Germany

Eating In The Dark

Here’s a restaurant theme you didn’t see coming: darkness.

The concept of purposefully eating in complete pitch-black dark originated with Jorge Spielmann, a blind clergyman from Zurich. When guests ate dinner at the Spielmann house some would wear blindfolds during their meal to show solidarity with their host and to better understand his world. What Spielmann’s sighted guests found was that the blindfolds heightened their sense of taste and smell and made their dining experience more enjoyable. That gave Spielmann the idea to open a dark restaurant, which he did in 1999.

Today you can stumble into dozens restaurants around the world where that question made famous in an American commercial in the 80s — Where’s the beef? — takes on a whole new meaning. Most dark restaurants employ blind waiters, offer a single set menu, and ban anything that could give off light (like cigarettes, cell phones and cameras) from the dinning area. All of them also have normally lit bathrooms though you’ll need to ask your waiter for help in finding it.

Here’s our illuminating look at some of the world’s dark restaurants:

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Berlin’s Best Flea Markets
spot cool stuff TRAVEL

Vintage clothing. Rare used books. Old East German coins. GDR and USSR war memorabilia. Bargain hunters find these and much more strolling through Berlin’s many Flohmarkt (flea markets). Seeking out treasure among the assorted Flohmarkt nick-knacks is an wonderful way for anyone with avid enthusiasm to discover more about the past and all that went with it in Germany’s historic capital city.

Here are my favorite Berlin flea market locations:

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Berlin’s Best Hotel Deal Is Behind a Billboard

Some billboards advertise hotels. In Berlin, there is a billboard that IS a hotel.

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Arte Luise Kunsthotel

Your average high design hotel starts out as sterile property before having an artistic aspect added to it. Berlin’s Arte Luise Kunsthotel began as an artistic compound before having a hotel added it.

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