Berlin 23: A long wait for a kebab and a ride on an old runway at Tempelhofer Feld

Following an enjoyable afternoon riding round Berlin on a Fat Tire Tour, we were keen to find something to eat. While researching places to eat, we saw about Berlin’s most famous kebab shop, Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap. The only thing is, it’s also famous for long queues.

Riding to Mustafa’s

Setting off from Alexanderplatz from where our Fat Tire bike tour ended, I made my way to Mustafa’s on the usual Nextbike, that I’d become familiar with during our trip, while the others took the U-Bahn.

This involved starting along Rathausstraße, taking me across the Spree, then along Werderscher Markt where I turned left onto Werderscher Markt. I then turned onto Kleine Jägerstraße and did a zigzag onto Niederwallstraße, through Hausvogteiplatz and along Mohrenstraße.

Up to now, there wasn’t much in terms of cycling infrastructure, but things changed after turning onto Wilhelmstraße, where there were some sections of footway level cycle paths. I carried on along Wilhelmstraße, passing over the Landwehr Canal until arriving at Mustafa’s.

Riding along Wilhelmstraße, Air Service Berlin - Weltballon base on the left — Riding along Wilhelmstraße, Air Service Berlin – Weltballon base on the left

Riding along Mohrenstraße — Riding along Wilhelmstraße, Air Service Berlin – Weltballon base on the left

Getting in line at Mustafa’s

Meeting up with the others at Mustafa’s, we assessed the length of the queue and thought, oh it didn’t look that long, how long can it possibly take? Well, I’m afraid to say that was something of an understatement.

So we joined the queue and waited and waited and waited. We began to doubt if it was such a good idea going to Mustafa’s, as it didn’t seem like the queue was going down much, certainly not as much as I’d expect.

Queue at Mustafa's Gemüse Kebap — Queue at Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap

You know when you’ve invested so much time waiting for something, that you can’t possibly walk away? That was us. But still, an hour passed and we waited some more, thinking it can’t be much longer. All the time the queue got longer behind us.

The menu at Mustafa's Gemüse Kebap — The menu at Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap

We carried on waiting, the queue got longer and another hour went past. Oh my God, have we really been queueing for over two hours for a kebab? We were beginning to really question our life choices as we waited.

At the counter at Mustafa's Gemüse Kebap — At the counter at Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap

By some minor miracle, we finally reached the front of the queue and made it to the counter, where we were finally able to place our order for four kebabs.

At this point, it was clear to see why the queue was so slow, with just two people behind the counter. Surely, taking on another person would pay for itself in about ten minutes.

Finally enjoying the kebab, was it worth the wait?

So, you probably want to know if that wait of over two hours was worth it. Now, it was a really nice kebab, very fresh salad, succulent chicken in a tasty flatbread, with a decent chilli sauce and some feta on top. It was very enjoyable.

Was it worth the wait? Nope.

Riding to Tempelhofer Feld

After waiting way too long for a kebab, the others decided to set off back to our Airbnb apartment and I went off for a ride. Now I’d seen about Tempelhofer Feld, the former Berlin Tempelhof airport that after closing has been turned into a public park. Such a Berlin thing to do.

Berlin Tempelhof Airport was one of the oldest airports in Berlin, built on Tempelhofer Feld, an area of Berlin used for military practice and as a parade ground. It was originally designated an airport in 1923, with the original terminal constructed in 1927, which was then rebuilt by the Nazi government in the 1930s.

Following the war, the airport was turned over to the US Army, as part of the American occupation of the US sector of Berlin. In 1948, during the Cold War, Tempelhof played a key role in the Berlin airlift, when Soviet authorities halted all land and water traffic in and out of the western-controlled sectors of Berlin.

Commercial air traffic continued at Berlin Tempelhof until 2008, though it was largely overshadowed by bigger Tegel Airport. After closure, Tempelhofer Feld was reopened as a park in 2010, making it the largest inner city open space in the world.

There’s been numerous attempts to privatise Tempelhofer Feld, with proposals to use it for housing, exhibitions and government use, but these were rejected by a referendum. Since then, a local citizen’s group campaigned to protect the park, with a petition in 2012 and a referendum in 2014, with 64.3 percent of votes in favor.

I took a bit of a meandering route to Tempelhofer Feld, along Gneisenaustraße, then into Lilienthalstraße Cemetery and down Züllichauer Straße. From there I could see the old radar tower of the airport as I turned onto Columbiadamm.

I continued along Columbiadamm, as I passed the airport terminal building. I then went for a wander around the access roads to the terminal. It’s possible to go on guided tours of the building, but unfortunately these were all booked up while we were there.

I turned left onto Tempelhofer Damm and went to find the entrance to Tempelhofer Feld, which was just past the terminal building. Entering the park, I went for a ride around to explore.

Near the entrance was the Berlin Circus Festival and the Luftschloss Tempelhofer Feld theatre, which both had shows on and people milling about. From there, I continued further into the park and went for a ride along the old runway.

It was fun exploring the old airport on a sunny evening, as the sun was setting. It wasn’t massively busy at this time, though there was still quite a few people walking and cycling round, making the most of the massive green space.

Cycling over to the entrance at Herrfurthstraße, there were a lot of people hanging around and socialising. Likely many were local to that side of the park as the entrance is located in a large residential area. So it’s convenient access to a local green space on warm summer nights like this.

Person cycling on the runway at Tempelhofer Feld

I really enjoyed riding around Tempelhofer Feld, so much so that I’d return the next day, with the whole family and during the day (more on that soon). It’s fantastic that such a big open green space is being preserved for the people. If this was Manchester, I’d think it’d be highly likely it wouldn’t be saved.

Kirche am Südstern — Paved cycle path on Gneisenaustraße

Riding home

As I left Tempelhofer Feld at the Herrfurthstraße entrance, I took a slightly different route back to our Airbnb apartment. This started along Hasenheide, which began as a painted lane, but then turned into a footway-level cycle path.

I turned right onto Baerwaldstraße, which turned into Prinzenstraße later. The road along here featured everything from painted door-zone cycle lanes, temporary lanes around construction, wand protected cycle lanes and footway-level cycle paths.

Wand-protected cycle lane on Prinzenstraße

The route continued straight until I reached the River Spree, where it curved to the left on Alexanderstraße and onto a Nextbike dock. All along the route, there were plenty of other people cycling that evening, I probably saw more bikes than cars.