{"id":7573,"date":"2022-10-27T22:03:59","date_gmt":"2022-10-27T20:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.passports.top\/?p=7573"},"modified":"2022-10-30T17:31:44","modified_gmt":"2022-10-30T15:31:44","slug":"hamburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.passports.top\/en\/hamburg\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany’s largest seaport: Hamburg"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hamburg has been a free city and port with international status since the time of\u00a0<\/span>the Hanseatic League<\/span><\/em>, and today it is the third busiest port in\u00a0<\/span>Europe<\/span><\/em>, after\u00a0<\/span>Rotterdam<\/span><\/em><\/a> (<\/span>Netherlands<\/span><\/em>) and\u00a0<\/span>Antwerp<\/span><\/em> (<\/span>Belgium<\/span><\/em>).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Located on the\u00a0Elbe River, it is\u00a0<\/em>Germany<\/em>\u00a0‘s second largest city\u00a0after\u00a0Berlin<\/em><\/a>, also known as the “Gateway to the World<\/em>“.\u00a0From here, thousands of boats head day and night to\u00a0<\/span>the North Sea<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and from there to all corners of the world.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The historic center is criss-crossed by numerous canals and lakes, crossed by approximately 2200 bridges (more than in Amsterdam<\/em><\/a> or\u00a0Venice<\/em><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Many tourists who arrive in\u00a0<\/span>Germany<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u00a0choose more famous cities or regions, such as\u00a0<\/span>Munich<\/span><\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Berlin<\/span><\/em><\/a>\u00a0or the\u00a0<\/span>Black Forest<\/span><\/em><\/a>, but they should definitely include\u00a0<\/span>Hamburg<\/span><\/em>\u00a0on their list of places to visit.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Although it has one of the busiest ports, the city is quite quiet and you will find plenty of activities to pass the time.\u00a0We stayed for two days and fell in love with the architecture, parks and atmosphere of\u00a0Hamburg<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The first day I devoted exclusively to walking through the streets of the city.\u00a0If you arrive by car, there are many P+R (park and ride<\/a>) on the outskirts where you can park for free, and from there take\u00a0public transport<\/a>\u00a0to the center.<\/span><\/p>\n

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After parking at a P+R, we took the S-bahn and arrived in the center, where we were greeted by one of the most beautiful and imposing buildings of the Hanseatic city \u2013\u00a0the Town Hall<\/strong> (Rathaus<\/strong>).\u00a0The neoclassical building, located a few minutes’ walk from the Central Station, was built by a group of seven architects between 1884 and 1897.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The facade is 133 meters wide and the tower in the center rises up to 122 meters.\u00a0The rear courtyard has an Italian piazza look and houses the Hygieia (Greek goddess of health) fountain, built to commemorate the cholera epidemic of 1892. The interior of the building can be visited on a guided tour, Monday through Sunday, between 8 a.m. and 18:00. Recently, an interesting virtual tour was inaugurated, where you can admire the architecture, objects and furniture inside the Town Hall, the inner courtyard with the fountain, the view from the town hall tower over the city, but also other rooms hidden from the public, which do not exist in the guided tour (for virtual tour, click\u00a0here<\/a>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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From the\u00a0Town Hall<\/em>, we walked through the\u00a0Rathausmarkt<\/strong> (Town Hall Square<\/strong>) and the narrow streets to the\u00a0Alsterarkaden<\/strong> (Alster<\/strong>\u00a0Arcades<\/strong>) which, together with\u00a0the Mellin Passage<\/strong>, are among the oldest shopping and promenade areas in the city. White arches and picturesque terraces exude a Venetian flair right in the center of Hamburg.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A few steps away is the\u00a0Jungfernstieg<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 a promenade on the shores of Lake\u00a0Binnenlaster<\/strong> (Inner\u00a0<\/strong>Alster<\/strong>).\u00a0If the weather is nice, you can take a walk to enjoy the panorama offered by the\u00a0Alster fountain<\/em>\u00a0in the center of the lake and the partly historic, partly new buildings, including the\u00a0Alsterhaus<\/em>, the\u00a0Nivea Haus<\/em> (Nivea House<\/em>), one of the largest\u00a0Apple stores<\/em>\u00a0of Germany or a branch of\u00a0Commerzbank<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Also near the City Hall is\u00a0the St. Nicholas Church<\/strong>, which was bombed by Allied forces during\u00a0Operation Gomorrah<\/em> in 1943 (a World War II<\/em>\u00a0operation that destroyed a significant percentage of the city of Hamburg, leaving over a million residents homeless and led to the killing of 40,000-50,000 civilians).\u00a0The ruins today house a museum dedicated to\u00a0the Second World War,<\/em>\u00a0and the tower can be climbed up to a height of 76 meters, from where you can see the\u00a0Alster lakes<\/em>,\u00a0the harbor<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0the city center<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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From the center, we set off for\u00a0HafenCity<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Hamburg’s newest district, scheduled to be completed by 2025. By then, the inner city will be expanded by 40%, where 6,000 apartments will be built for around 14,000 residents.<\/span><\/p>\n

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One of the imposing buildings in\u00a0HafenCity<\/em>\u00a0is the\u00a0Elbphilharmonie<\/strong>\u00a0(Philharmonic).\u00a0With its enigmatic profile, it has often been compared to waves, the sails of a ship or a quartz crystal.<\/span><\/p>\n

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