The Berlin Wall was a symbol, breaking of the Berlin Wall was an event of great significance. It represents the Cold War and its fall means Germans were reunited in one country. At present, the existing traces of the listed structure give a rather interesting idea of the city’s history and conflicts.
Historically curious and an admirer of great performances- well, walking tours around Berlin Wall is a must try for an adventurous traveler. As the name suggests, in this blog post, we shall assist you through the basic information that you need regarding this tour as well as the different monuments involved in this tour.
Learning More about the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 by the East Germany as barrier to prevent people from moving to West Germany. The Berlin wall existed for about twenty nine years and during this time it symbolized a physical and virtual wall to political conflict of East and West countries.
The historical background to the construction of the wall and the purpose of the wall must be appreciated in order to understand how the wall affected the city and its inhabitants. A guided walking tour will also give you good history and political background and the general lifestyle of the people of Berlin during this period.
Discovering the Places to Visit Near the Wall
During your walking tour along the Berlin Wall, four major sites are of historical interest can be found. Here are some key sites you shouldn’t miss:
Checkpoint Charlie
Check point Charlie that was familiar crossing point between East and West Berlin is more of a touristic site today. A checkpoint could be seen together with the old sign, a guardhouse left, and sandbags made people recall the separate city.
East Side Gallery
The East Side Gallery is an open air gallery where over artists have painted a 1.3 kilometer long wall, and its works are made up of paint and other political art works. This open air exhibit represents the celebration which followed the collapse of the wall.
Bernauer Strasse Memorial
Visitors to the Bernauer Strasse site will get a glimpse of some of the daring attempts by people who lived close to the wall. It functions as a site with preserved fragments of the wall with a memorial chapel and residents’ accounts.
Mauerpark
The area where the death strip was located nowadays is a popular park called Mauerpark, which invites people from different countries. You should definitely visit on Sunday when there is a famous Mauerpark flea market and theatre performances in the amphitheatre.
Tips for a Memorable Walking Tour
Now that you’re ready to embark on your Berlin Wall walking tour, here are some tips to ensure you make the most of your experience:
Bring comfortable walking shoes because the tour involved a lot of walking and/in and you will need to move around a lot.
You could try to join an organized tour with a professional guide who will give you specifics information related to the participating countries’ history.
It is more than half a kilometre long so it is best to chart itself with the use of map or through the local mobile applications.
Be sure to spare some time to read the information on the panels and plaques at different spots to make proper understanding of the places.
Step side and ask locals or other travelers for a small interview or more information about the area.
In Conclusion
Taking a walking tour of what is left of the Berlin Wall is a highly engaging way of getting to know the city’s history. It can enable you to see how a city previously split in half gets joined together to become a nation capital that embraces history and the future.
When you finally take time to learn about Berlin Wall and physically locate the places marked by this history, you will see true character of the people and the strength that they have in dealing with such eventful history. Therefore, wear comfortable shoes, take a step and go on this historical journey, or rather – historical experience, and watch Berlin and Berlin’s history.
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