Berlin - There's just NO alternative!

I had heard so much about the alternative culture (and the kebabs) in Berlin, and hence I gave myself 5 days, the longest time I set aside for one city, to explore and immerse within. It was totally worth it! I made good use of my time there, seeing the famous/notorious tourist spots, joining a couple of "alternative" walking tours, staying at a hostel, couchsurfing and checking out museums, but the most memorable activity I took part in was meeting a bunch of couchsurfers to catch the sunrise at Teufelsberg.

Teufelsberg

Info extracted from wikipedia

The Teufelsberg (German for Devil's Mountain) is a hill in Berlin, Germany, in former West Berlin. It rises about 80 meters above the surrounding Brandenburg plain.It is an artificial hill with a curious history: it was built by the Allies after the Second World War from the rubble of Berlin during the following twenty years as the city was rebuilt. One estimate for the amount of rubble is about 12 million cubic meters, or about 400,000 buildings. It is higher than the highest natural hill (the Kreuzberg) in the Berlin area.The curiousness begins with what is buried underneath the hill: a Nazi military-technical college designed by Albert Speer. The Allies tried using explosives to demolish the school, but it was so sturdy that covering it with debris turned out to be easier.

The US National Security Agency (NSA) built one of its largest listening stations on top of the hill, rumoured to be part of the global ECHELON intelligence gathering network. The station continued to operate until the fall of East Germany and the Berlin Wall, but after that the station was closed and the equipment removed. The buildings and radar domes still remain in place.

Sunrise walk

Back to the couchsurfing gathering. I had been travelling alone in Berlin for 3 days, and came upon a gathering initiated by Ingre, an Estonian studying in Berlin. I had read about the place, and thought it would be cool to meet at 1am and do a short hike up to Teufelsberg with some CSers to catch the sunrise at 443hrs that morning.

I vaguely remember how I met Ingre… something along the lines of asking almost every blond at the station at 1am if she was called Ingre. But we managed to meet just as the train arrived , and I got to know Florian as well, another CS member, on the train ride. By the time the train reached the intended stop, there were 5 of us. By the next train, the group grew to 14 strong, of which 7 were drunk.

Couchsurfers - in all shapes, sizes, characters

It was another slight uphill walk to Teufelsberg, including a trail through some forest, and climbing through a hole in the fence. Apparently it was illegal to trespass. Apparently in Berlin, rules are broken more often than they are adhered to.

We arrived at Teufelsberg with time to spare before the sunrise, and explored the abandoned radar station.

Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy and there was not much of a sunrise to appreciate, but we still had a great time taking pictures from the windy station, and finally settling for some breakfast .

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

breakfast