Hamburg

Hamburg is a port city, expect to find many boats, bridges, canals, and hear passing seabirds. I caught it on a very grey and rainy weekend which unfortunately set a slight gloomy mood.

The journey from Copenhagen is nice because you get to go on the ferry. Transport cost me 19€ each way, first on the Flixbus and to return on the DB train. Travelling by train is 100 times better and I suggest it if you can. I had my phone, food and knitting to entertain me on the way. Public transport daily ticket in Hamburg is 6,20€. 

I took most of the ideas on what to see from Lonelyplanet, so thanks for that advice :)

We walked around the city, saw the Rathaus, St. Petri-kirche, St Michaelis-kirche, HafenCity area and harbour... The Speicherstadt Kaffeerösterei has really good coffee and hot chocolate (with soy milk option) but the cakes were nothing special.

The Elbphilharmonie is the new modern concert hall in Hamburg. It  has a free viewpoint of the city from the plaza, but you have to book it on the day and in the machines they have there, whilst online you pay for the reservation. Get there early, or it will get fully booked, and choose a time slot to visit throughout the day. 

Elbphilharmonie

We did not plan this but as we were walking in the urban park, Planten un Blomen, we heard the music from the ice skating and decided to give it a try. This was my first ice skating experience and I loved it. I was so exited and went all confident into the rink, but it all got crushed when I put my first foot in and felt myself slipping like bambi. I then tried to skate a little bit, but felt no control whatsoever, so for the first half hour I held on very tightly to the rail refusing to let go, because I have a fear of falling and getting hurt, I was so disappointed in myself. Luckily I got a little help and was so happy when I got the hang of it, I was setting longer and longer goals of skating each time I let go.

Before

and after

We crossed the river from underneath in the Alter Elbetunnel, which is a really long tunnel (426.5m long and 23.5m deep), the way down is located on the Landungsbrücken. We took the stairs three times, and when returning back up, the elevator. On the other side you get a nice view from the harbour and city.

Catch Ferry 62 instead of harbour cruises. It is included in the public transports system so just hop on and off like a water bus and enjoy the ride. It departs from Landungsbrücken (pier 3), and some good stops are the ‘Dockland’ station where you can climb up to the top of office buildings and Altona (Fischmarkt), we didn't have time to go much further because we had a train and plane to catch.

Ferry 62

Brücke 10 is a really nice and cheap fish sandwich place by the river. We had lunch there and I tasted the Salmon, and Shrimp sandwiches, but the fish cake was my favourite out of the three.

Brücke 10

Overall it is a nice city and I enjoyed my stay. However, I don't feel like I need to go back, even only have stayed for a short weekend. I'm exited about visiting other places in Germany, and I like Berlin much more, for sure.

Hamburg Flickr album