International Mankini Challenge

My extended travel around South and Central America may have come to an end, but the International Mankini Challenge lives on and is going from strength to strength thanks to those who have picked up the gauntlet. As more people take up the challenge to wear a mankini in iconic locations in every country of the world, I feel that as the instigator of the madness I should continue to do my bit in achieving our goal. With this in mind the mankini took its rightful place in my backpack on a recent trip to Berlin, the capital of Germany.

For those of you who don’t know, the International Mankini Challenge started when friends challenged to wear a mankini in every country I visited. If the daunting fact of having to wear something that could barely hold a squirrel’s daily nut intake wasn’t enough, as a lone traveller I had to find willing people to take the pictures for me in the 17 countries I visited. I opted for the mankini pictures to be taken in iconic locations so I could prove their country of origin and disprove any alleged cheating. In some places I had the challenge of actually finding an iconic location, but in Berlin there was a wealth of alternatives, such is the variety of things to see in a city with so much history.

Having three days to explore the city started with the All in One City Bike Tour with Fat Tire Bike Tours. This would both give me my bearings and help me identify the best location to get the mankini shot. Having done a bit of research on the things to see and do in Berlin, thanks to SpottedByLocals.com, the bike tour seemed to tick off a lot of the major attractions that are a must do for Berlin.

Berliners are extremely broadminded and trusting people. There are no barriers or ticket inspectors on the underground train system, it’s assumed you’ll buy and validate your tickets from self-service machines. This trust extends to the bars and restaurants too. Fran Rosa is one of four locations where you can drink as much wine as you like, eat a three-course meal and decide how much you pay by dropping the amount in a jar on the bar. And all this from a city that is €84bn in debt. Every niche interest and type of person you can imagine is welcomed into a stirring pot of diversity, never judged or stared at. So wearing a mankini would be nothing out of the ordinary then!

Having enjoyed a great day seeing Berlin’s highlights and getting a great insight into German and Berlin history I decided that the Berlin Wall was to be the place for the mankini shot. Not only does it have Berlin in its title, but its collapse is known throughout the world to have freed swimwear god and Baywatch creator David Hasslehoff’s musical career and line in men’s leather trousers.

On the last day of my Berlin trip I went to the East Side Gallery, in the light rain, for the mankini picture. The East Side Gallery is the longest remaining section of the Berlin Wall still standing. On the side facing the old West Germany it displays recreated murals (painted and graffiti) that once appeared along the wall when it stood in its entirety. On the side facing the old East Germany it is blank, as it would have been when the two Germany’s existed (the Berlin Wall consisted of two walls with the so called ‘death strip’ in-between. People seen in the ‘death strip’ would have been shot if seen by East German guards).

I don’t take pictures in places that will offend people or where children are around and so I nipped around the back to the “deathstrip” to get the Berlin Wall mankini pictures you can see here in the mankini gallery.

I hope they put a smile on your face and that one day you make the time to go and visit the fascinating city of Berlin. Please find a list of places I’d recommend you visit while you’re there.

1. Checkpoint Charlie – One of the main checkpoints for going in and out of East Germany. The museum here is a little disorganised, but the free information outside where the checkpoint used to be is good

2. Topography of Terror – The free information at the site of the former headquarters of the Nazi ‘Gestapo’ and SS is interesting (but there is a lot of it)

3. Luftwaffe Ministry The old airforce building is now the German tax building (not the proudest building history), but is located by a good piece of Berlin Wall

4. Reichstag – The old parliament building is impressive and set by a nice park

5. Brandenburg Gate – Crowded but worth seeing as it’s an iconic part of Berlin

6. Arthouse Tacheles – An old bombed out shopping centre that is now home to numerous artists’ studios and is itself an interesting construction

7. C/O Berlin – A great photography gallery which is opposite a bar that serves over 300 different German beers (great for museum/gallery fatigue)

8. Unsicht Bar – A restaurant where you eat in complete darkness and are served by blind waiting staff