A taste of Hamburg

First of all, the good news is that my photos have miraculously started to download onto my laptop, so I can start to add some pictures over the next few days to recent postings for anyone who would like to take a look at the Salzburg post onwards.

We added the northern seaport city of Hamburg to our itinerary on the advice on a German colleague and friend, who when I asked for a recommendation on which German city to visit, she unhesitatingly went for Hamburg; in addition, it fitted in nicely with our plan to end up in Trondheim in Norway, somewhere a bit off the tourist beaten track and which appealed to our sense of adventure as a finishing point for our trip.

The journey from Berlin was a welcome opportunity to sit in comfort and give our lower bodies a rest from walking. The hi-speed (ICE) train wasn't busy and we were able to stretch out our legs, read, write, nap as we journeyed westwards across a pleasant but unremarkable green landscape. It actually took less than 2 hours, which was a pity, as I’d have been quite happy to stay aboard and continue for longer, but unfortunately Hamburg was the terminus.

Our first impression of the city wasn’t that positive; we came out of the busy station which was bustling with all kinds of people and tried to make sense of the map we’d printed out to help us make the transfer from station to hotel, as we’ve done for all our destinations. Of course, in real life, the street names aren’t always that obvious and we took a wrong turning and walked too far away from the station and found ourselves in what wasn’t the most salubrious of areas. We passed a couple of shops which were displaying photos showing, what my husband described in our family parlance as “somewhere to park your bike.” In my mind I was already deciding to ditch the hotel we’d paid for and find somewhere a bit more “suitable.” However, once we found our way, the Hotel Terminus was actually right opposite the station and not as far into the dodgy area as we’d thought and we rang the bell and were admitted to the reception, where we were given a warm welcome and a pretty nice and very clean room and bathroom, with breakfast included, which turned out to be basic but a good start to the day ahead.

The male receptionist was very friendly and keen to use his proficient English (probably because my German was so abysmal) and showed me a notebook in which he writes down new English words he comes across with their meaning. He told me he watches lots of English language films and TV, and his favourite personality is Gordon Ramsey, because he is so passionate about his cooking. I warned him to be careful of using some of Gordon’s favourite words with his customers!

So, it was only lunchtime and time to head off for sightseeing and some coffee and cake, which seems to have crept into our daily routine without our realising. That will have to stop when we get to Scandinavia as from what we’ve heard about the cost of everything there we might be paying the equivalent of around £15 each for coffee and cake, so all the more reason to indulge here in Germany.

Once we crossed the road behind the station we were smack bang in the middle of the main shopping area, with smart and stylish shops, and some impressive old buildings, such as the Rathaus (town hall) and old churches. 

Hamburg Rathaus

The overall impression is one of affluence and very good taste. Our walking helped us to build our awareness of the shape of the city and brought us to a lovely lakeside area surrounded by stately buildings, around which many people were strolling and cycling, and we had a walk and sat in the warm sun watching the swans, ducks and cormorants that live in and around the lake. We ended the day with a walk down to the mighty river Elbe, looking out onto the harbour and the working docks across the river, deciding we would spend our full day exploring that area further. It reminded me of the view from the Liver Building in Liverpool, looking out over the Mersey. We found a decent restaurant on our way back to the hotel and I opted for the spargel (asparagus) menu which is in season here and has been promoted all across Germany throughout our time in Germany and Austria. I had the thick white asparagus with black forest ham, boiled potatoes and melted butter - simple but tasty, while my husband went for fish. 

After breakfast on our full day in Hamburg we came across a large demonstration of public sector workers. We asked one of the supporters what it was about and they told us it was to protest against the low wage settlement they’d agreed some time ago with the government and which they now want to review, as many workers in local government, health, public transport, etc are struggling to make ends meet. Sounds familiar! 

Demonstration of public sector workers

We made good use of our Rough Guide in planning out our day and as advised, bought an all-day ferry ticket for only 6 euros each, and caught a ferry to Finkenwerder across the river. 

Ferry across the Elbe

We got off at Docklands and climbed up to the roof of a large building that turned out to be the Business School for the Nordakademie and provided fantastic views of the whole area, 

View back to Hamburg from top of Nordakademie building 

then caught the next ferry across to Finkenwerder and got off there as well.  Although it wasn’t the nicest place, it did have a lovely bakery/coffee shop with very low prices, so we took advantage of that to fill up at lunchtime.

Once back over in Hamburg we walked round the Hafen City (Docklands) area, which as with Canary Wharf is filled with interesting buildings and redeveloped warehouses, but many seem to be unoccupied,which suggests that rents are probably high and out of the reach of many people. The highest profile building in the area is the new state of the art concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie.  However, we heard from the locals that the projected costs have doubled from the original estimates and there are questions over the funding. Similarly, our tourist map identified an area marked as a site for the 2024 Olympics. When we asked a local person about that, they told us that there had been plans to bid to host the 2024 Olympics in Hamburg but there had been a lot of local opposition and they’d had a vote which had given it the thumbs down.

One visit worth mentioning is the Miniature Wonderland in Hafen City, which is really fun and excellent value for money - it’s 2 big warehouse floors of huge train sets, an airport, representations of a number of countries and the city of Hamburg itself, which includes a representation of the new concert hall and which looks amazing,

Model of completed Elbphilarmonie, currently under construction, at Miniature Wonderland

all made of tiny figures and model vehicles and buildings. It was the tiny details that made it so captivating, such as a bouncy castle with tiny figures of children bouncing up and down, and a bungee jumper diving from a crane. Great for kids of all ages, and kids at heart.

Hamburg: ebullient and friendly

We stayed at the Hotel Terminus, Hamburg, which isn’t in the best of areas but is ideally situated for access to the main station and is good value for money and very clean and comfortable with an adequate “complimentary" breakfast, i.e. it’s included in the b&b price.

Restaurants: there are plenty of good restaurants and bars. We had a nice meal and excellent and friendly service at Das Kontor at Deichstrasse 32, Hamburg.

Sightseeing tip: Miniature Wonderland is in Hafen City, Hamburg