Berlin: a new destination for Gulf tourists (page 1 of 3)

What's more, the city attracts 90 million day visitors every year. In addition, 28.5 million bed nights are chalked up in Berlin homes in connection with private visits to friends and relatives. This enabled Berlin to further consolidate its position in 2004 as Germany's most popular city destination. The German capital ranks alongside London and Paris as the most visited metropolises in Europe.

Berlin covers an area of some 890 square kilometres. So it is nine times bigger than Paris. The municipal boundary extends for 234 kilometres. Only by travelling the entire length of the motorway encircling the city is it possible to appreciate the sheer size of the area involved. Nearly on three-and-a-half million people inhabit this urban conurbation.

The German capital consists today of 12 independently administered municipal districts, each of city size and status in its own right. They vary in size and character, but have three things in common - each has its own town hall, its own market place and its own municipal services organisation.

The reason for this lies in the capital's historical development. In 1920, eight towns, 59 rural communities and 27 manorial properties were amalgamated to form Greater Berlin. Berlin was first officially mentioned in 1237 after the two mercantile suburban colonies Coelln and Berlin had been unified.

Goodbye to The Wall

The demolition of the Wall on 9 November 1989 marked the dawn of a new era for Berlin - an era in which the most significant elements have been the reunification of Germany in 1990, the decision regarding the location of the capital in 1991 and the relocation of government and parliament to the traditional centre of the nation - in the heart of Berlin. This transfer was completed in 1999.

Berlin - in the very heart of Europe - has been, since time immemorial, a focal point for travellers from all over the world. In the 1930s, Potsdamer Platz carried a greater volume of traffic than any other square in Europe. It was here that the first traffic lights were installed, the replica of which can be admired at this same spot.

After nearly three decades of desolation caused by the Wall, Potsdamer Platz has implemented new traffic engineering and town planning visions for the Berlin of the third millennium. This area mirrors the re-emergence of and sweeping changes to the entire city. After reunification Berlin is, geographically speaking, at the interface between East and West in Europe.

The Berlin Wall earned the city a sorry reputation around the world for almost 30 years. What little remains of it can be seen in the East Side Gallery, on Bernauer Straße, next to the Preußischer Landtag and in Prenzlauer Berg. Berlin has long since emerged from the shadow of the Wall, however.

More than 15 years after it came down, the city, subsequently regarded as the 'workshop of unity', has reinvented itself. It is now associated with top-class architecture, modernity and a fast pace of life. The German capital, whose profile will continue to change, is more attractive than ever for tourists.

During the approach to the city Berlin already offers visitors a fascinating landscape with its expansive lakes, parks and forests. More than one-third of the city area is taken up by parks, forests and water. The largest lake is the Müggelsee with a water area of 750 hectares.

A chain of lakes like the Tegelersee and the Wannsee is interspersed across the city; they are connected by a system of rivers (Havel and Spree) and canals.