Selecting Hamburg as a weekend travel destination was based on two criteria - flights were relatively cheap over the Valentine's Day weekend; and it was a historic port city that very few of our friends or colleagues had visited. With little background in terms of what to expect from the city, we booked our hotel, did some TripAdvisor research and pretty much took the attitude of 'see what happens'.
As a result, we had an enjoyable time exploring, eating and venturing out to the neighbouring UNESCO town of Lubeck - a worthwhile side trip that we would recommend to future travellers.
Arriving in Hamburg
Travelling around Europe in February is never that enjoyable. The wind is bitterly cold (although we didn't see any snow this year) and the warmth and cheer of the Christmas markets have usually wrapped up. On arrival at Hamburg Airport, we took the train to the central station (Hamburg Hauptbahnhof) where we had deliberately booked our hotel in a nearby street for convenience.
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| Hamburg Hauptbahnhof |
Henri Hotel Downtown
Walking about a block down from the train station, we came across a large department store that was connected by an overpass to an office-block looking building that bore the name of our hotel in large fluorescent white lights.
Henri Hotel offers a modern boutique hotel experience. We loved the tailored wallpaper, old-style telephones, coffee machine (that we sadly didn't get a chance to use) and the friendly staff at the reception. The toilet had a corkboard where people had left messages or were offering local services; and there was a cosy lounge area and a downstairs gym.
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| Haven't seen a phone like this for ages |
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| Coffee machine camouflaged against the custom wallpaper |
Train to Lubeck
To avoid us getting too settled into hours of lazy relaxation in the hotel; we rugged ourselves back up and headed to the train station to catch the next regional train to Lubeck in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. This area was once part of the Kingdom of Denmark but became German territory as a result of a Prussian victory led by the statesman Otto von Bismarck. As a result both Otto von Bismarck and the ruler Wilhelm I are immortalized in large statues near the Lubeck train station. Our train fare to Lubeck was covered by a regional ticket that can be purchased from DB (German Railway) site and provided us with a full day of unlimited travel within Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.
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| Lubeck Train Station |
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| Statue of Bismarck |
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| Statue of Wilhelm I |
Lubeck
Lubeck is a UNESCO listed city for its beautiful brick gothic buildings in the old city centre (Altstadt). We had been enticed to visit this city as it has a historical past as a prominent member of the medieval trading alliance, the Hanseatic League. The city of Hamburg was also part of this association; as were a number of non-German cities we had already visited including Stockholm, Bruges, Bergen and Antwerp. Lubeck is also linked to medieval royal history that we had followed via BBC documentaries and visits to castles in the UK. It was founded by Henry the Lion (Henry III) who married Matilda, sister of Richard the Lionheart and daughter of Henry II of England.
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| Statue of Henry the Lion, Lubeck Cathedral |
Holsten Gate (Holstentor)
The symbol of Lubeck is the Holsten Gate - one of the four medieval gates that marked the boundary of the medieval fortifications. It is decorated with tiles and was restored in the 1800s.
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| View of Holstentor from outside the city |
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| View of the gate from inside the city |
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| Lion statue near the gate |
Marzipan
The profile of the Holstentor
is also used within the company logo of Niederegger, the marzipan manufacturer based in Lubeck. Marzipan, a sweet paste made of almonds and sugar was brought to Europe by the Crusaders. The Niederegger marzipan recipe is a family secret and is world renown as it uses minimal sugar.
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| Niederegger shop |
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| Animals made of marzipan |
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| Marzipan fruits |
Street Artwork
We spent some time walking around the narrow streets, taking photos of the interesting red brick buildings and street artwork.
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| Theater puppet museum |
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| Puppet outside the museum |
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| Painting next to a shop |
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| A dragon hangs from above |
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| A building with Italian style arches |
Lubeck Cathedral
Lubeck Cathedral was heavily damaged (as was a fifth of Lubeck) during World War II. Reconstruction of this beautiful building took many years and the inside the cathedral there are many beautiful wooden sculptures against a large modern stained glass window.
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| Cathedral and cloister |
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| Henry the Lion statue at Lubeck Cathedral |
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| World's largest triumphal cross by Bernt Notke |
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| Modern stained glass window |
Old Town Lubeck
Lubeck's Old Town (Altstadt) is an island on the Trave River. A park and walking track follows the path of the canal. The path is quite wide, reminding us of other cities where the city walls have been dismantled and made into public spaces. We followed the path to another bridge and guard house on the other side of the city.
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| Overlooking the Old Town |
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| Guard house next to the canal |
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| View of St Mary's Church (Marienkirche) in the Old Town |
Walking back to the center of town, we visited the Rathaus (Town Hall) and took a photo of the UNESCO monument displayed in the foyer.
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| Side view of Rathaus |
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| Entrance to Rathaus |
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| UNESCO monument |
Market Square
Next door, an ice-skating rink and winter market had been set up in the market square. Both attractions were brimming with locals and when we sat down to have a warming drink of gluhwein and currywurst, a local man donated his remaining cone of fried yeast dough snacks (schmalzgreben) to us, urging us to try these local treats. We couldn't possibly say no and enjoyed the remaining pieces - a sweet end to our day trip to Lubeck.
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| Eating the schmalzgreben |
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| At the ice-rink |
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| Currywurst, our favourite |
Dinner - Tschebull Restaurant
Around the corner from our hotel, we had booked dinner at Tschebull Restaurant that had been well recommended on TripAdvisor for its Austrian cuisine. We love finding restaurants that serve wine matched tasting menus as it allows us to sample some of the best dishes of the chef and exposes us to different types of wine.
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| Cheek of suckling pig |
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| Fried lobster |
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| Scallop with crispy pork belly |
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| Saddle of deer |
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| Sweet vanilla meringue dessert |
Hamburg Fischmarkt
One of Hamburg's cultural icons is the Fish Market where tourists and locals walk the long corridors of trucks selling seafood, fruit baskets and exotic plants. According to the tourist website, the Fish Market is often the 'morning after' destination of late night party-goers from Reeperbahn where you can pick up an early morning beer and listen to live music.
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| Fishmarket selfie |
Two drawcards of the Fischmarket are the:
* Fried fish sandwiches
* Bargain offers where the crowd pitches in a nominal sum per person like 5 euro and in return receive a plastic bag filled with chocolate; a basket of fruit or even different boxes of pasta.
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| Fish sandwich |
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| Fruit baskets for sale |
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| Crowd waiting to part with their money in return for a bag of chocolate |
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| Frenzy of chocolate bargains |
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| Crowd waiting for a basket of pasta |
Hop on Hop off bus
As the morning came to a close, we left the Fish Market and found a Hop On and Hop Off bus that was due to depart from the tourist office, next to the boat terminal. Hamburg is a huge city, so the bus tour was useful in providing us with a quick overview of the different areas of the city in a short period of time.
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| Steamer ferry at the port |
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| Interesting architecture |
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| Bridge to the warehouse area |
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| Old buildings turned into new housing |
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| St Michel's Church |
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| St Katherine's Church |
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| Mosque in the suburbs of Hamburg |
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| Knotted sculpture |
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| Padlocks on bridge |
Hamburg Rathaus
The Hamburg Town Hall is a large building containing 647 rooms. It is the political seat of Hamburg Government and when we visited the ground floor was being used to exhibit photographs of essential services.
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