That Day I Danced in an Old Soap Factory (Berlin)

I have had a huge variety of nightlife experiences – from sipping mojitos at a trendy roof top overlooking Shanghai’s skyline to drinking 1€ beer cans in Madrid’s alternative corner, Malasaña. At age 28, I thought there could be little that would surprise me anymore.

Berlin proved me wrong.

We spent the first half of the night in a trendy bar with furniture (and all sorts of additional decoration) hanging from the ceiling. For the second half of the night, we ventured to one of Berlin’s famous after-parties. It was so famous… that after 40 minutes queuing under drizzling rain, we didn’t get in. Our cab driver tried comforting us with his words: You don’t dress right for this place, he said, you need to tear your jeans and shirts, be more trendy. I didn’t feel like tearing my expensive jeans and felt quite comfortable with my kind of trendy, and asked the driver to take us to an after-party where we would be welcome.

A good 10 minutes later, we stopped. I peeked out of the window and saw what seemed to be the entrance to a Caribbean beach party.

Now we’re talking…

Behind the beach hut, a few stairs transported us to a completely different set…

Katerholzig is a legendary club located in an old warehouse that used to be a soap factory, on the periphery of Berlin. We arrived at dawn, and worrying we would only had another hour until closure and turned to the first person and asked when was closing time.

Close?, he asked, confused, this place doesn’t close until Tuesday. It was Sunday.

The inside is practically as unexpected as its exterior. Another beach hut, white sand and a palm tree in one area. A dark room with sofas in another. A dance floor with ample windows. People dancing with rubber rings and duck-alike umbrellas. It was surreal, and yet about the funkiest experience I’ve had so far.