victoriabriggs
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As rainy day pleasures go, there can be few quite as sweet as sheltering beneath the tarpaulin of an outdoor snack bar in Berlin while drinking warm, spiced Glüwein from a plastic cup. For ¿1.50, the wine comes served with a generous slug of Amaretto or Rum, the fumes from which alone are enough to make one happy on the dreariest of days.
And this is a dreary day. Our snack bar is a traditional Imbiss that stands at the tail end of the Flohmarkt am Moritzplatz, the flea market in Berlin's fashionable Kreuzberg district.
Before reunification in 1989, Kreuzberg was a run-down area of West Berlin, bordered by the Wall along three of its sides. Saddled with an unfortunate geography, those who could afford to live elsewhere did, leaving Kreuzberg as a haven of cheap-rents for the poor and dispossessed.
But with reunification came gentrification. Kreuzberg, home to a diverse community of students, artists and immigrants, blossomed into one of Berlin's most vibrant and cosmopolitan districts. While other areas have undergone a similar process, it is Kreuzberg that lays claim to some of the best markets, cafes and street life throughout Berlin.
Kreuzberg is an area defined as much by its contrasts as anything else. Here, old and new, east and west, still jostle for space within its crowded spaces.
And nowhere is Berlin's past more visible than in this Flohmarkt, where military paraphernalia is for sale next to trestle tables piled high with fur stoles, costume jewellery, art, antiques, furniture, old coins and antiquarian books.
While the merchandise bears witness to Berlin's past, it is the market's clientele that reflects its present. Hippies with dreadlocks dig for treasure alongside women wearing traditional Islamic dress (Kreuzberg and its neighbouring district of Neukölln are home to the largest Turkish population outside of Istanbul).
And while the Imbiss which serves us our Glüwein plays the traditional oom-pah-pah of 'Schlager' music, to walk down the neighbouring street of Oranienstrasse, the main thoroughfare running through the Turkish quarter, is to be bombarded with sounds of Arabic music fused with a hip-hop beat.
The Flohmarkt is a collector's paradise; a Portobello without the price tags. On one of the stalls I unearth a pair of green leather, mock-croc stilettos. As vintage finds go, these shoes are king. At ¿14, they're also a steal. The shoes are bought and, in honour of them, we buy more Glüwein.
Kreuzberg's flea market is just one of several throughout Berlin, all of which open on weekends only. A visit here makes an ideal short break for anyone with a collector's nose, or for those wanting to combine bargain shopping with a lesson in modern history.
The city is a vast, eclectic mixture of history and modernity that is impossible to cover in just one weekend visit, but Kreuzberg successfully offers the short-stay visitor the perfect introduction to both aspects of it.
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