Wednesday 28 November 2012

Berlin Trip

A couple of weeks ago I took some days off from work and travelled to Berlin. It was my first time in the city and although we only stayed there for a little less than 5 days, I had time to do most of the stuff I had planned.


This was originally meant to be a blog post with only photos from my trip, but after a short FB chat with Caitlin (who recently assisted me on a photoshoot) where she suggested I should do a travel post about Berlin as she was planning a trip there soon, I've decided to give it a try and write a few lines about the places I visited.

We arrived in Berlin on Wednesday morning. It was really sunny (the rest of the days it was cloudy and foggy) and not really cold. We left our stuff and went for a quick walk around Friedrichshain, where we were staying. This neighbourhood really reminded me of Spain somehow, maybe because it is full of cafes and places where you can eat at any time of the day.

 We went to Boxhagener Platz every morning for breakfast. Everything was really cheap and good. I asked myself several times why I was living in the UK while I was eating those amazing breakfasts. 

I can't remember the names of all the places but Elfida was the one we went the first day, we also went to Szimpla (where the photo with the bears figure was taken) and to a latin american place for brunch on the last day.



The afternoon of the first day we went for a walk around the Alexanderplatz area and took some photos of the amazing sunset. We also went to the Weekday store (why don't we have any in the UK?) and didn't buy anything, was planning to go again on the last day but got lost.

The second day we went magazine shopping. First we took the subway to Kreuzberg to go to Motto. I had read about it and some people had recommended it so wanted to check it. It basically sells lots (and I mean LOTS) of zines, magazines and artists books although everything is pretty disorganized. The guy (owner?) was quite rude and after buying two magazines I actually regretted having bought them there, but oh well! I must admit that you can find anything you want in there, but don't let him fool you when he says the old Apartamento issues are more expensive than the current one (they sell them at the same price in Do You Read Me?!)


Kreuzberg is great, it was probably my favourite area of the city (along with Prenzlauer Berg). We visited this small shop where a photographer was selling her work and I bought one of her photos for just €15. After a walk around there, we went to Mitte to have a look at Do You Read Me?!. This magazine store stocks an amazing selection of independent magazines and the girl there was really nice and helpful. I got 'A Magazine Curated by Rodarte' and a canvas bag, and Jakub bought 'Acne Paper'.

After that, we had some crepes in a place called Zimt und Zucker and walked again around the area. That night we went to see Bat For Lashes play and we also went for some drinks to the flat of some friends of Jakub.



The next day think we went to see the Holocaust Monument and we also spent some more time around Kreuzberg. We had lunch at this place called Brezel Company and it was really really good and, again, really cheap. In the evening I met Lara Alegre, who had been featured in Girls on Film (and will be again in this month's issue). It was really nice to talk to her about the city, photography and our personal projects.

It was a shame that I couldn't meet more people during the trip. I received quite a few messages from photographers but as it was my first time in Berlin, I didn't really have lots of free time . I promise to go back soon!


The fourth day we spent more time around Mitte and went to C/O Berlin to see a retrospective of Joel Sternfeld's work. The entry wasn't free but it was amazing, I totally recommend to go if you have a chance.

We spent the afternoon around Prenzlauer Berg, visiting a market and going for dinner before heading back to Friedrichshain.


And that was basically my 4 and a half days in Berlin! I'm sure I'm missing quite a lot of things, but I hope that if you're planning a visit to Berlin soon this might help you somehow.

I have many more images of the trip on my site, make sure you check them here!

1 comment:

Hannah Bacalla said...

Amazing pictures as always. I love the mood on the last picture.