Berlin Westhafen (#0074)

Berlin Westhafen (Western Harbour), a large inland port connected by canal to the Oder and Elbe rivers. The port opened in 1923 and is still in operation, though some of the buildings are no longer used as port buildings and have been converted to other uses and some of the port has been filled in.

I was fascinated with the idea of Berlin as a port. Having spent a good portion of my life in cities whose founding and continued livelihood was closely linked to being a port for oceangoing vessels, my mind has lots of trouble thinking of inland cities as ‘ports’. Even though I've spent quite a bit of time in Sacramento, another inland port, my mind just can't comprehend how a place without foghorns, the bellow of the horns of big ships, constant seagulls, marine smells, and salt in the air, can be a port!

See: www.visitberlin.de/en/spot/westhafen-west-harbour-behala