Hamburg

2016
This time, we visited the largest in the world miniatur museum Miniatur Wunderland and walked around the city center.

We spent the night at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Hamburg (booking.com). The best view of the city opens from the upper floors.


2010

Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is one of the most famous cities in Germany. Located at the confluence of the Elbe river into the North Sea, Hamburg is known as industrial and tourist center, the largest non-capital city and one of the largest ports in Europe.





The main attraction of the city is the City Hall built in 1886-1887. To my mind, this is one of the best city halls in Germany together with Munich and Bremen city halls.  Above the portal of the City Hall is the motto of the city: "Libertatem quam peperere maiores digne studeat servare posteritas" ("Let the descendants honorably keep the freedom achieved for them by their ancestors").




Around the City Hall on the banks of the Alster lake are the stairs, the city's favorite place for recreation and youth meetings. The bridge in the middle of the lake offers a great view of the City Hall.






During World War II the city was repeatedly airstriked by Anglo-American aircraft. During "Operation Gomorrah" on July 25 - August 3, 1943 more than 50,000 people were killed and much of the city's buildings were destroyed.

After the war, the German cities were rebuilt and the effects of the bombing are not noticeable any longer. One of the buildings that remained destroyed is a St. Nicholas Church. It is one of the tallest and most notable buildings of Hamburg, the fifth Christian church in the world by height. During the bombing of 1943 it was destroyed, but the bell tower remained. In 1990 restoration works started and in 2005 the elevator was launched. The elevator takes the visitors to the observation deck on top of the bell tower.














Hamburg is also famous for its "Beatles places". During their last three visits to Germany (April-May, November and December-1962) the Beatles played in Star Club at 39 Grosse Freiheit. The building survived until our time, but it doesn't have the club anymore, only a plaque left.


There's a Beatles museum on the Reeperbahn Street. I am not a Beatles fan, but visited it with pleasure.

Reeperbahn is one of the most famous streets in Germany. Along with several surrounding streets it forms the nightlife district of Hamburg. Germans consider it something like a small Amsterdam. Although in my opinion it's a tiny Amsterdam =)

While walking along the waterfront, don't miss a unique structure: old tunnel under the Elbe. 426-meter tunnel was built 100 years ago, but it functions properly nowadays and is used by the citizens. And not only by pedestrians. Every year more than 300,000 cars pass through it. Pedestrians and cars descend to the tunnel on a huge lift. The tunnel is free of charge for pedestrians and cyclists. In 1975 a modern road tunnel to the west of the downtown was built.












On the waterfront you can find a Soviet submarine, which was taken out of the fleet and turned into a museum in 2002.






One of the most unusual places in the city is the port storage area Shpeyhershtadt. It's a small island built in 1884-1910 from red brick. Shpeyhershtadt buildings are still used as warehouses for coffee, tea, tobacco, spices and Persian rugs. During the war many of the buildings had been destroyed, but later they were rebuilt retaining the same architecture.






















Getting there: Hamburg is a major transport hub, so you can get there by any kind of transport.