Travel podcasts for city break fans. All the historical and cultural background you need to enjoy your visit.
Episodes
Wednesday Nov 02, 2022
Wednesday Nov 02, 2022
Fancy adding a theatre or concert visit to your Berlin itinerary? Here's a look at music in Berlin, with snippets of history, from Frederick the Great to Marlene Dietrich, plus a rundown of the main venues where you'll find all best concerts, operas and musicals. Then, an overview of theatre in Berlin, and advice on finding performances to enjoy even if you don't speak German.
Useful links
Music
Concert halls (general info)
Konzerthaus
Berlin Philharmonic
Residenzkonzerte at Charlottenburg
Opera in Berlin (general info)
Deutsche Oper
Statsoper Unter den Linden
Komische Oper
Neukollnischer Oper
Theatre
Theatre (general info)
Deutsches Theater
Theater des Westens
Friedrichspalast
General
Berlin Tourist Information Offices
Inspiring Germany Tourist Information
City Breaks: all the history and culture you'd research for yourself if you had the time!
Check our website to find more episodes from our Berlin series or to browse our back catalogue of other cities which are well worth visiting: https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk
We love to receive your comments and suggestions!
You can e mail us at citybreaks@citybreakspodcast.co.uk
And if you like what you hear, please do post comments or a review wherever you downloaded this episode. That would be very much appreciated!
Wednesday Oct 19, 2022
Wednesday Oct 19, 2022
There’s so much more to art in Berlin than the Top 3 Galleries from our last episode. So here’s a look at an artist who has a museum dedicated to her (Käthe Kollwitz), a 20th century art movement with strong links to Berlin (Bauhaus) and the best of the rest: where to find specialist galleries, modern art and street art in Berlin.
Useful links
Käthe Kollwitz Museum Selection of work by Käthe Kollwitz
Bauhaus Archive Museum
Selection of Bauhaus work to view online
More galleries
Akademie der Künste
Asian Art gallery in the Humboldt Forum
The Brücke Museum in Dahlem
The Georg Kolbe Museum
Modern Art
The Hamburger Bahnhof
KINDL, the Centre for Contemporary Art
The KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Berlinische Galerie
Street Art
Visit Berlin information on street art
11 ideas for street art tours in Berlin
Berlin Tourist Information Offices
Inspiring Germany Tourist Information
City Breaks: all the history and culture you'd research for yourself if you had the time!
Check our website to find more episodes from our Berlin series or to browse our back catalogue of other cities which are well worth visiting: https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk
We love to receive your comments and suggestions!
You can e mail us at citybreaks@citybreakspodcast.co.uk
And if you like what you hear, please do post comments or a review wherever you downloaded this episode. That would be very much appreciated!
Wednesday Oct 05, 2022
Wednesday Oct 05, 2022
There are so many art galleries in Berlin that it's difficult to choose which to visit. We provide a run-down of the top three in this episode and save the best of the rest for next time! So here's what you need to know about the Gemäldegalerie, the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Neue Nationalgalerie which between them cover everything from the Middle Ages to post World War 2.
Useful links
Gemäldegalerie
Alte Nationalgalerie
Neue Nationalgalerie
Berlin Tourist Information Offices
Inspiring Germany Tourist Information
City Breaks: all the history and culture you'd research for yourself if you had the time!
Check our website to find more episodes from our Berlin series or to browse our back catalogue of other cities which are well worth visiting: https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk
We love to receive your comments and suggestions!
You can e mail us at citybreaks@citybreakspodcast.co.uk
And if you like what you hear, please do post comments or a review wherever you downloaded this episode. That would be very much appreciated!
Wednesday Sep 21, 2022
Wednesday Sep 21, 2022
What has happened to the GDR (German Democratic Republic), the country which was created when the Berlin Wall went up and which then disappeared when it came down? What was life in East Berlin like between August 1961 and November 1989? And where in today’s Berlin can you find out all about it? Here are three museum suggestions, plus a little of what they tell us.
Reading suggestions for this post
Red Love by Maxim Leo
Stasiland by Anna Funder
The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding
Film suggestions
The Lives of Others
Goodbye, Lenin
Useful links
The DDR Museum
The Stasi Museum
Hohenschonhausen Museum and Memorial
Berlin Tourist Information Centres
Inspiring Germany Tourist Information
City Breaks: all the history and culture you'd research for yourself if you had the time!
Check our website to find more episodes from our Berlin series or to browse our back catalogue of other cities which are well worth visiting: https://citybreakspodcast.co.uk/
We love to receive your comments and suggestions!
You can e mail us at citybreaks@citybreakspodcast.co.uk
And if you like what you hear, please do post comments or a review wherever you downloaded this episode. That would be very much appreciated!
Wednesday Sep 07, 2022
Wednesday Sep 07, 2022
The story of the Berlin Wall will always fascinate. And here it is, along with ideas for three places in Berlin you can visit to see the remaining sections and find out more. Author Rory MacLean summed up the impact first seeing the wall had on him: 'At the heart of the continent were watchtowers, barbed wire and border guards, instructed to shoot fellow citizens who wanted to live under a different government.’
Reading Suggestions
Berlin: Imagine a City by Rory MacLean
Berlin Biography of a City by Barney White-Spunner
Tunnel 29 by Helena Merriman
Links
Checkpoint Charlie
Haus am Checkpoint Charlie Museum
Berlin Wall Memorial Site
East Side Gallery
Guided tours of the East Side Gallery: either this one or this one
General links
Berlin Tourist Information Centres
Germany Travel Information
City Breaks: all the history and culture you'd research for yourself if you had the time!
Check our website to find more episodes from our Berlin series or to browse our back catalogue of other cities which are well worth visiting: https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk
We love to receive your comments and suggestions!
You can e mail us at citybreaks@citybreakspodcast.co.uk
And if you like what you hear, please do post comments or a review wherever you downloaded this episode. That would be very much appreciated!
Wednesday Aug 24, 2022
Wednesday Aug 24, 2022
The Holocaust Memorial is deliberately sited right in the heart of Berlin because this is a city which does all it can to make sure the horrors of the holocaust are understood by each new generation. This episode begins with the main facts, then focuses on the places you can visit in Berlin today to learn more and to remember the victims, collectively and, in many cases, also as individuals.
Reading suggestions
Jewish Girl in Wartime Berlin by Inge Deutschkron
The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding
Book of Clouds by Chloe Aridjis
Useful links
https://www.sachsenhausen-sbg.de/ Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum
https://www.museum-blindenwerkstatt.de/de/mbow/
https://www.annefrank.de/
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/block-women
https://www.stolpersteine-berlin.de/en/finding-stolpersteine
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/berlin-tourist-info-centres
https://www.germany.travel/en/home.html
City Breaks: all the history and culture you'd research for yourself if you had the time!
Check our website to find more episodes from our Berlin series or to browse our back catalogue of other cities which are well worth visiting: https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk
We love to receive your comments and suggestions!
You can e mail us at citybreaks@citybreakspodcast.co.uk
And if you like what you hear, please do post comments or a review wherever you downloaded this episode. That would be very much appreciated!
Wednesday Aug 10, 2022
Wednesday Aug 10, 2022
On this episode, we take a tour of places in Berlin connected to World War 2; the square where the Nazis burned books, the stadium where they held their showpiece Olympics in 1936, the sites of their HQ and of Hitler's bunker and the museums which tell tell the story of war, devastation and resistance. A little history and a lot of tips on what to look out for on a visit.
Reading
Berlin 1936 by Oliver Hilmes
Useful links
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/deutsches-historisches-museum
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/book-burning-memorial-bebelplatz
https://olympiastadion.berlin/en/guided-tours/
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/topography-terror
https://www.life.com/history/after-the-fall-photos-of-hitlers-bunker-and-the-ruins-of-berlin/
https://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/home/
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/berlin-tourist-info-centres
https://www.germany.travel/en/home.html
City Breaks: all the history and culture you'd research for yourself if you had the time!
Check our website to find more episodes from our Berlin series or to browse our back catalogue of other cities which are well worth visiting: https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk
We love to receive your comments and suggestions!
You can e mail us at citybreaks@citybreakspodcast.co.uk
And if you like what you hear, please do post comments or a review wherever you downloaded this episode. That would be very much appreciated!
Wednesday Jul 27, 2022
Wednesday Jul 27, 2022
A tour of four main squares in Berlin: a little history and tips on what to look out for in each. Baroque beauty in Gendarmenmarkt, the book-burning memorial on Bebelplatz, finding the old East Germany at Alexanderplatz and lastly Potsdamer Platz, the heart of pre-war Berlin which is now an architectural showpiece, and a shopping and cultural hub.
Useful links
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/franzosischer-dom-french-cathedral
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/deutscher-dom
https://www.konzerthaus.de/de/
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/bebelplatz
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/st-hedwigs-kathedrale
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/berlin-television-tower
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/marienkirche
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/potsdamer-platz
http://qrcobble.com/en/one-of-the-most-innovative-berlin-attraction/
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/berlin-tourist-info-centres
https://www.germany.travel/en/home.html
City Breaks: all the history and culture you'd research for yourself if you had the time!
Check our website to find more episodes from our Berlin series or to browse our back catalogue of other cities which are well worth visiting: https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk
We love to receive your comments and suggestions!
You can e mail us at citybreaks@citybreakspodcast.co.uk
And if you like what you hear, please do post comments or a review wherever you downloaded this episode. That would be very much appreciated!
Wednesday Jul 13, 2022
Wednesday Jul 13, 2022
There might be fewer 'must-sees' in the western half of Berlin than further east, but they are winners: a glorious park which began life as a 16th century royal hunting ground and is today the green heart of everyone's Berlin; and a fascinating church, rebuilt after the devastation of World War II, combining the remains with a beautiful new church, forming both a memorial of reconciliation and a modern place of worship. Oh, and the city's very classiest department store. We guide you round the area and fill in the history and culture which will enhance your visit.
Useful links
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/tiergarten
https://www.berlin.de/sehenswuerdigkeiten/3560160-3558930-siegessaeule.html (Victory Column)
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/kaiser-wilhelm-memorial-church
https://www.zoo-berlin.de/en
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/berlin-tourist-info-centres
https://www.germany.travel/en/home.html
City Breaks: all the history and culture you'd research for yourself if you had the time!
Check our website to find more episodes from our Berlin series or to browse our back catalogue of other cities which are well worth visiting: https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk
We love to receive your comments and suggestions!
You can e mail us at citybreaks@citybreakspodcast.co.uk
And if you like what you hear, please do post comments or a review wherever you downloaded this episode. That would be very much appreciated!
Wednesday Jun 29, 2022
Wednesday Jun 29, 2022
A wander down Berlin's most elegant street, Unter den Linden, to see its baroque splendour, its iconic buildings - think cathedrals, the opera house and the poignant war memorial, the Neue Wache - and maybe visit a museum or two on an island which is packed full of antiquities and art. Here is a little history, plus lots of tips on how to make the most of a day here in the heart of Berlin.
Useful links
https://www.berlinerdom.de (Berlin Cathedral)
https://www.staatsoper-berlin.de/en (The State Opera Unter den Linden)
https://www.hedwigs-kathedrale.de (St Hedwig's Cathedral)
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/neue-wache-memorial (War Memorial)
https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/museumsinsel-berlin/home (Museum Island)
https://www.humboldtforum.org/en (Humboldt Forum)
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/berlin-tourist-info-centres
https://www.germany.travel/en/home.html
City Breaks: all the history and culture you'd research for yourself if you had the time!
Check our website to find more episodes from our Berlin series or to browse our back catalogue of other cities which are well worth visiting: https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk
We love to receive your comments and suggestions!
You can e mail us at citybreaks@citybreakspodcast.co.uk
And if you like what you hear, please do post comments or a review wherever you downloaded this episode. That would be very much appreciated!