The palace, the Pergamon, the perfect perambulation.

Tuesday 18 September. Out at 8.30am, two trains and a bus and we were at the Schloss Charlottenburg, the grandest of Berlin’s nine surviving palaces. This was originally the summer palace of Sophie Charlotte, wife of King Friedrich 1. It is huge, with a few hectares of forest and gardens, a lake and a mausoleum thrown in. After a walk around the gardens, regularly spotting resident squirrels, we spent an hour wandering through the palace itself, marvelling at the opulence, including the vast array of silverware, ceramics and artworks commissioned by the various rulers to show off their wealth. An interesting point was that during times of war, when money was scarce, the king might order that the silverware be melted down to finance the war, then after emerging victorious would demand that the vanquished enemy pay tribute in silverware. The mausoleum contains the marble sarcophagi of a few of the rulers, including Friedrich 1 himself, who lived to the ripe old age of 91.

Then a couple more buses to the Pergamon Museum , built especially to house relics from the excavations at the ancient city of Pergamon in Greece – a veritable feast of antiquities from that site, as well as relics dating back four thousand years from the Near East – especially Babylon and other parts of Persia, and a museum of Islamic Art dating from the seventh century. Among the highlights was the gargantuan Pergamon Altar, dating from 165BC and the immense Market Gates of Miletus (2^nd century AD). Walking through this huge stone gate we entered another time and culture – Babylon during the reign of Nebuchadnezzer II (604-562BC). It was so crammed with ancient relics, especially ceramics, that it was overwhelming. We needed to find a quiet cafe and eat Strudel and Quark (cheesecake) to reflect on it all – soooooo scrummy. Then more buses and trains to Kreuzberg, a bit out of town, for a visit to the Tuesday Turkish fresh-food street market. Here we selected our fare for dinner – prawns, octopus, tabouli, stuffed artichokes and a selection of fresh fruit including figs, peaches and raspberries, with a bottle of French sauvignon blanc to wash it all down.

Early to bed tonight, then tomorrow: Potsdam, some distance from Berlin, for another day of exploration.