A Historical Walking Tour of Berlin, Germany with a Venezuelan Wedding

A Historical Walking Tour of Berlin, Germany with a Venezuelan Wedding

Welcome back to another adventure. This time, Sammy and I meet up with her cousin Gonzalo in Berlin, Germany. We take a historical walking tour and learn about the different layers of history scattered throughout the city. On Thanksgiving Day 2024, Sammy and I land in Berlin where we start our trip. We’re greeted by Sammy’s cousin, Gonzalo. He’s currently at college here in Berlin and we take a few train rides to make it back to his apartment. We drop off our bags and head out for our Thanksgiving dinner. We were so hungry from the flight, we devour our meal and then walk it off in a Christmas market right across the street. The next morning, Sammy and I set off to do one of our favorite things in the new city, a free walking tour of Berlin. We begin in the square between the television tower and the Martin Luther Memorial. The tower was built in the late 1960s by the East German government and it was meant to be a symbol of socialist achievement visible from anywhere in the city. This is St. Mary’s Church, one of the oldest churches in Berlin, dating back to the 13th century. It has a statue of Martin Luther standing out front. During World War II, much of this area was damaged. In the years followed, the statue was moved several times before being returned to the original location. Today, it stands both as a religious and a historical reminder of the city’s deep Protestant roots. As we continue to walk through East Berlin, you can notice that the architecture is bland and gray. These square uniform buildings were mass- prodduced and designed for quick and equal housing after the war. They were once symbols of socialist efficiency, but today they stand as a reminder of the city’s divided past. From there, we walk towards the Berlin Cathedral in the Lus Garden in front of the Altus Museum. The cathedral was built as a Protestant counterpart to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. It was completely destroyed during World War II, but the cathedral stood in ruins for decades under East German rule before the restoration finally began in the 1970s. This square used to be a rallying point for the Nazi regime, but now it is used to remember those lost during the war. We then walk over to what they call the new guard house. The building was originally constructed in 1818 as a royal guard house, but after the devastation of World War II, it was rebuilt and redirected as a place of remembrance. Inside the space, it’s hauntingly simple. A sculpture of a mother holding her dead son directly beneath the open skylight. The building is used as Germany’s central memorial for victims of war and dictatorship. As we walk outside, we’re greeted with this statue of Frederick the Great. He was Prussia’s most famous king who transformed the nation into a European power during the 18th century. As we walk, we see this map which tells a story of a divided Germany after World War II. On the right, we see a country split into four occupation zones, controlled by the Americans, the British, the French, and the Soviets. Berlin was deep inside the Soviet zone, but it was also divided among the four powers, as shown on the left. The city became a front line for the cold war with the western sector standing for democracy and the Soviet Union standing for communism. These political tensions eventually led to the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, which is a concrete barrier that would separate families, neighborhoods, and an entire nation for nearly three decades. As we continue walking, we get to Checkpoint Charlie, which is one of the most famous crossings between the Soviet and the American sections of Berlin. There were super tense points in the Cold War where they thought war would break out. We did figure out in the most American way possible, right when you enter the US side, there’s a KFC and a McDonald’s waiting for you. So fast food is what we do best. We continue moving and pass Traby World, a small museum dedicated to the Tramand, an iconic but notoriously outdated car of East Germany. It’s a perfect example of how communist engineering lagged behind the West. We continue our tour and reach a portion of the Berlin Wall itself. It’s crazy to think that families woke up one morning and found barb wire and concrete dividing their neighborhoods. It becomes pretty clear by the architecture once you make your way to the US side of Berlin. Earlier we saw the communist side which was much more boxy and gray and over on the US side it boasts modern skyscraper type architecture. We then approached the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. Built in 2005 to honor the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It consists of 2,711 concrete slabs of varying heights arranged in a grid that creates a disorienting and kind of unsettling atmosphere. The design is meant to evoke feelings of loss, confusion, and the weight of history in the heart of modern Berlin. We then conclude our tour at the Brandenburgg Gate, which was built in 1791 as a symbol of Prussian power. During the Cold War, it stood isolated as the no man’s land just behind the Berlin Wall, a stark emblem of division. Today, it has been reclaimed as a national symbol of unity and peace in a reunited Germany. At the conclusion of the tour, we say bye to Gonzalo and start heading on trains to southern Germany to a small town called Carlure. The next day, one of Sammy’s high school friends is invited us to an authentic Venezuelan wedding in Germany. We want to say thank you so much to Mari Lara for inviting us to the wedding. We had such an amazing time. Also, thank you to Gonzalo for hosting us in Berlin. It was an amazing time as well. I hope you guys enjoyed viewing Berlin through a historical perspective like I did. If you enjoyed this adventure, feel free to check out my channel where I got a ton of other adventures just like it.

Location: Berlin, Germany

Google Maps Link:
TV Tower (Fernsehturm): https://maps.app.goo.gl/S79JFf984MKrVGkg8
Martin Luther Monument (Lutherdenkmal) / St. Mary’s Church: https://maps.app.goo.gl/r5chKMt8o9PC53P76
Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom): https://maps.app.goo.gl/m71hXcN18qHK4HLB6
Lustgarten & Altes Museum: https://maps.app.goo.gl/9ZJVU8eusJT41Z4H6
Deutsches Historisches Museum: https://maps.app.goo.gl/XuGS63jhGn6Sn3UZ6
Statue of Frederick the Great: https://maps.app.goo.gl/SDVwS8jtVwikiAgh6
Checkpoint Charlie: https://maps.app.goo.gl/mnqpcmwYPQNG39Dt7
Trabi World: https://maps.app.goo.gl/NbFknjQuWN62mspr8
Berlin Wall: https://maps.app.goo.gl/dB1tJ16PXXSnzPnJ9
Neue Wache (War Memorial with Käthe Kollwitz sculpture): https://maps.app.goo.gl/7kgsYfF5v8DHDZ5KA
Plattenbau architecture (East Berlin housing blocks)
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe: https://maps.app.goo.gl/cUJukj52iYR7AEZW8
Brandenburg Gate: https://maps.app.goo.gl/r8xMy6MWyjxQoQRa6

About This Video:
Join us as we explore Berlin, starting with a Thanksgiving feast, Christmas markets, and a walking tour through the city’s most iconic landmarks.
The tour takes us past the famous TV Tower and historic Berlin Cathedral to Checkpoint Charlie and the remains of the Berlin Wall, we trace the layers of history that shaped the city.
We visit somber memorials like the Neue Wache and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, powerful reminders of war and division.
Our journey ends at the Brandenburg Gate, once a symbol of separation, now a monument to unity and peace.

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