A Day in Hamburg, Germany

Hello friends. We started our Hamburg tour at Landungsbrücken. This spot used to be a gritty industrial pier. These days it’s just buzzing with tour boats instead of cargo ships. You haven't really seen Hamburg until you've viewed it from the water. So we hopped on a small tour boat to weave through the harbor and get a close-up look at how massive those docks are. The shoreline is just packed with some pretty striking architecture as you glide by. The first of these was the old Elbe tunnel, which we actually went inside later in our trip. Then there’s the Fish Market, which is where they used to hold all the auctions.

It’s in the Altona district. That area actually used to be part of Denmark before it joined Hamburg. We also spotted Ratsherrn Eck, which is officially Hamburg’s smallest pub. And Dockland, a modern office building inspired by the silhouette of a yacht. Its architect is the Iranian born Hadi Teherani, who lives and works in Hamburg. We were also able to see another of Teherani’s works just a bit further ahead. The structure known as the dancing towers.

Hamburg is perfectly positioned on the Elbe. It’s the main reason the port has become a real global giant. Everywhere in the city is connected by water, canals and bays. The water level here at the estuary changes due to tides. The North sea is only one hundred kilometers away. They’ve got these clever lock systems in place to manage the water levels, which keeps all the ship traffic flowing smoothly. Believe it or not the number of bridges in Hamburg is greater than the total number of bridges in Amsterdam and Venice combined.

The Soviet era U-434 submarine is also open to visitors here as a museum. At the time it was built, it was the world’s largest non-nuclear spy submarine. Hamburg is also known for its floating docks, like Dock Elbe 17, where they fix up those giant ships. And the massive Airbus headquarters is located right here too. We got lucky and actually saw the Beluga, that huge, rare cargo plane taking off from the airport.

The city’s biggest modern landmark is the Elbphilharmonie, which was finished about ten years back. It was designed by Herzog & de Meuron and caused a huge stir because it cost over 800 million euros in the end. In addition to the philharmonic, it houses a hotel and private residences. You can reach the building’s observation terrace via one of the world’s longest curved escalators. Opposite it lies the HafenCity district, where old coffee and cocoa warehouses once stood and luxury residences and offices are now rising. Here we also saw the interesting Unilever house building, its facade surrounded by a transparent layer.

We got off the boat after visiting the museum ship Rickmer Rickmers. And entered the old Elbe tunnel, which resembles a trackless subway. Located under the water, this tunnel reflects the esthetics of the beginning of the last century with its ceramics and lighting. The International Maritime museum is also worth a look. The place is massive nine whole floors of some seriously amazing architecture. Just outside you'll run into a statue of Klaus Störtebekerr, this legendary pirate who made a career out of raiding Hanseatic League ships. Word has it he could knock back four liters of beer in one sitting and he supposedly saved his crew by walking right past them after he’d been beheaded.

After seeing the Der Spiegel and RTL offices in the modern part of town, we headed over to the Speicherstadt district, which is a Unesco World Heritage site. This is the world’s largest historical warehouse complex and is famous for its neo-Gothic brick architecture. In the past goods were stored here duty free. And taxes were only paid when the goods were sold, efectively making it a duty free zone. Another near by Unesco heritage site is the Chilehaus building, which resembles a giant ship’s prow.

We ended our tour at the magnificent City hall or Rathaus of Hamburg, Germany’s most populous city after Berlin. Built at the end of the nineteenth century, the facade features figures of twenty emperors symbolizing the city’s free status directly under the emperor. You’ll find the Hygieia fountain in the courtyard. It was actually put up to commemorate the health overhauls they triggered after the cholera crisis.

The contrast in Hamburg is wild. You’ve got these classic red brick facades blending right into ultra modern architecture. There’s a story around every corner.