A walk through Berlin's diverse Kreuzberg district

Our final stop in the trip was Berlin. It's one of Germany's 16 states and the country's capital. It's also the largest city with about 3.7 million people.

Pictured above you can see one of the many streets of the hipster area of Berlin called Kreuzberg. This district is culturally diverse especially with a large Turkish community that started migrating in the 1960s. Walking down the streets, you can see many kebab restaurants and little outdoor markets.

(Part of our RIAS group taking a tour of Kreuzberg)

Our second day in Berlin we met with Ozcan Mutlu of Turkish Origin and a political member of the Green Party.                                                                                He took us on a walking tour of the vibrant district explaining how it has developed since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.                                             

Ozcan described how the area is rich with diversity and young people who live and study here. After the tour, he took us to Mercan Restaurant, a yummy locally-owned restaurant, where we had a home-style Turkish lunch spread across a long table.

                 

There were never-ending plates of vegetable mix, rice and yoghurt. At the end the meal, we had Turkish tea.

                      

Danke schön Ozcan for showing us the diverse community of Kreuzberg and introducing us to Turkish food!