Carnival of Cultures

Berlin is a really multicultural city. And this is exactly what the citizens celebrate at the “Karneval der Kulturen” (translated in English it would be “Carnival of Cultures”), every May in Kreuzberg. The highlight of the festival is the big parade on Sunday. 

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Karneval der Kulturen in Kreuzberg

“Karneval der Kulturen” (Carnival of Cultures) is a big urban festival with an open programme for free for four days in Berlin-Kreuzberg. At the festival are different stalls with all kinds of different food and drinks from all over the world and of course also clothes, toys, music instruments, jewellers and other beautiful treasures. The festival has also a green area and many stages, where several artists and musician present their art.

Empanada from a Uruguayan stall

I really liked the little stalls with different food. I was happy to find an Uruguayan stall with Empanadas and Alfajores. Unfortunately, all Alfajores were already sold out, but I was lucky and could catch an Empanada con Carne (with meat). I was in South America one year ago. That was when I first tried Empanadas (and Alfajores) and felt a little bit in love with this dish. Empanadas are baked or fried pastries. They are filled with different meat, vegetables, cheese or others.

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Empanada and Tartes

When I told the stallholders that I travelled to Uruguay on my own a half year ago, they looked really surprised or even a bit sceptical (perhaps because I’m small and blond). Even more, when I told them I took the bus from Colonia del Sacramento (it’s a small city in southwestern Uruguay, only one hour with the ferry from Buenos Aires when you cross the Río de la Plata) to Montevideo. The man looked at me and asked all the time “For sure?”
By the way, the Empanada from Karneval der Kulturen was tasty but not as good as in South America. 

Many guests visit the Carnival of Cultures
Key chains and dreamcatcher
Colourful pants, bags and scarves
Bohemian cakes
The end of the festival was at midnight
Different stalls

The stallholders at the Karneval der Kulturen sell much different DSCN7168stuff. They have pretty and exotic clothes but also accessories like necklaces and bracelets. There was also a tent with a fortune-teller. One man tried to sell me a flute, it was really pretty and handmade. But I’m afraid I’m not such a good musician. Once I wanted to learn guitar, so I bought the cheapest guitar on the internet I could find (If I remember right, I paid around 33 Dollars), but my passion went away so I never learned how to play. But I really liked his beautiful rattles.

 
 
 
 
 

Large parade in the streets of Berlin

One of the highlights is the big parade on Sunday. About 1,3 million people come together. Dance groups, musicians and other artists celebrate and dance through the streets of Kreuzberg (from Hermannplatz to Yorckstraße/Möckernstraße) and turn them into the biggest stage of Berlin. This year the parade started at 2.30pm and ends at circa 09.30pm and had over 70 groups. The audience can join the parade and celebrate with them. I did this with my friends. To be honest, it wasn’t my favourite music (a lot of Techno music, it’s really common in Germany to dance to electronic music and Techno), but the atmosphere was great and the people really happy and also kind of crazy (and perhaps some a little bit drunk). But the streets were full of dancing people, and this was a really cool feeling. All streets were closed for traffic. It felt like a huge party, and the whole city was part of it.  

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