National Geographic Traveler

DAMIEN SIMONIS, raised in Sydney, Australia, has lived, studied, and worked all over Europe and the Middle East. In 1992 he started writing guidebooks and travel articles for publications in Australia, the U.K., and North America and hasn't stopped since. His wanderings have taken him from the Ukraine to Sudan, from the Alps to the Red Sea. Simonis had his first taste of foreign travel in Germany in the 1980s. Repeated study trips brought him back and he frequently visited Berlin at the height of the Cold War. Although he now lives in the warmer climes of Barcelona, Spain, his affection for Germany, and Berlin in particular, has never waned.