The Harbour City of Hamburg

Tripoto
4th Jun 2014
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 1/18 by Lauren
St.Nikolai Church
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 2/18 by Lauren
Holocaust Monument
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 3/18 by Lauren
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 4/18 by Lauren
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 5/18 by Lauren
Hamburg Nightlife
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 6/18 by Lauren
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 7/18 by Lauren
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 8/18 by Lauren
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 9/18 by Lauren
Town Hall
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 10/18 by Lauren
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 11/18 by Lauren
Christmas Market
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 12/18 by Lauren
Harbour
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 13/18 by Lauren
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 14/18 by Lauren
Reeperbahn
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 15/18 by Lauren
The Opera House
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 16/18 by Lauren
The Coffee Museum
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 17/18 by Lauren
The Beatles Monument
Photo of The Harbour City of Hamburg 18/18 by Lauren
St. Petri Church

The task of getting to Hamburg was initially hindered by the announcement of all London trains to Heathrow Airport being cancelled. Panic! Frantic iPhone button pressing! Luckily, it turned out that this didn’t include the tube, so I jumped on the Piccadilly line and rode all the way to the end – the infamous Terminal 5.

We started off with a free Hamburg city tour from Sandemans New Europe. I’ve been on their tours a few times before, and their guides are always good fun with great location knowledge. Our guide Irene today certainly didn’t disappoint.

We started off with the stunning town hall. It resembles the typical European architecture seen in important buildings across the continent.
Photo of Altona Town Hall, Hamburg, Germany by Lauren
First church stop of the day was St. Petri, the oldest church in Hamburg, which dates back to 1195. It burned down in the Great Fire of 1842 which engulfed most of the city, but the site still holds artwork dating back to the 1300s.
Photo of St. Petri, Bei der Petrikirche, Hamburg, Germany by Lauren
We visited the St. Nikolai Church which is for the patron saint of water. Fitting for Hamburg in many ways.
Photo of St. Nikolai Memorial, Willy-Brandt-Straße, Hamburg, Germany by Lauren
We saw some beautiful views of the port around the Speicherstadt (historic warehouse area) and the Binnenhafen (inner harbour area).
Photo of Speicherstadt, Hamburg, Germany by Lauren
Photo of Speicherstadt, Hamburg, Germany by Lauren
We also took a closer look at the new opera house, which has swallowed millions of Euros from Hamburg’s taxpayers and is more than five years behind schedule for completion. The city’s residents are not happy. Tourists can enjoy a guided tour of the construction site though, so at least it’s helping Hamburg tourism to boom.
Photo of State Opera House, Große Theaterstraße, Hamburg, Germany by Lauren
Undoubtedly one of Hamburg’s best known offerings, my trip to this part of Germany would not have been complete without seeing the infamous Reeperbahn – Hamburg’s red-light district street in St Pauli. We went at 2:30am on a Saturday night, which apparently is the time to go. I have to say that I found the whole setup a lot more civilised than Amsterdam’s equivalent.
Photo of Reeperbahn, Hamburg, Germany by Lauren
Photo of Reeperbahn, Hamburg, Germany by Lauren
We visited Hamburg’s Kaffeemuseum Burg (Museum of Coffee). The first thing to note about this place is its extraordinary smell. The scent of roasting beans will fill your nostrils from a good few hundred metres away as you approach the building, and if you’re anything like me, that’s a very welcome prospect indeed.
Photo of Kaffeemuseum Burg, Münsterstraße, Hamburg, Germany by Lauren
Photo of Kaffeemuseum Burg, Münsterstraße, Hamburg, Germany by Lauren