Germany Tour Day 5 - 20th Sept

Hamburg

After Berlin we headed off to Hamburg. It is a port city in northern Germany. The area attributes much of its prosperity to the port. Apparently the carpet trade is the largest in the world here. There are also dry dock facilities to carry out boat repairs. The Queen Mary II apparently docks here frequently and is also repaired here. 

The lower jetty that moves with the tide

Our first stop was to the marina and we were to go on a boat cruise. The port is along the river Elbe which goes up and down with the tides. So the lower part of the marina is floating and it moves up and down with the tide. The bridges leading to the lower part accommodate for the movement. Apparently Hamburg itself has something like 2800 bridges in it.

Lots of glass windows - everything is Bauhaus...

On the boat cruise, we were able to look at the shoreline. Most of the buildings are quite modern. Not having quite grasped what Bauhaus architecture looks like, a few of us on tour were joking and pointing out every building we saw with lots of rectangular glass windows as Bauhaus. I still don’t quite get it…

We did a loop of the shipping docks and saw the machinery that is used to unload the huge container ships that dock in Hamburg. It actually only takes 3 guys around 36 hours to unload a huge ship because it is all done by machinery. 

Ugly opera house

Along the shoreline there was a bit of beach but it didn’t look great. I would imagine the water to be cold. There is still a lot being built and Hamburg is a growing city. Our guide pointed out the construction of a new opera house building. Apparently it is hugely behind schedule and developers are nearly broke because it cost three times what it was supposed to and is still not finished. And this very expensive building also looks very ugly!

The Beetles' club

 After the boat ride we drove towards the city centre. On the way, our guide pointed out the Reeperbahn area. Since Hamburg is a sea port, the sailors who finally came ashore after months at sea were keen for ‘entertainment’. There is also one other claim to fame for Hamburg. In their early years the Beetles were actually not that popular in the UK so they started performing in Hamburg and we drove by the club where they used to play. Apparently the remaining members still visit Hamburg regularly and give concerts to small crowds as they remember their roots. 

In the main area called the St.Pauli quarter, we visited another church called St. Michaelis church. This was the sailor’s church but nowadays they use it also for a theatre… 

The town hall in the background.

Then there was free time to explore a bit of Hamburg. Cat and I walked around the town hall and then through the town a bit. The buildings all look so interesting.

Our hotel was a bit out of the city area. On the way to the hotel we drove along the bank of the Elbe river. Our guide was telling us that anybody who thinks they are anybody in Germany has a house or holiday house somewhere along the water in Hamburg.