This year we had our annual BBQ get-together at Tempelhofer Feld –
a former airport that has been turned into a public park. Built in
the 1920s, it has a rich history: used by the Nazis in WWII, it
was also the focal point of the Berlin Airlift of 1948–49. Shortly
after the closure of the airport in 2008, the space was re-opened
to the public in the new form of the Tempelhofer Park. It covers
355 hectares of the site of the former Tempelhof Airport,
including its buildings and surrounding land, making it Berlin's
largest city park, not to mention the largest inner-city open
space in the world.
Today, the area has
a six-kilometre cycling, skating and jogging trail, a 2.5-hectare
BBQ area, various dog-runs covering around four hectares, former
airplane runways where people can bike and fly kites, and an
enormous picnic area for all visitors. They even have an urban
gardening section where locals can grow their own veg in raised
beds. The perfect place for a burger and a beer with our friends
and colleagues!
