Hamburg Day 11 (26 July)
Hotel handed out a map with 2 walking tours on the back. In German but pretty self-evident so thought we'd try one this morning. Tour officially started at the RatHaus - a late 1800's building which as far as I can work out survived the WWII bombings. Impressive and imposing. Then got taken to the site of an old stone bridge - Trostbrucke - that also somehow survived the bombings. Very pretty and led to St Nikolai - very old church from mid-late 1800's that largely did not survive the bombings. Its crypt, the site itself and its tall spired tower (largely now hollow except for a large set of bells) survived. Used to be the tallest building in the world in the 1870's. You can catch an elevator up to the top of the spire (almost) and walk around on a platform. Good views of Hamburg. Was heavily damaged in 1943 and the crypt has a museum regarding the history of the church but largely to do with the bombing of Hamburg (and other cities like Warsaw and Coventry) during WWII and the damage caused. Some touching statues in the forecourt of the church now. Learnt that the bombing of Hamburg was called "Operation Gomorrah".
Tour then took us to Speicherstadt (City of warehouses). Apparently the largest warehouse district in the world (never sure about these claims) where the buildings stand on timber pile foundations.It is located in the port area and was built late 1800's to 1920's. About half of this area had to be rebuilt post-WWII. It has UNESCO World Heritage status. Attractively done. Very nice area now. Not at all 'port city seedy'. It's in an area called HafenCity which is pretty upmarket and there is a University around there too. Nice area to wander around and pretty with the canals. You can imagine how impressive Hamburg must have been as a port city during the Hanseatic League era and afterwards when it was shipping to and receiving goods from all over the place.
Some of the buildings on the way there reminded me of buildings in Oslo and Helsinki. Quite impressive 'solid' looking buildings with large stone statues on the buildings or on arches on entrances to them.
HafenCity is an area established in 2008 so pretty recent. Aside from its old warehouses and lots of upmarket looking apartments it has what is called the Elbphilharmonie concert hall. This has only been opened very recently but is very impressive looking from the outside. It sits on top of an old warehouse building. The 'top' has a glassy exterior with a wavy roof line. Unusual.
By this stage of the tour Stephen was starting to scout restaurants for herrings. There were none at breakfast so he had expectations of locating some for lunch. We had success at the 'Fleetschlosschen". Very cute little brick place perched at a water's edge. Stephen enjoyed herrings and black bread with some German beer. Success.
After some more wandering around the waterside we finished the official tour at the Chilehaus. It is a 10 story office block built in the 1920's. It is an 'exceptional example of the 1920's Brick Expressionism style of architecture". My words exactly. A lot of bricks went into this building. I quite liked it. It has a 'patterned' look achieved through the setting of bricks in patterns. Interesting. Interesting enough to be a UNESCO world heritage site. My companion was not so enamoured initially but has come around after a second stroll past after dinner. It's also on a corner - with a pointed side resembling the bow of a ship. Very appropriate here.
Once tour finished we thought we'd wander up and down what looked to be some fairly busy shopping streets/malls. One of the stretches is called Monckebergstr. Now a mixture of shops and housing. Previously only the less well off lived here between the main station and city hall. Lots of half timbered tightly packed houses were demolished and the people moved on (not sure where?) in the early 1920's.
Tour was interesting we thought. Essentially we wandered around what is called the "Altstadt" (old town) part and HafenCity (not so old town - actually 'port city'). You can see from a map that there would have been a city wall at some stage with the Altstadt in it. Quite a buzzy city and definitely better than I remembered it back in 1991, the date of my last visit.
Great dinner at restaurant near the Chilehaus - called Restaurant Laulauf. Traditional Hamburg fare chosen by us. Stephen had many pieces of fish with mustard sauce on top of many potatoes and I had chosen some traditional pork dish served with a gravy like sauce on top of bread rolls left to soak up the gravy sauce. Very much 'comfort' food. Could imagine people huddled in the restaurant in winter - banks of radiators along the walls and hooks everywhere for the heavy coats.
Planning 2nd walking tour for tomorrow morning.
Tour then took us to Speicherstadt (City of warehouses). Apparently the largest warehouse district in the world (never sure about these claims) where the buildings stand on timber pile foundations.It is located in the port area and was built late 1800's to 1920's. About half of this area had to be rebuilt post-WWII. It has UNESCO World Heritage status. Attractively done. Very nice area now. Not at all 'port city seedy'. It's in an area called HafenCity which is pretty upmarket and there is a University around there too. Nice area to wander around and pretty with the canals. You can imagine how impressive Hamburg must have been as a port city during the Hanseatic League era and afterwards when it was shipping to and receiving goods from all over the place.
Some of the buildings on the way there reminded me of buildings in Oslo and Helsinki. Quite impressive 'solid' looking buildings with large stone statues on the buildings or on arches on entrances to them.
HafenCity is an area established in 2008 so pretty recent. Aside from its old warehouses and lots of upmarket looking apartments it has what is called the Elbphilharmonie concert hall. This has only been opened very recently but is very impressive looking from the outside. It sits on top of an old warehouse building. The 'top' has a glassy exterior with a wavy roof line. Unusual.
By this stage of the tour Stephen was starting to scout restaurants for herrings. There were none at breakfast so he had expectations of locating some for lunch. We had success at the 'Fleetschlosschen". Very cute little brick place perched at a water's edge. Stephen enjoyed herrings and black bread with some German beer. Success.
After some more wandering around the waterside we finished the official tour at the Chilehaus. It is a 10 story office block built in the 1920's. It is an 'exceptional example of the 1920's Brick Expressionism style of architecture". My words exactly. A lot of bricks went into this building. I quite liked it. It has a 'patterned' look achieved through the setting of bricks in patterns. Interesting. Interesting enough to be a UNESCO world heritage site. My companion was not so enamoured initially but has come around after a second stroll past after dinner. It's also on a corner - with a pointed side resembling the bow of a ship. Very appropriate here.
Once tour finished we thought we'd wander up and down what looked to be some fairly busy shopping streets/malls. One of the stretches is called Monckebergstr. Now a mixture of shops and housing. Previously only the less well off lived here between the main station and city hall. Lots of half timbered tightly packed houses were demolished and the people moved on (not sure where?) in the early 1920's.
Tour was interesting we thought. Essentially we wandered around what is called the "Altstadt" (old town) part and HafenCity (not so old town - actually 'port city'). You can see from a map that there would have been a city wall at some stage with the Altstadt in it. Quite a buzzy city and definitely better than I remembered it back in 1991, the date of my last visit.
Great dinner at restaurant near the Chilehaus - called Restaurant Laulauf. Traditional Hamburg fare chosen by us. Stephen had many pieces of fish with mustard sauce on top of many potatoes and I had chosen some traditional pork dish served with a gravy like sauce on top of bread rolls left to soak up the gravy sauce. Very much 'comfort' food. Could imagine people huddled in the restaurant in winter - banks of radiators along the walls and hooks everywhere for the heavy coats.
Planning 2nd walking tour for tomorrow morning.
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