the hidden gem
Just a while ago a new statistic came out saying that in the last year Berlin had the biggest growth of all european cities concerning the number of tourists. Looking at the amount of people visiting this city it is on position no. 3 now behind London and Paris.
While this is the ranking that everybody expects I often wonder why Berlin can not catch up with those two other cities. Because in my view this city has as much to offer and can be well compared with London and Paris.
Let’s look at Paris: Undoubtely the Eiffeltower looks more impressive than the tv tower of Berlin and the Louvre certainly has more famous paintings than many of Berlin’s museums together. But there is other things that people come for that can be very well compared. Just a few examples:
You name me Sacre Coeur and Notre Dame and I tell you - what about the Berlin cathedral or the two cathedrals at the Gendarmenmarkt? Surely there is no famous book about the Berlin cathedral but concerning the architecture and its beauty it is very comparable.
Arc de triumphe? Surely beautiful but the Brandenburg Gate definetely too.
Champs Elysees? Look how nice Unter den Linden looks - at least when there is no construction zone.
You name the art scene in Paris, I can tell you that Berlin has a big art scene for instance in Prenzlauer Berg too.
Now, somebody would probably ask where the heck Prenzlauer Berg is? And that is the problem. I think, the tourist office sells this city too cheap, such information about Berlin should be more known to other people and it’s no help that - in my view - the german media obviously got a problem with accepting Berlin as the main city of Germany.
I think Paris has this myth of being *the* place you need to go to when you come to Europe and I have no problem in saying that surely Paris is a beautiful city but I think that Berlin should do more answering: Yes, visit Paris if you want to but don’t forget to come to Berlin too because for what it offers you will enjoy it as much as London or Paris.
Tags: art, Berlin, Brandenburg_Gate, cathedral, europe, london, paris