Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [121]
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METROPOLIS
Potsdam isn’t readily associated with class warfare, but it was here, at the UFA studios, that Fritz Lang shot much of his allegorical melodrama Metropolis (1927), which deals with exactly that. The film depicts a society literally split in two, with the Thinkers living in idle luxury above ground and the Workers toiling in subterranean caverns to serve the terrible Moloch machine. Threatened by nonviolent protest advocated by the saintly Maria, the Thinkers dispatch a robot clone of her to provoke riots. The sheer scale of the film was unprecedented (Lang hired 10,000 extras), and its relevance has endured, not just in its message of class cooperation but also in its themes of revolution, technology and voyeurism. Some elements were far ahead of their time – the robot Futura is a clear predecessor of the Terminator.
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The Filmpark is about 4km east of Potsdam’s city centre and served by bus 601. Coming from Berlin, hop on a regional train and get off at Medienstadt Babelsberg.
Northwest of here, Park Babelsberg, yet another great Potsdam garden, is where you’ll find the Schinkel-designed neo-Gothic Schloss Babelsberg ( 969 4250; adult/concession with tour €4/3.50, without tour €3/2.50; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun late Jun-Oct), the summer residence of Emperor Wilhelm I. Wilhelm also commissioned the nearby Flatowturm ( 600 9494; admission €2; 10am-6pm Sat & Sun May-Oct), a tower modelled after a medieval town gate in Frankfurt am Main.
SCHIFFBAUERGASSE
Ships were built, coffee was produced and soldiers were drilled on a site that’s been reborn as a cultural hub called Schiffbauergasse. On the shores of the Tiefer See, about 2.5km north of central Potsdam, the complex unites numerous venues and institutions, most notably the Hans-Otto-Theater (www.hans-otto-theater.de), Potsdam’s main stage. The Museum Fluxus+ ( 6010890; www.fluxus-plus.de; Schiffbauergasse 6; adult/concession €7.50/3, half-price Tue; noon-8pm Tue-Sun) presents works by Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell and other members of this 1960s avant-garde art movement. Exhibits, movies, club nights and concerts take place in the Waschhaus (www.waschhaus.de). Tram 93 makes the trip here from the Hauptbahnhof.
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Tours
The local tourist office Click here runs the 3½-hour Potsdam Sanssouci Tour (ticket €27; 11am Tue-Sun Apr-Oct, Fri-Sun Nov-Mar), which guarantees admission to Schloss Sanssouci, and the two-hour Altstadt Walking Tour (adult/concession €9/7; tour 3pm daily Apr-Oct). Tours are in English and German and tickets are available at the tourist office.
Weisse Flotte Potsdam ( 275 9210; www.schiffahrt-in-potsdam.de; Lange Brücke 6; Apr-Oct) operates dozens of boat tours on the Havel and the lakes around Potsdam, including a sightseeing tour passing the various waterside palaces (€11). Boats depart from the docks near Lange Brücke, by the towering Mercure Hotel.
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Festivals & Events
Potsdam’s biggest annual events include the Tulip Festival in the Dutch Quarter in April, the Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci (www.musikfestspiele-potsdam.de) in June and the Potsdamer Bachtage (www.bachtage-potsdam.de, in German) in September (see the boxed text, opposite).
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Sleeping
Most people visit Potsdam on a day trip from Berlin, but only by spending the night can you savour the town’s quiet majesty without the tour-bus crowds. The tourist office books private rooms and hotels in person, by phone ( 275 580) or online (www.potsdam-tourismus.de).
DJH hostel ( 581 3100; www.jh-potsdam.de, in German; Schulstrasse 9; dm under/over 26yr €15/18; ) Potsdam’s hostel is a snazzy 152-bed property where rooms come with showers and toilets and sleep only two or four people. It’s around the corner from S-Bahn station