This fashionable street in the alternative Kreuzberg district in the heart of old Berlin is dotted with cafés, clothes’ shops, second-hand goods’ stores and Turkish bazaars. Note the two beautiful inner courtyards and their façades at n°s 25 and 183.

The Kreuzberg district was the centre of West Berlin’s counter-culture in the 1980s. Alternative cultural centres now rub shoulders with the Turkish community of “Little Istanbul” in the eastern section, the famous “SO36” (a reference to “Südost 36”, the district’s old post code), which was once surrounded on three sides by the Berlin Wall.

In marked contrast to the heterogeneous, working-class eastern district, western Kreuzberg has an almost bourgeois feel with its magnificent restored buildings, making it perfect for a relaxing stroll. To the north lies what was the government and media district before construction of the Wall and one of its most famous crossing points: Checkpoint Charlie.

The Oberbaumbrücke, which links Kreuzberg to Friedrichshain, once marked the border between the East and West. Restored in the 1990s, its turrets, gables and crenellated arcades are typical of the Middle Ages and its neo-Gothic style (1896) is reminiscent of Tower Bridge in London. The bridge takes its name from the toll dyke made from tree trunks (Baum) which stood on this spot in the 18C.