Berlin day tour: Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag
Continued from Berlin day tour: Cathedral of St. Hedwig, Humboldt University, Bebelplatz and nearby landmarks
From Bebelplatz, we walked on along the Unter den Linden Avenue and onwards to the historic and monumental Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) in Berlin. The sun’s rays behind the massive columns gave the structure an interesting appeal.
The Brandenburg Gate up ahead.
Being a former city gate and presently a historical icon of Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate ends the Unter den Linden Avenue.
The gate used to be a passageway for the royalties in the center, while ordinary citizens used to enter via the two outermost accesses. The gate’s design is inspired from the Greek’s Propylaea, the Acropolis gateway. Adorning the top of the gate is the quadriga or four-horse chariot with the Roman goddess of victory, Victoria, at the forefront.
Closeup view of the quadriga
Viewing the Brandenburg Gate from the side
Just few meters from the Brandenburg Gate is the Reichstag building, another famous landmark in Berlin.
The Reichstag building
The term Reichstag used to refer to the parliament before the Nazi rule. Nowadays, Reichstag refers to the building where the present German parliament Bundestag convenes.
The words “Dem Deutschen Volke,” which means “To the German people,” inscribed at the front of the building.
On top of the Reichstag building is a dome where tourists line up to get a nice 360-degree view of Berlin. Note in the picture above the long queue of tourists wanting to go up the dome. It was already past 7pm but there were many tourists still lounging and just hanging out in the wide expanse of green in front of the building.
Next stop: Checkpoint Charlie
Fantastic photos – Such history!!
as always, very nice pictures here about europe. amazing! want to go there someday. wish-wish lang.
Wonderful places to be! How I wish I could travel to this place someday with my family. Dreaming is unlimited, anyway… Nice pics!
thanks for sharing this place. i thought of myself going to this places when i read your blog. keep it up.
Stephanie: Yes, visiting the Brandenburg and Reichstag was really a journey into Berlin’s interesting history.
Ceblogger: Who knows you can go there someday too. I used to wish about going to Berlin myself, just thinking about it now… we were there for just a day, so it was such a short visit, I had this surreal feeling as if I was just in a dream while walking the streets of Berlin.
Nenette: Yes, Berlin is really one of the top tourist destinations in Europe, aside from Paris, Prague, Italy or Spain. Do include it as one of your destinations should you travel with your family in the future. And yes, it’s very much OK to dream about it for now. I do that a LOT esp. since I love to travel. And God cannot be outdone in generosity, I consider my Europe trip as one of His pleasant surprises. 😉
Deejay: Thanks! It’s nice to share my travel photos so readers will have an idea about the many wonderful places around our planet.
hey, i didn’t know you’re here in germany… is frankfurt included in your itinerary? let’s have coffee together…or rather the most famous frankfurter apfelwein…
Curacha: Hi! Finally you found me here! 😉 I’m back in PI now. I’m just sharing some photos of my previous vacation. I was in Germany but only in Berlin since we were driving from Prague, thus our visit was only for a day and we had to go back that evening. Too bad, we were not able to meet in Frankfurt.
Brandenburg Gate is one of my favorite place in Berlin, it is the most remarkable place in Berlin, so you should absolutely pay a visit to this big stone monument. The area around is nice to spent time.