Hello from Hamburg

Sunday, June 26, 2022
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
After finally getting out of our isolation, we altered our plans and booked a flight to Hamburg. We booked a late afternoon flight,  It is 3.5 hours from Lisbon to Hamburg and the sun doesn’t set until 10pm. We didn’t arrive here until 10.30pm. Having now recovered from Covid, we are still fatigued and trying to take it a little bit easy.
Hamburg is the 3rd biggest port in Europe. Hamburg city is in northern Germany and is connected to the North Sea by the Elbe River. It is the second biggest city in Germany.  It's crossed by hundreds of canals, and also contains large areas of parkland. The city's central Jungfernstieg boulevard connects the Neustadt (new town) with the Altstadt (old town), home to landmarks like 18th-century St. Michael’s Church. It has a population of 1.8 million. Germany produces many cars i.e. Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW, Porsche. There are so many of these cars here and models we have never seen before. Electric cars have  a big market share here, with charging stations everywhere. They also drive on the other side of the road, so you have to make sure you look the other way than we normally do.
Today is Sunday and we made our way to the pier on the Elbe River. We now realised why accomodation was hard to get because there is a huge marathon on in the city today.  We caught a local harbour cruise. The weather here was a warm 27 degrees. There was a P & O  cruise ship on dry dock. The shipping container ships are so big, making us feel very small on our boat. Further on across the other side of the river is the popular Disney productions of Lion King and Disney on Ice. Hamburg is also renown for its theatrical entertainment. There are so many tug boats lining the river shores, below the variety of architecturally designed buildings. A short taxi ride to the Altstadt district (the core of the city) where we caught a river cruise. The outer Alster lake was covered in small sail boats that appeared to be racing. The shores are lined with bars and restaurants. There  was such a beautiful happy vibe on the water. So many people on blow up paddle boards, canoes, row boats, paddle boats, not a power boat in sight. There were hundreds of people just enjoying their Sunday on the water ways and canals. They were picnicking, on their phones, swimming, drinking, eating, travelling with pets, playing soccer and some just tied up on the canals just to soak up the atmosphere. The canals had lots of places to hire boards and bars and coffee shops. Some beautiful houses were hosting Sunday lunches and garden parties. The surrounds were so green with overhanging trees and lots of undergrowth, such a beautiful place. Back to shore we found a bar for a very late lunch and then headed back to the Altstadt district for a drink and early dinner. The beers were hot, (Mark was not impressed) and the language barrier here is sometimes difficult. We have a translation app that has really helped. There are also a lot of people that can speak English, once you ask them.  Hamburg has the largest warehouse district in the world where the buildings stand on timber pile foundations. The next day we rose early and found our way to the train station where we had booked the hop on hop off bus. We had some time to fill in so on the way we dropped into a large supermarket to see how they compared to home. They don’t seem to have a supply issue here in Hamburg. The shelves were very well stocked with produce and fresh produce and a huge variety of of cold meats & cheeses (Dad and Anka you would love it!). We had breakfast at a local bakery and the choices were endless. The commentary on both of our boat trips was only in German however today’s bus trip was also in English so we learn’t a fair bit more. Houses  around the Alster Lake are very much for the wealthy as you’d expect.  They were just spectacular. We also learn’t that Hamburg has more canals and bridges than Amsterdam, London and Venice. The weather was not so good today with a smog haze and later rain. We found a Thermomix Vorwerk store, which was pretty cool. We also came across a local department store called Alsterhaus. Similar to David Jones in Australia. High end shopping and  a wonderful food hall. We had a wiener schnitzel, with chips and mushroom sauce for lunch, which was very tasty. They have so many  hamburger restaurants here. You can also drink the water here out of the tap, which was a nice change from the bottled water in Spain and Portugal. The city skyline is peppered with many church spires.  On our way home we visited the St. Nikolai Church as it wasn’t far from our hotel. During the last week of July in 1943, in the midst of World War II, the British Royal Air Force and the US Air Force took part in a series of air raids on Hamburg known as Operation Gomorrah, leaving most of the city centre and the surrounding residential areas in ruin. The original church building was destroyed, but the spire, still the tallest in Hamburg, remained relatively unscathed.We also visited the WWII Museum in the church’s crypt. The disastrous air war over Europe, and its victims. It dwells into the impact of wars both past and present through interactive image, audio and video displays. The permanent exhibition Gomorrah 1943: Hamburg’s Destruction through Aerial Warfare provides an impressive overview of the historical context leading up to the air raids on Hamburg, the firestorm itself and the years of reconstruction that followed. We were surprised how the Germans accepted responsibility for the atrocities that the Nazi regime had committed that led to the eventual bombing of Hamburg. Our entry fee also included the glass elevator that takes visitors up the spire of the St. Nikolai Church, the fifth highest church steeple in the world. At a height of 76 metres, the viewing platform overlooks the port, the Alster lakes and Hamburg’s city centre. Historical photos of Hamburg after the 1943 air raids add to the experience.
Here even more so than Spain and Portugal there is massive support for the Ukrainian’s and the vilification of Putin.
We discovered a nice rooftop bar to overlook the city on our last rainy night here. It was a beautiful view of the city and gave us a chance to reflect about how much we had seen in  such a small amount of time. We have really enjoyed our stay in Hamburg despite the language barrier. Tomorrow we catch a train to Esbjerg in Denmark to meet the cruise.

Comments

Jan Riley
2022-06-28

looks beautifull, always wanted to do Germany.

Panther and Vicki
2022-06-29

Great to see you on the water again. Thanks heaps for your travel blogs. We will be in Hamburg in 12 months🤞

Michelle & Ian
2022-06-29

Wow what an amazing description of Hamburg Kylie! We will add it to our bucket-list!

Doota
2022-06-29

Glad you are back on track after the spicy cough. Safe travels xxx

2025-02-15

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