Travel, Weekend | TRAVEL: A weekend in Hamburg
(REPIP TIP:) Whether you choose to travel environmentally friendly by train via Copenhagen, or to fly from Oslo, Hamburg is a relatively accessible metropolis – full of art and good restaurants. In December you can also visit the popular Christmas markets.
The advantage of the train is that you get straight to Hamburg’s lively central station. From here, it is a short distance to a number of good hotels, several exquisite museums and the city’s best-known shopping streets. I myself check into the boutique hotel Henri, in a back street between the station and the town hall. Henri has settled in at home, with a lobby that looks like a living room.
Tour in the center
The former flight attendant Therese Wilms, who has become a local guide, has been on a tour of the city centre. From the hotel, it is not many steps to the shopping street Mönckebergstrasse, which leads down to the Rathaus – the impressive town hall that houses the city and state parliament. Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg is also one of Germany’s smallest states.
– With the Schengen Agreement, Hamburg’s rights as a free port disappeared, a status that previously contributed strongly to the city’s prosperity, says Therese Wilms.
As well as the town hall, there is the luxurious Neuer Wall fashion street, the flagship stores of the cosmetics giant Nivea and the luxury manufacturer Mont Blanc, as well as the Europa Passage shopping centre. Instead, we stroll down towards the Elbe, one of Europe’s largest rivers. On the way we pass the church of Sankt Nicolai. The dramatic burned-out tower still rises high above the city’s roofs.
– The church was designed by the Briton Gilbert Scott, and at the inauguration in 1874 had the world’s tallest church tower. The church was destroyed by British bombers during the Second World War, the guide tells us.
Today, you can take an elevator up the tower to admire the view and possibly contemplate how the Second World War played out in the city: Bombs fell on Hamburg throughout the war, but July 1943 was the most intense month. Then incendiary bombs killed at least 37,000 people.
Ruins and renovation
Many ruins were replaced by brand new buildings after the war, but Speicherstadt’s mighty rows of warehouses remained as they were, and were gradually renovated. In 2015, they were classified as World Heritage by Unesco.
– Speicherstadt was formerly Hamburg’s duty-free warehouse area, located on its own island. He stocked everything from spices to coffee and oriental rugs. Even today, the world’s second largest carpet warehouse is located here, but the rest has been turned into offices and museums. The great risk of flooding in winter means that homes are not allowed here, says Therese Wilms.
Next to it is the Speicherstadt, which rises somewhat higher above sea level. In a decade, these have been transformed from tired, old quays into Hafen City – a densely built-up residential area with expensive luxury apartments.
The crowning achievement in Hafen City is undoubtedly the spectacular Elbphilharmonie concert hall, which was heavily criticized at the start due to a series of delays and budget gaps.
– Today, the hamburgers love their five-year-old concert hall. The audience has become wider, and there are many different concerts to choose from. Mostly classical, but also jazz and pop, says Therese Wilms.
Twelfth floor
In the evening I have a ticket to the great hall. A full house gets to hear a violin concerto by Johannes Brahms. He was born in Hamburg in 1833 and is one of many composers with links to the city.
After the concert, I take a walk on the balcony, which stretches around the entire building, twelve floors above the Elbe. The boat buses travel along and across the river, and on the other bank there are cranes as far as the eye can see in Europe’s largest port.
On the other side of the Elbe, giant hangars have also been given space, which are now used for music performances. Hamburg is Germany’s leading musical city, and every evening thousands of audiences see The Lion King and other long-running productions in the hangars.
The soul of Hamburg
The next day, a guided tour of the harbor is on the programme. I take the S-Bahn to Landungsbrücken, there is a good selection of sightseeing boats. It is important to be out in good time, even if you have pre-booked, because it can be a bit tricky to find the right boat.
On the trip we get an excellent guide in German and a slightly easier one in other languages. We see mighty dry docks, the navy’s gray warships, large container ships that load and unload in just a few hours, and shipyards where new luxury yachts are built. There is no doubt that the harbor is still Hamburg’s soul.
Others might argue that the soul and local flavor is found on the Reeperbahn, the city’s sinful amusement park. The prostitution that the area is known for has had to move to more secluded streets, while show restaurants and musical stages have found space in between the sex shops, beer parlors and kebab shops.
Reeperbahn is shabby, but also charming: like at the Kaiserkeller, where The Beatles played several times before their breakthrough in 1962. I joined Beatles connoisseur Stefanie Hempel’s fantastic nostalgia walk in the pop group’s footsteps. Along the way, she both narrates and plays Beatles classics on the mandolin. The trip is highly recommended, but should be booked months in advance.
Travel facts, Hamburg
In general: With just under two million inhabitants, Hamburg has a lot to offer tourists. The offer is so large that it is wise to plan. Good restaurants, classical concerts, musicals, guided tours are among the things that should often be booked in advance.
Narrator: The spring is nice from April, the summer about the same as in southern Norway, and the harvest is mild. Winter can be rainy, but December beckons with cozy Christmas markets.
Your journey: Direct flight from Oslo or train. The train from Oslo leaves early in the morning, and you change at least two places (Gothenburg and Copenhagen) before arriving in Hamburg in the evening. You can also take the one that leaves 10.01 or 14.01 from Oslo and change to the night train that leaves Malmö either 22.10 or 23.33 and arrives in Hamburg in the morning.
Accommodation tips: Budget: Hotel Terminus am Hauptbahnhof, Steindamm 5 / Mid-range: Henri, Bugenhagenstr. 21 / Luxury: Fairmont Hotel vier jahreszeiten, Neuer Jungfernstieg 9–14.
Eating out: Along the Landungsbrücke there are many kiosks that serve good, reasonable sandwiches. The Nil restaurant at Neuer Pferdemarkt 5 has good, modern German-French cuisine. Daniel Wischer in Steinstrasse 15A offers classics such as fried plaice with prawns and fish burgers. Piment in Lehmweg 29 has a Michelin star and serves exquisitely beautiful dishes with North African vibes.
Five fine museums in Hamburg
The Composer’s Quarter: A large museum where you can learn more about composers such as Johannes Brahms, Georg Philipp Telemann, Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn and Gustav Mahler with the delicious music in the headphones – all with connections to Hamburg.
Hamburger Kunsthalle: Has a wide collection of high quality art, including one of Germany’s most iconic paintings, David Caspar Friedrich’s «Wandering over the Sea of Mist».
Museum for Art and Trade: One of Europe’s best design and craft museums. Inspiring presentation of style eras.
Deichtor Hall: Shows above all top-class photographic art, but also other modern art.
Miniatur Wunderland: Hamburg’s most visited attractions with dozens of miniature worlds – everything from the carnival train in Rio and railways in the Swiss Alps to a large Scandinavian section where Greta Thunberg appears with a protest poster.
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