Meet the Local Friends
Rafael from Berlin
Meet the Local Friends: Rafael from Berlin
This is the fourth part in our series about Local Friends in Berlin. One by one they will introduce themselves coming weeks. We have asked them to tell you a bit about their lives and favourite things to do in their city. If you want to hear more, just come to Berlin and explore this hipster city with the personal advice of a Local Friend.
How long have you been living in Berlin and why did you move to this city?
I’ve been living in Berlin for two and a half years, but I spent some time here a couple of years ago, before deciding to move. Me coming to Berlin the first time was kind of a thing of fate. I was looking for an internship and the one in Berlin was just offered to me, without me even looking for it. I’ve heard this was a cool place, so I decided to take it. Then I spent six months in the city and fell in love for it, so I had to come back, and here I am!
What do you do for the living?
I work in the PR department of a German eyewear brand. Currently my work is more focused on social media, but I still do some press support too.
Where in Berlin do you live and why should travellers pay your area a visit?
I live in Prenzlauer Berg, a kind of bourgeoisie district in the Eastern part of the city. It used to be one of the worse neighbourhoods in town, until it got popular among artists and all kinds of bohemian folks because of the cheap rents, but then gentrification happened. Now it is home to many young families, professionals and expats, but the part where I live is pretty quiet. There are a lot of cute cafes, restaurants and shops. Sunday brunch is a big deal in Berlin and you will find a lot of great places in this neighbourhood for that. Be sure to book a table, or come early, because it can get pretty crowded.
What does your favourite Berlin weekend look like?
It would start with some after-work drinks with the people from work. My office is in Mitte, which is a very hip district with lots of cool bars and restaurants, so we normally start in the courtyard of the building where our office is and then take it to one of the bars nearby. I personally like to go out dancing on Fridays a lot, because then I have two whole days to recover from the -as usual in Berlin- very long night.
If I went out on Friday I normally wake up around 13:00, or 14:00 on Saturday, just in time for a well deserved brunch. For that I like to go to Barcomi’s in Mitte, or Anna Blume, which is closer to my flat. Both of them are pretty popular and can get very crowded, they’re definitely not an insider secret, but the food is great. After what is mostly a big meal I like to walk a bit, around the shops in Mitte, or Kreuzberg. If I’m in Mitte I’ll take a look at Gestalten, which is a great bookshop just in front of Barcomi’s. In Kreuzberg I would drop by Voo Store, a concept store selling everything from decor to clothes, also hosting a small coffee shop called Companion Coffee, which has one of the best coffees in town. Depending on how tired I am I would go home to get ready for the evening, to meet friends for drinks, or for dinner. Sunday is always a very quiet day for me and I mostly go to the movies, a museum and then meet some friends in the evening for dinner!
Ok, we all know Berghain. What other clubs do you recommend to people that are looking for Berlin famous nightlife?
There is always a lot going on in Berlin’s nightlife and even though I’m taking it easy lately there are a few places I’ve been to recently that I found very interesting. A couple of months ago, almost against my will, I ended up in a club in the deep east of Berlin called Sisyphos. Inside there’s a playground kind of setting, featuring an outdoor space with a few props where you can hang out. Besides that, there are three indoor dance floors, one is a small wood shack outside of what looks like a big abandoned warehouse that contains the other two. As the crowd is mostly young, so the atmosphere is careless, it feels as if you were in one of those week-long festivals when you don’t even remember what day it is. No one is paying attention to your outfit, how you dance, or who you’re with, a kind of freedom you don’t get anymore in a place like Panorama Bar unless you’re too wasted to think. Our intern at the office said it was getting more popular –you know how Berliners hate anything mainstream, but I think it is still a long way until it gets there. They’re now in their winter pause, but I will certainly drop by again when they open in spring.
Why did you actually want to be a Berliner Local Friend?
Well I’ve done the guide thing for friends and friends of friends for a while. They all seem to have lots of fun and keep telling their friends to get in touch with me when they are in town. I don’t have a lot of time -or sometimes the energy- to do it that often, but I like how you can get to know new people and hang out with folks you otherwise would have never been able to meet. I thinks this is a great idea for people who don’t have a lot of time, so they can still get the feeling of a city without having to do the whole trial and error thing.
