Travel Discovery – The Berlin Wall
Line BreakAuthor: Kathryn Frengs (350 Articles)
Travelfusion's Social Media Officer, I manage all of our online marketing and presence on Twitter, Facebook, our blog and more. I love my job!
One of the most famous walls in history, the Berlin Wall is the focus of today’s post. Originally erected in 1961, the wall severed access between East and West Germany and stood as a political, social and economical dividing line for decades until it was famously demolished in 1989. As many of us may remember the day the wall fell, the mood was jubilant, hopeful and thankful as the massive wall that was a site of so much strife and struggle for so many.
When I visited what’s left of the wall in 2008, I was immediately drawn to the often colourful and poignant art that had been painted on all sides. It was so cold that day but I was determined to see the wall that had been on my mind for years. I remember being in my classroom and learning about the fall of the wall at age ten – one of my classmates came in a few weeks later with an actual chunk of the wall that his father had purchased which helped to make the whole story real in my mind. Unfortunately, due to this type of souvenir market for pieces of the wall, it’s difficult to find any original fragments in the expanse of wall that’s been left standing. Large segments of the wall have also been dispatched around the world and still stand as part of important landmarks like the EU Parliament in Belgium, Vatican City and at museums, schools and other sites around the world. Though the wall’s appearance has changed since demolition in the 80’s, to be able to stand next to it and feel dwarfed in its shadow helped me to start to realise what a huge divide there truly was for the people of East and West Berlin.
Visitors today can enjoy walking along both sides of the wall, a luxury that was not afforded to people when it was still standing. The major segments that still stand in Berlin that can be visited today include the East Side Gallery and portions around both the former Gestapo headquarters and Bernauer Straße. Reminders of the wall also exist all around town, even in places where the wall itself is physically gone. Watch where you walk, as oftentimes these markers will be placed directly in the pavement where the wall once was. Here are a few photographs showing my discovery of this “living monument” that should definitely be visited and appreciated as an important part of not only German but world history. (all photos are my own – please ask if you’d like to use them or republish them in any way)
Photo credit: Kathryn @Travelfusion
The city of Berlin is actually much more than the wall and is a dynamic, exciting and interesting place to visit. Fly from London to Berlin from only £20, from Edinburgh to Berlin from £22 or from Bristol to Berlin from only £22. Give yourself plenty of time to visit this fantastic city and explore on the metro as I did!
Tags: Berlin, berlin wall, Europe, Fun, Germany, history
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