Berlin's Museum Island: Don't Miss the Pergamon and Altes Museums

Gates of Babylon and Queen Nefertiti

Five days in Berlin. So much to see, but where to begin? Unlike any metropolis I've ever visited,and easily rivaling Paris or Rome in terms of visual spectacle and a seamless integration of both old and new, just visiting the museums in Berlin could encompass a fulltime job. For me the clock was already ticking and the thrill of archeology beckoned. My first stop - the Pergamon Museum in Downtown Berlin: a stunning example of Germany's efforts to establish itself as a center of art, culture and history.

A marble torso or a cracked vase might have been enough for the average thrill-seeker to walk away with in 1880's Europe. But not here. Some of Germany's most studied archeologists went to great lengths to uncover and retrieve an entire temple, as well as large portions of other legendary and mythological works and bring them back to Berlin.

But first a few facts for the tourist and traveler:

The Pergamon Museum sits in the middle of what is called "Museum Island". It sits behind the Berlin Museum of Contemporary Art - location of Berlin's world-famous Egyptian exhibit and to the side of the Berlin Cathedral where the tombs of the Hohenzollern family, the former rulers of Prussia and Germany rest. In and around the general area of the museum sit several buildings that make up Humboldt University of Berlin.

But no matter you're at, if you take the number 100 Metropolitan bus and get off at the Friedrichstrasse stop; you can easily walk to the museum. An all-day metro pass is about 5 euro and is a good investment when sightseeing.

Entry fees at the Pergamon Museum are 6 euro for adults, 3 euro for children. Included in the price is a pair of headphones and an mp3 type audio presentation that is available in English, Italian, German, Japanese and French. Even if you take your time, you'd be hard pressed to see the entire museum and the thousands of items in it in less than two and half to three hours. But why rush? You will lose yourself on a journey through time. You'll be so completely engrossed by it all that the minutes will seem like seconds.

And now - on with the show.