This week Slow Travel Berlin, one of the most respected and popular English-language websites in Berlin, publishes the English-language city guide 100 Favourite Places. It’s no ordinary where-to-stay where-to-sleep guide but rather the result of the website’s contributors’ passion for and deep knowledge of the city. From century-old cafés and hidden East German watchtowers, to speciality shops and esoteric museums, each entry has been chosen and written in a personal, highly informative style.
‘We wanted to create a book that readers could enjoy not only on their current trip to Berlin but also in years to come,’ explained 100 Favourite Places co-editor Marian Ryan.
Among the places selected are Kreuzberg’s St. Agnes Church-cum-art gallery – destroyed in and rebuilt after the Second World War, now deconsecrated but living on as Johann König’s remarkable contemporary art centre – and Albert Speer’s Schwerbelastungsköper in Schöneberg. The enormous ‘heavy loading body’ was built in 1941 to determine if the city’s swampy, sandy and unstable ground could support Hitler’s planned Welthauptstadt Germania. The future capital of the world was to include monumental structures. As the course of the war turned, the megalomaniac scheme was shelved, thank goodness, and today the gargantuan concrete lump remains one of the city’s most powerful examples of Nazi civic architecture.
Also mentioned is Café Buchwald, one of my favourite ‘secret’ spots in the city. ‘Already 160 years old, the café has been owned by the same family since the beginning and run mostly by women, whose pride of craftsmanship when it comes to their cakes is unparalleled,’ writes co-editor Giulia Pines. ‘At Café Buchwald, guests are encouraged to indulge ... in a certain speciality: the German delicacy known as Baumkuchen. The strange name (it means ‘tree cake’) comes from the tree-like rings that are formed from the process of baking layers of pastry on top of each other... Buchwald’s rich history and the aura of pride and personality in every bite is something most cafés only dream of.’
The guide reflects Slow Travel Berlin’s commitment to sustainable travel as well as the city’s self-sufficiency aesthetic. Every aspect of the book has been handled in-house, from the eye-catching design and full colour photographs to the delightful hand-drawn maps by artist and illustrator Katrin Hagen.
To visitors and armchair travellers alike, 100 Favourite Places gives the impression of people in the thrall of this city. ‘Although this is our first foray into publishing, it certainly will not be our last,” said Paul Sullivan, founder and editor of Slow Travel Berlin. ‘Armed with a committed team of writers and creatives and a passion for exploring the city in new and interesting ways, we plan on making the publishing arm of Slow Travel Berlin a valuable player on the local publishing scene. I feel confident that with 100 Favourite Places, we’re off to a great start.”
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