IS BERLIN THE COOLEST CITY IN EUROPE? (Germany)

Berlin is poor but sexy, they say. It's not as polished as the other European capitals. There's a grit in its concrete sprawl, its imposing architecture, its perpetually gray skies. Few tangible remnants of the past remain, yet the weight of history hangs heavy in the air. And there's something about this city, something that draws musicians, artists, creatives, and so many more, all looking to make this place their own. Berlin has been reborn from its own ashes time and time again, leveled by bombs in World War II, split apart both metaphorically and physically during the Cold War, then reunited again. Each upheaval wiped the slate clean, leaving space for reinvention. The result is a constantly transforming place, constructed by individual imaginations, where past and present coexist, and where people have had more opportunities than in most places to do with the city what they will. My initial impression of Berlin is that it feels a lot like The Sims game, and for those of you who don't know what that is, it is a video game where you are essentially the master of your own universe. You can build your own cities and communities, essentially just live out your wildest fantasies, and Berlin is a lot like this. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked a pivotal shift. East and West came back together, and this new unified Berlin was cheap, with lots of space. Years of stagnation under Soviet rule had left the East with abandoned buildings that Berliners could claim, legally or illegally. The result is creative hubs around the city like RAW, a revitalized train depot turned cultural center. This is a Teledisco. It's one of those things that are pretty unique to Berlin. You can find them all over the city, and we're gonna go inside. All right, come on in. Tell me that's not like The Sims game, because that is absolutely something that would be in The Sims game. A beer garden next to a crazy rock climbing gym. A skate park coffee shop. An old warehouse turned hipster flea market. Recreational areas full of playground structures, quirky installations, interactive art. Berlin feels like adults were let loose with the freedom to do whatever they wanted. It's self-indulgent. It doesn't take itself too seriously. Hence why Berlin is like The Sims. Artists and musicians make Berlin an incredible city to live in and explore. During our stay, we saw more live performances than we've seen in the last five years. Many performers take to the streets, while inside underground DIY cash-only venues, local bands play genre-bending music surrounded by crowds of people that are certainly cooler than you. And some of the performances were, well, interesting. And for anyone who says punk rock is dead, they clearly haven't been to Berlin. We were at a very famous techno club last Friday here in Berlin called Sisyphos, and we came across one of the many rooms where this really rockin' all-female punk band was playing. And it was all the more awesome because we weren't expecting to see a live punk band at a techno venue. So we struck up a conversation with the girls after the show to let them know how much we enjoyed it, and they invited us here. It was an underground punk music venue, and we're going to be part of the audience at the show they're playing now, which will also be filmed for our music video. We were both sick of men in bands, so that's why also we decided to have a yeah, all-female band, and it was like very important to us. And you two write all your own music then together, like everything's like, that's really cool. So Piss Tonight, I Heard the Story, I like it. Actually, originally I kind of wanted to write a song about having to pee on the train. Whenever I get on the train, the moment I get on the train, I have to pee. But then I realized that when I'm on the train, like on the public transport in Berlin, that I can't pee. And I have to pay 50 cents wherever I go and ask if I can go and use the bathroom there, and I think that's ******* crazy. And that's why I wrote the song, and it's basically about capitalism and how it's fucked up. Is Berlin really artist-friendly? I mean, it is easy. You're able to play shows because there's so many locations and venues, especially in the DIY sector. It's always possible to organize something with friends and other bands, but on the other hand, you cannot live off it. You mentioned DIY spaces, so this is one of those. Can you just tell me what they are? I mean, all the DIY spaces, they're based on community work, so there's no profit. For the people, the drinks are really cheap, and the entry fee is really cheap, and they want to make it affordable to everyone. That's really special about it. Yeah, and most of these places actually come from squads or ex-squads. So do you think there's anything specifically about Berlin that's particularly inspiring? Berlin and Germany generally, I think, is pretty supportive of music, and I know that also in the punk scene, it's a very big discussion if you actually want to take the money from the state and stuff like that. I think there's a huge community. We know a lot of people, and they know us, and it's a really good community space inside our bubble. I feel that we're really part of the Berlin punk scene, and that's really nice. We travel full-time, and for us, connecting with locals is absolutely essential. It's not just about getting around. It's about creating deep, meaningful videos for this channel that really get to the bottom of a destination. Language is really the bridge for that, and without at least a basic grasp of the local language, it's really hard to go beyond surface level of a destination. That's why I've been using Rosetta Stone all year to learn the local languages wherever I go. So far this year, I've learned Portuguese on Rosetta Stone for a trip to Brazil, Arabic for a trip to the Arabian Peninsula, and basic German for our recent two-month stay in Berlin. Rosetta Stone offers 25 different languages, and for each one, it preps you for real-world conversations by incorporating phrases that people actually use day to day. My personal favorite feature is the voice recognition tool where it matches my speaking to audio of native speakers. This gives me instant feedback on my pronunciation to make sure that it's just right. Also, as a full-time traveler, I love that I can learn on the go with the Rosetta Stone app, and with the audio companion tool, I can download lessons so I don't have to stop learning even if I don't have reliable access to Wi-Fi. If you're looking to learn a new language, I really cannot recommend Rosetta Stone enough. Right now, they're offering an amazing deal of 60% off to all 25 languages for life. You just pay once and you're good to go. With the holidays right around the corner, this could be the perfect gift for the loved ones in your life. If you're interested in getting started, I'm leaving all the information in my description box below. Just click the link to get started. Berlin's nightlife will eat you alive. Born out of the unifying force of techno after the fall of the wall, it's famous for being totally uninhibited and free. Once you get past the strict door policies, that is. Hundreds of clubs cater to every vice, fetish, and taste, like the legendary Berghain, located in an imposing old East Berlin power plant. It's a massive venue with three dance floors and a labyrinth of passageways and dark rooms to do whatever it is you're looking for. We are in front of Berghain. This is arguably the most famous nightclub in the world, and you could say that nightlife is Berlin's biggest claim to fame. If you have the stamina, you go into the club on Friday and you don't leave until Monday morning. And the venues here are absolutely insane. I've never really seen anything like it anywhere else in the world. Berlin nightlife is notoriously difficult to navigate, and Berghain is really the prime example of why. The rejection rate here is rumored to be around 50%, and the doormen here are really the custodians of this culture. So they're usually these kind of intimidating-looking German guys, and they're wearing sunglasses. And the criteria they use to judge people is not exactly clear. They kind of look you up and down, either nod yes or shake their head no. We have been both accepted into Berghain and rejected from it in the same day. We came on a Sunday and waited in line for an hour and a half at eight in the morning, and were told no. We returned later in the afternoon, waited in line for another three hours, and were let in. So I'm not sure what changed. We had the same doorman and everything, but apparently the second time we were deemed cool enough to enter this club. It is strictly forbidden to film inside Berlin's nightclubs, so you'll have to imagine the pounding techno beats, people in various states of undress, crawl spaces and not-so-secret rooms, and bathrooms used for anything but their intended purpose. It's raw, uninhibited hedonism at its finest. Berlin nightlife is a formula that is totally unparalleled. It's intoxicating. But you have to be careful, otherwise you might completely lose yourself. Berlin is an international city, and among the many diasporas here, the Turkish community stands out as particularly intertwined with Germany's modern identity. Turkish immigrants first came to Germany in large numbers in 1961, contributing to the country's post-war economic boom. Most were meant to be here temporarily, but many stayed, and in doing so, changed the country and the city of Berlin forever. Today, Germany is home to the largest Turkish population outside of Turkey, and nowhere is this influence more evident than in Kreuzberg, colloquially known as Istanbul. So the interesting thing about this market is that a few decades ago, it was fully Turkish, and that reflected the demographic makeup of the neighborhood. And now, as Berlin has become increasingly international, you see vendors from everywhere, all over the Middle East, Latin America, and that just shows how mixed Berlin has become. So much good food here. Here you have lots of different Turkish street foods that we had the pleasure of trying when we were traveling in Istanbul. You have borek, and this is gozleme, which is kind of like a crepe. You roll it out and put different stuffings on the inside. We're getting some Turkish coffee made in the traditional way in this little copper pot warmed up in hot sand, and some Turkish tea as well. I'm very excited about this. Yeah, very hot. The character of Kreuzberg has really drastically changed over the last few decades. So in the 60s, when Turkish workers first moved in, it was on the outskirts of West Berlin because the wall was still standing, and it was considered a working-class neighborhood, even a bit of a ghetto, which wasn't a very desirable place to live. And then when the wall came down, the location of Kreuzberg changed. It's now smacked down in the middle of Berlin. Everyone wants to live here, and alongside the population who has resided here for decades, you also have a new influx of hipsters, and the neighborhood is now at the center of the discussion about gentrification in Berlin. And it just goes to show how the wall coming down also drastically impacted certain areas of the city. While acceptance of Turkish people into German society has not always been straightforward, a long and complicated topic for another day, one thing is certain. Germans love Turkish food of all kinds, but one particular dish has inspired an impressive level of fervor. Meat, the duna kebab, seasoned meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie. There are over 1,000 duna kebab shops in Berlin alone, and duna is a billion-euro industry in Germany. When did you come to Germany for the first time? Your family came from Turkey to work here in Germany then? I was 8 years old in 1972. My mother, my sister, and I came to my father's side. He came to Austria in 1968 as a worker. He worked there for two years, and then he came to Berlin. In Berlin, at that time, there was help for those who came to work. Mustafa is widely credited for inventing the gamuza kebab, a variation of the classic duna that incorporates roasted vegetables. It is served in a fluffy flatbread and layered with salad and sauces. All right, I'm trying to figure out how to take like a bite of this because it's so big. I can see why Germans like this so much. So this is lamb and beef? This is beef. This is just pure beef? It's delicious. It's gamey, super flavorful, well-seasoned. And there's more duna shops in Berlin than I would say any other kind of food. Why is Turkish food so popular in Germany? Turkish people came in the, correct me if I'm wrong, 60s or 70s to Germany and helped to build up the whole economy in Germany because we needed workforce. And they brought the Turkish cuisine to Germany, therefore we have so many places. And then especially in Berlin, I think in the 80s or the 90s, they started to do some duna places, like very cheap, like ridiculous right now. Cheaper than a sausage, cheaper than a currywurst. It was very, very cheap, very affordable, so everybody was eating it. And I can see that it has a little bit of all the food groups. You got the meat, you got the bread, you got the vegetables, you got the cheese. So it's very, this one specifically is very nutritionally balanced. It's a whole meal. Yeah. Oh, well, this is absolutely delicious. And I always say, like, I feel like Turkish food to Germans is like Mexican food to Americans and that it's just been adopted with this passionate fervor. I think this is the best duna I've had in my six weeks in Berlin. And we've had quite a few at this point. Spend any amount of time in Berlin and you'll begin to notice round-the-clock convenience stores called Spadis. Beyond their retail function, Spadis act as informal bars where you can grab a cheap beer and linger with friends at any time of day. They are integral to social life in the city. We meet local musician Lars, where he leads us to his favorite Spadi, a spot that also served as the backdrop for his band's music video. Okay, cheers. Thanks for inviting us here. So what is a Spadi? Because I see them all over the city. And apparently it's like a Berlin thing, right? It's a pretty Berlin thing, yeah. It's like a kind of all-around shop. And they sell, like, very funny and sometimes weird, like, combinations of things. Like mostly alcohol and nicotine. So what is it specifically about Berlin that keeps you here or you find special? In the bigger picture, I would say that there's, like, this, like, sense of anarchy in Berlin. You have very high freedom. Like, you can do lots of things and you can basically, you can go on the street, dress however, resembling what gender whatsoever. And, like, people will not look at you strange, you know. Many people are looking for a place where you can be yourself. I think if you spend any amount of time in Berlin and you talk to the people here, you know, everyone mentions how things are so much more expensive now and how that vibe is changing. It has definitely changed because everything, like, everything is getting more expensive and the kind of the affordable spaces for, like, expression, they get less. Would you say, like, the previous lower cost of living is what kind of enabled Berlin to become the creative hub it is? Yeah, for sure. Definitely. And the other one was also the history of Berlin, like, also being, like, the cultural and political center of Germany for, like, centuries. And in the 90s, after the war came down, there was a lot of, like, free spaces in Berlin. Like, basically within one or two hundred meters from the wall, it was like a military safe zone. So there were no houses where, like, also there were, like, spaces and, like, old houses where people would, like, start doing raves or concerts. So there was, it was basically like a little bit like a big playground. I've been saying pretty much the entire time I've been in Berlin, I'm like, this place is an adult playground. Like, you literally have these super cool, massive spaces where a bunch of adults go in and are like, I'm just going to, like, build a little gazebo for me to go hang out with my friends. Or here I'm going to build a teledisco. Or here's going to be a nightclub next to, like, a little coffee shop. And you actually could make that happen. I mean, yeah, it was like that. It's not, it's not so much the free kind of playground, it's just a beer. Do you think that there's anything that can be done to kind of maintain the old school Berlin spirit that everyone loves? There definitely has to be a stop on, like, rent raises. And there has to be a ban on leaving houses empty. And so, yeah, I mean, the people of Berlin, they can, like, go to the streets and put pressure on politics. There's no action on that level. Like, how can you stop it? Though stereotypes might lead you to believe that Germans adore order and a good rule, Germany is not shy of protests and demonstrations. In fact, in Berlin, seems like there's one every single day. The city streets are a stage for every kind of activism. Some predictable, others less so. Pro-Israel Antifa. Pro-Palestine rallies against Genocide Joe. Anti-fascism marches. Protests against the madness of rental prices. Climate action. The graffiti sprawled across the city's walls echo these sentiments. Whatever the cause, one thing's certain. Berliners don't stay silent and do not shy away from the political. A trip to Germany wouldn't be complete without some classic German cuisine. So we have come to Fleischerei Domke for some traditional German food. Oh, perfect, thank you. We've ordered several traditional German dishes that are very common here. We got a boulette or a meatball with sauerkraut and potato. We got a bratwurst or sausage. This is one of the most popular foods in Germany. You have to get one when you're here. And we got a pork knuckle. It's iconic. This is a thing of beauty with more sauerkraut and potatoes. And I like to call food from Germany and this part of the world in general, the lands of yellow food. Let's dive in. It's a light breakfast to start the day. Super simple. It's boiled, salted. And all this food is just super comforting. It's what you'd find at a Thanksgiving meal in the US. Wash it down with a little bite of sauerkraut. I love this stuff. I don't know why. Maybe it's my German heritage. Why is it that Germans love meat in a casing so much? I'm not 100% sure. But this one is pretty good. The world is changing. With the pandemic, the rise of remote work, and desire for a better quality of life, many are inspired to make the move to Europe. This influx of new arrivals have led to demographic shifts in cities like Berlin. To get a deeper understanding of why Berlin is so attractive to newcomers, we speak with Vanessa, an American who has been living in Germany for five years. And now helps others make the move to Europe. And you have a really interesting job that you've built for yourself. So you help foreigners move here to Berlin. I work full-time in tech. And then my business is Wander Onwards, which is where I help people move abroad. And do you see a common thread in the personality types that are attracted to moving to the city? People who want to come to Berlin tend to be very liberal, very open-minded. What they're really looking for is an opportunity to live a lot more peacefully, to remove themselves from the rat race, and to integrate into a very international society. And how is living here different than the States? We have a nationalized healthcare system where we're all on insurances. And between not having the rat race to having these social services, having insurances in case I lose my job, that has really lowered my anxiety levels. And it's probably why I look like I haven't aged since I've been here. Okay, so what advice would you give to someone looking to move to Berlin or just Germany in general? Well, first you've got to figure out, what do you want to do here? So if you want to study, that's super affordable. Public universities here in Germany are as cheap as 300 Euro per semester. There's also language schools here. You can always find a job here, as I have done and many of my clients as well. Okay, so you've said a lot of mind-blowing things today. I think I would call Berlin in one word, Neverland. So I'm going to stay here as long as possible. Mauerpark on Sunday. A flea market, green space, and free-for-all for any and all types of self-expression. You can shop for things you didn't know you needed. Or sit back and watch Berliners play music, make art, and sing karaoke. It's everything that makes Berlin Berlin in a single place. What I find really unique about Berlin is that people of all ages find the time to really slow down and enjoy life and play. Coming from the US, I think we get caught in the rat race and the hustle and things can be very money-driven. So we forget to kind of slow down and just enjoy our lives. And in Berlin, you can still find that in droves with adult building playgrounds for themselves or just making art and playing music just because. And it's really rare to find this anywhere in the world. So I really enjoyed Berlin because of that.