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Only in Berlin: A Guide to Unique Locations, Hidden Corners and Unusual Objects
A comprehensive illustrated guide to more than 80 fascinating and unusual historical sights in one of Europe's great capital cities:
• Hidden gardens, forgotten cemeteries, ruined churches, historic villages and unusual museums
• From the Hohenzollerns and the Weimar Republic to the Third Reich and the Soviets
• Devil's Mountain, the Bridge of Spies, Peacock Island, the Führer Bunker, Frederick the Great's coffin, and the Berlin Archaeopteryx
• Marlene Dietrich, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, Albert Einstein, Rosa Luxemburg and the Brothers Grimm
• Recommended for visitors to Berlin wishing to discover something a little different, as well as for inhabitants who perhaps thought they already knew the city
• Hidden gardens, forgotten cemeteries, ruined churches, historic villages and unusual museums
• From the Hohenzollerns and the Weimar Republic to the Third Reich and the Soviets
• Devil's Mountain, the Bridge of Spies, Peacock Island, the Führer Bunker, Frederick the Great's coffin, and the Berlin Archaeopteryx
• Marlene Dietrich, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, Albert Einstein, Rosa Luxemburg and the Brothers Grimm
• Recommended for visitors to Berlin wishing to discover something a little different, as well as for inhabitants who perhaps thought they already knew the city
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
1 person is currently reading
6 people want to read
About the author
Duncan J.D. Smith
35 books13 followersDuncan JD Smith is The Urban Explorer, an independent travel writer, guidebook author, historian, photographer, and publisher. Having worked for many years selling other travel writers’ books, in 2003 he decided to start writing and publishing his own. He has subsequently embarked on a lifetime‘s adventure, travelling off the beaten track in search of the world’s hidden corners and curious locations, from the wartime bunkers of Berlin and the Baroque gardens of Prague to the souks of Damascus and the rock-cut churches of Ethiopia.
Duncan’s findings are being published in a ground breaking series of guidebooks, the Only In Guides, designed specifically for the purpose and published under his own The Urban Explorer imprint. Volumes on Berlin, Boston, Budapest, Cologne, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Krakow, London, Marseille, Munich, Paris, Prague, Seville, Tangier, Trieste, Vienna, and Zurich have all been published, with a new title, Athens, in preparation. Aimed at independent cultural travellers, these city tales from new perspectives provide unforgettable memories. The series has garnered considerable press and public acclaim, global distribution, and sales in excess of 200,000 copies.
As a result of his extensive travels, not only through the storied cities of Old Europe but also in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and America, Duncan regularly generates original illustrated material for print and digital media. He has been commissioned to write articles in magazines such as Hidden Europe and Timeless Travels. Duncan has great affection for the places about which he has written, as well as an extensive photo library available for commercial usage.
Duncan has appeared on radio and television to promote his work, including the American shows Raw Travel and Mysteries at the Museum. He has also given illustrated lectures in bookshops and universities, to societies and even at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. He released an audio tour in 2010.
Born in Sheffield, England in 1960, Duncan got the history bug when his grandfather, the East Anglian historian Philip G. M. Dickinson, showed him an ancient turf maze and the grave of a Roman soldier in his back garden! Aged just eleven Duncan opened his own private museum before going on to read Ancient History and Archaeology at Birmingham University. Together with his late father, Trevor, he wrote and illustrated four highly successful books on the curiosities of Sheffield and Yorkshire, their home town and county respectively. He also penned the best-selling topographical book Yorkshire: A Portrait in Colour. Still a passionate collector, his interests include vintage Penguin travel books and with them a fascination in forgotten British travellers of the 1920s and 30s. In his spare time he enjoys gardening, house restoration and natural history, and has an eclectic taste in music and film.
Duncan divides his time between England and Central Europe, and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Duncan’s findings are being published in a ground breaking series of guidebooks, the Only In Guides, designed specifically for the purpose and published under his own The Urban Explorer imprint. Volumes on Berlin, Boston, Budapest, Cologne, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Krakow, London, Marseille, Munich, Paris, Prague, Seville, Tangier, Trieste, Vienna, and Zurich have all been published, with a new title, Athens, in preparation. Aimed at independent cultural travellers, these city tales from new perspectives provide unforgettable memories. The series has garnered considerable press and public acclaim, global distribution, and sales in excess of 200,000 copies.
As a result of his extensive travels, not only through the storied cities of Old Europe but also in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and America, Duncan regularly generates original illustrated material for print and digital media. He has been commissioned to write articles in magazines such as Hidden Europe and Timeless Travels. Duncan has great affection for the places about which he has written, as well as an extensive photo library available for commercial usage.
Duncan has appeared on radio and television to promote his work, including the American shows Raw Travel and Mysteries at the Museum. He has also given illustrated lectures in bookshops and universities, to societies and even at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. He released an audio tour in 2010.
Born in Sheffield, England in 1960, Duncan got the history bug when his grandfather, the East Anglian historian Philip G. M. Dickinson, showed him an ancient turf maze and the grave of a Roman soldier in his back garden! Aged just eleven Duncan opened his own private museum before going on to read Ancient History and Archaeology at Birmingham University. Together with his late father, Trevor, he wrote and illustrated four highly successful books on the curiosities of Sheffield and Yorkshire, their home town and county respectively. He also penned the best-selling topographical book Yorkshire: A Portrait in Colour. Still a passionate collector, his interests include vintage Penguin travel books and with them a fascination in forgotten British travellers of the 1920s and 30s. In his spare time he enjoys gardening, house restoration and natural history, and has an eclectic taste in music and film.
Duncan divides his time between England and Central Europe, and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
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January 9, 2022
More than just a travel guide, this delves into some of the lesser known history of Berlin, and provides a list of attractions to visit that will ensure you see different sides to the German capital and won’t leave with a simple tourist perspective. Many of the locations in this guide are underground, and this really highlighted how much of Berlin was destroyed by WWII. Top of the list for my next visit to Berlin will be the Tajikistan Tearoom.
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