These three magnificent metropolises could not be more different in spirit, yet together they compose a portrait of Germany that is complete, nuanced, and utterly captivating. Berlin, the capital, is Germany's largest city, a living monument to resilience, reinvention, and radical creativity, defined by its remarkable history, political significance, and the most vibrant, diverse cultural scene in the country. Hamburg, the second-largest city, is the elegant port at the country's northern edge, a place shaped by centuries of maritime heritage and breathtaking modern ambition. And Dresden, the most Baroque city in Germany, known as the "Florence on the Elbe," is a city of golden spires, operatic grandeur, and extraordinary resurrection, its restored architecture among the most ravishing in all of Europe. Each sits at a distinct point on the map, and on the spectrum of human experience. They are, conveniently and beautifully, connected by swift and comfortable rail, making the journey between them as pleasurable as the destinations themselves. To travel this triangle is to understand Germany in all its layered, luminous complexity.
Berlin is not a city so much as a force of nature. It arrives at you, visceral, vast, and unapologetically itself. Germany's capital and its largest city with a population of 3.8 million, Berlin sprawls across a geography both surprising and seductive: roughly one-third of its surface is green space, laced with parks, forests, and the sinuous shimmer of the River Spree. On a golden afternoon, when light fractures across the water and cyclists weave through the Tiergarten, it is possible to forget that this is one of the great capitals of the world.
And yet history is never far. Berlin carries its past with a rare combination of courage and candor. The Berlin Wall Memorial stands as one of the most affecting monuments in Europe, not merely a remnant of concrete, but a testament to division, longing, and ultimately triumph. Nearby, the Brandenburg Gate, that sublime Neoclassical portal, remains the defining symbol of German reunification and one of the most photographed landmarks on the continent. It is, in person, rather more magnificent than any photograph can convey.
Berlin's food scene is as eclectic and unclassifiable as the city itself. From Michelin-starred temples of New German cuisine to legendary Turkish döner kebab stands operating since before reunification, the city feeds its residents and visitors with democratic generosity. Art galleries occupy former power stations; cocktail bars inhabit Cold War bunkers. Getting around is a pleasure: Berlin's public transport system is among the finest in Europe, a seamless network of U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams, and buses that render the entire city effortlessly navigable.
My own Berlin was lived, with great fortune, inside one of the city's most storied addresses: the Löwenpalais. This magnificent 19th-century palace, its name translating elegantly as "Lion's Palace," sits at the heart of the Grunewald, Berlin's most prestigious residential quarter, an enclave of forest villas and lakeside lanes, that has long been home to the city's most distinguished families. The palace is today the domain of my dear friend Jörg Starke, who has transformed it into something entirely singular: a living cultural institution, home to a celebrated ‘Artists in Residence’ program that draws painters, sculptors, and creatives from around the world, as well as one unique private apartment available, exclusively to a small number of discerning guests.
To stay at the Löwenpalais is to inhabit history. High ceilings, original architectural details, and the quiet gravitas of genuine heritage envelop you from the moment you arrive. And yet the palace pulses with creative vitality, works in progress in the studios, conversation and collaboration drifting through the corridors and vernissages to unveil the works.