There’s something about backpacking that attracts the eye to any poster, sign or pamphlet bearing the word ‘free’, so in Berlin we couldn’t help but take up the opportunity for a free walking tour with an English-speaking guide

And although the three and a half hour tour turned into six hours, and the ‘free’ turned into ‘we’re going to harp on about living off commission until you feel obliged to give us a €20 tip’, the tour was utterly fascinating.

Not to say that we weren’t slightly worried that we’d engaged the services of a whacko when the first spot he led us to was the world’s ugliest apartment building (’Do you know what this is? Prime real estate of the communist east - only high flying politicians and Olympic medallists were allowed to live here’) and most inconspicuous-looking carpark, which in fact turned out to be the site of Hitler’s underground bunker (’There’s no marker or memorial because we don’t want neo-Nazis coming here and sacrificing goats. Now, everyone do a little jig. Go on, don’t be shy! There, now you can all say you’ve danced on Hitler’s grave.’).

Around the corner stood the former entrance to what used to be Hitler’s Chancellery, now replaced by a modest row of shops including - get this, no-one can ever say the Germans don’t have a sense of ironic humour - a gay sauna, a Chinese takeaway called Peking Duck, and a travel agency called Welcome to Russia.