The Real Berlin - Street, Food and History - Tasty Bike Tour

East Side Gallery

The East Side Gallery is the longest surviving piece of the Berlin Wall – a 1.3 kilometre long open-air artwork along the Spree. After the fall of the Wall in 1989, 118 artists from all over the world painted the former border wall with over 100 murals. Her works stand for freedom, political change and overcoming borders. The motif of the “brother kiss” between Honecker and Brezhnev is particularly well known. The gallery runs between Ostbahnhof and Oberbaumbrücke and attracts millions of visitors every year. It is not only a monument to reunification, but also a symbol of the power of art in public spaces. Here history meets creativity – in the middle of today’s Berlin.

Kreuzberg is one of Berlin’s most famous and versatile neighbourhoods – a melting pot of cultures, history, subculture and creative awakening. Once a working-class district directly on the Berlin Wall, Kreuzberg was long cut off from the rest of the city – today life is pulsating here. Between street art, alternative cafés, historic backyards and modern food spots, you will meet students, artists, activists and long-established Berliners. The neighbourhood is characterised by Turkish migration, the 80s squatter movement, political protest and multicultural everyday life. Places like Görlitzer Park, the Landwehrkanal or Kotti (Kottbusser Tor) are symbolic of Kreuzberg’s transformation – raw, direct, lively and full of stories. This is where Berlin shows its most intense side.

Kottbusser Tor

The Kottbusser Tor, often simply called “Kotti”, is one of the most intense and fascinating places in Berlin. Located in the heart of Kreuzberg, it is considered a hub of cultures and realities. Migrants, veterans, activists, creatives and neighbourhood initiatives meet here – loud, colourful, direct. In the 1970s, the large social housing project “Neues Kreuzberger Zentrum” was built here, which is still influential for the cityscape today. For decades, Kotti was seen as a social hotspot, but also a place of solidarity, resistance and cultural self-organization. Today he is in transition: New gastronomy, modern fast food concepts and start-ups meet traditional tea rooms and snack bars. Despite all the contrasts, the Kotti remains a microcosm of Berlin – raw, contradictory, alive.