6, 12047 Berlin. (Kreuzberg/Neukölln).
  This place was so amazing and up our street (and open until like 2am) that we went there multiple times (luckily we were staying super close to it). It’s an absolute must if you’re a Twin Peaks/David Lynch fan like I am. Even the way to get to the place feels Lynchian, as it didn’t actually have any sign outside that would help you find it, I wasn’t even sure if that place still exists from various mixed reviews/articles on line. However, don’t give up, just follow the address and you’ll see a place with boarded up windows with hopefully people’s voices coming from inside which gave away that there’s something going on there. The middle room in the bar is done up like the Red room/waiting room/Black Lodge, which was were we spent most of our time. At the back there’s also another room that was continuously streaming Twin Peaks.
• Klunkerkranich rooftop bar. Rooftop eco park Neukölln Arcaden, Karl-Marx-Straße 66, 12043 Berlin (Neukölln).
  Another place that took us awhile to find, but worth it. It’s located on the roof top of a mall, so when you get there in the evening and the mall is closed, it might take some circling around to find an open door and elevators that can get you there. I don’t think we would have found it at all, if we didn’t encounter another group of people who were also looking for it, and one person out of all of us has been there before. It has amazing views on the top, and some cool decorations (like a bath with flowers etc.). Depending on what’s happening there, you might have to pay a fee to get in though.
• Peppi Guggenhaim. Weichselstraße 7, 12043 Berlin (Neukölln).
      This bar is more like a regular bar than others I mentioned, but I loved the red lights inside and one room was made to look like an underwater ship.
• Vater bar. Reuterstraße 27, 12047 Berlin (Neukölln).
  It had quite great romantic dark lighting and atmosphere, big candelabras covered in wax, weird toilets, and one super weird table which was a sofa in the ceiling. ;D You can see the sofa and the candelabra in the collage above.
  
• RAW-Gelände (Urban Spree, Cassiopeia). Revaler Str. 99, 10245 Berlin (Friedrichshain). 
  We were there only during the day, (you can see digital photos of it above), so not sure what it’s like at night when they become more like clubs, but both were super cool graffiti covered outside spaces.
• YAAM beach. An der Schillingbrücke 3, 10243 Berlin. (Friedrichshain).
  It really feels like a beach there, just more cool, underground type. It’s by the river, there is a bar there and all the walls predictably are also covered in graffiti. At the entrance there are a lot of good cheap food stalls. You can also see pics of it above.

The house below was just so dreamy that I said I’ll live there for a bit some day. It’s facing an old gorgeous cemetery too!

Let me know if you’ve been to Berlin and if you could recommend any places for the next time I visit it! And also if you’re interested at all to see posts like these from me.