Well, you might have noticed before, but I love Berlin. Ever since I was young, I wanted to move here. I haven’t had the opportunity yet, but you never know what will happen in the future. But because I love this city so much, I am trying to visit Berlin at least once or twice a year. Last time I’ve been here, was in January, because of the Sustainable Fashion Hub, which is also the reason why I am here this week. I want to take you with me on this trip, so let me tell you about our first day in this one week Berlin diary.
Traveling by Bus
Groningen, 4.05
Our trip started with Flixbus. We woke up at three, I was extremely tired, but hey, we do everything for cheap bus tickets right? I think it’s quite insane, that flight tickets are the same price as bus tickets, because it’s so disastrous for the planet. By train you could be as fast as by plane, but these prices are not for me, so I chose for the bus. From my hometown to Berlin, it usually takes 7 to 8 ours by car or train, the bus takes 9 hours, which is quite okay, in my opinion. These times do not include delays, obviously.
Sadly, 30% of all the roads we had to take, were under construction, which caused a delay of approximately 2,5 hours. We arrived Berlin Alexanderplatz at 15.30.
Hostels, B&B’s or EcoBnB
Berlin, 16.00
We booked a very cheap but good hostel in the centre of Kreuzberg, which is a perfect location. In Kreuzberg you can find many cool hotspots, such a vegan food stores of second hand shops. If you want to travel more sustainably, I can highly recommend you the EcoBnB, a website where you can book eco-friendly accommodations, from all over the world, but mostly Europe. You can find all the options here. I’ve slept in an EcoBnB in Italy and it was so great. Next time I’m in Berlin, I’d like to try an eco-friendly stay as well.
Getting around in Berlin
We decided to get a public transport ticket for 7 days for 30 euros per person. Usually I try to walk everywhere, but as Berlin is such a big city, public transport is a good solution to the not-walkable distances. You could also rent a bike, as Berlin has many bike lanes.
Vegan food
Kreuzberg, Berlin, 17.30
We were very hungry after this long travel, so we decided to head for dinner, right after arriving the hostel. We went to a super cute Vietnamese restaurant, H&D Chay, which is close to our hostel. Everything here is vegan and super delicious. We had summer rolls, red curry with vegan “chicken”, noodles with vegan crispy “duck”, a mango lassi and soda water. It was so delicious! And best thing: no animals were harmed in the making of this food!
Hitting the 10.000 steps
Schöneberg, Berlin, 18.00
After dinner, we decided to take the metro to the Schöneberg area, to visit KaDeWe, Kaufhaus des Westens. I wanted to have a look on the Aeyde collection, which is a shoe brand from Berlin, that produces ethically in Italy. The collection was nice to see, but I didn’t find anything that filled a gap in my wardrobe, so I ended up not buying anything.
Then we walked down the Tauentzienstraße to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, a church that has been destroyed during World War II. It was beautiful to see how it looked like before, but I got a little frustrated about all the marketing around it. Directly next to the church, there was a huge billboard, that showed an advertisement of a Chinese smartphone brand, with a small disclaimer underneath, stating that the renovation couldn’t have happened, without the sponsorships of brands like this one. I fully understand how this works, but it’s still a little frustrating.
So if you want to see capitalism on its finest, you have to check out the Tauentzienstraße and the Kurfürstendamm.
Beers and festivals
Kreuzberg, Berlin, 20.30
After our walk through West-Berlin, we’ve decided to visit a small festival in Kreuzberg, the “Bergmannstraßenfest – Kreuzberg jazzt!” festival. This festival was so much fun. The streets were full of people, listening to jazz-bands and eating food. We’ve bought a bottle of beer and strolled the streets; I felt like a true Berliner. On the festival there were also many fair trade and sustainable brands represented with stands. I’ve bought a super cute necklace from 0&1, which was handmade in Berlin.
Walking home, supporting activism
After the festival we went home and passed by a small flyer, that asked people to end climate change. I needed to take a picture with it, of course.
And this is where our day ended: with some activism and sustainable outfits. If you want to read more about what we do in Berlin, make sure to follow my blog, as I will upload a new blog post every day this week as part of my Berlin diary.
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