Tour suggestion
Day 1: Start of journey: Hamburg
Hamburg – the “Grosse Freiheit”. After the second world war the city experienced a rapid upsurge in several ways: First you will tour around the harbor – which soon became the largest German reloading point for goods, many local people found employment in the Hamburg shipyards and Hamburg became the headquarters of the most important radio and later television stations of the post-war period.
Later, a tour of the city awaits you and you will see the Reeperbahn, the river Alster, the city hall and the new dockland city.
Overnight stay and dinner at a hotel in Hamburg
Day 2: Border crossing Helmstedt – Marienborn – Hoetensleben
The drive continues to Helmstedt. You will visit the most important border crossing of the inner German border – Helmstedt-Marienborn. Your guided tour starts at the Helmstedt Zonal Border Museum (documentation of the history of the former inner German border from its creation until the reunification of Germany in 1990). After a guided tour of the museum the tour continues to Hoetensleben. Here you will visit the border installations and then continue to see the memorial that represents the division of Germany at Marienborn. Here and in Hoetensleben you have the opportunity of climbing an observation tower and seeing it from inside. The next station is the memorial “La voute des mains”. Afterwards, continue to Leipzig. Overnight stay and dinner in Leipzig.
Day 3: Leipzig
The GDR planned to make Leipzig with its trade fairs (e.g. book fair) the hub of east-west trade. This was linked with an attempt to present Leipzig as a city “open to the world”. Citizens of the GDR could get a taste of the west by visiting the “most western” GDR city. Furthermore, Leipzigers and exhibition visitors had ample opportunity to contact people from foreign countries. The Monday demonstrations that began in September 1989 played a significant role in bringing about the system change and the end of the GDR. During a guided tour of the city you get to know Leipzig and its important position in the GDR. The trip then continues to Berlin. Overnight stay and dinner in Berlin.
Day 4: Berlin
For anyone trying to visualize the Berlin Wall and the fate of a divided nation, today only relics of the iron curtain can be found. In the morning you will experience a guided visit alongside the wall. Walk the Wall – your audioguide describes the fate of the divided city. After this your tour guide takes you for a city tour through the former east and west sectors of Berlin to see points of interest such as Alexanderplatz and Brandenburger Tor. Overnight stay and dinner in Berlin.
Day 5: Berlin
Today you will have the opportunity to visit the former State Security Police (Stasi) Prison in Hohenschoenhausen. During the afternoon, a will get more insights during a visit of the Allied Museum. This museum tells the story of the Western powers during the Berlin Airlift and the Cold War. Overnight stay and dinner in Berlin.
Day 6: Departure
Copyright program and pictures: © APPINA TRAVEL GmbH
