After my visit to the DDR Museum, I tailed off my taste of Communist Germany by driving an original Trabant across the city with Trabi Safari. All I can say is – brilliant! Such fun, and such a ‘unique‘ car! Once you’ve got over the smell the special oil and petrol mix creates, and the noise of the two-stroke engine, and the shaking, and learnt how to use the gears, and learnt that braking requires quite some effort, it’s super fun. To be completely authentic, we chose an original light blue version, rather than the revamped versions painted with leopard spots. Apart from wholeheartedly recommending it, my only tip is that traffic is best managed in second gear, even though everything runs so much smoother and quieter in third gear. Despite being slightly ‘eccentric’, Trabants are quite drivable and are also very forgiving. My only complaint is that they weren’t designed for people over six foot in height, causing me to hunch over the steering wheel like a cartoon character.
The trip lasts around an hour and takes in driving around many of old East Berlin’s best known sites, including whizzing up the monumental Stalin Allee – I know how to live!