Continuing my series of 'One way to do...' this thread covers the city of Hamburg, Germany.
My wife and I visited Hamburg when we made a port call while sailing on Cunard's Queen Victoria in January this year.
The ship berthed at the Altona Cruise Terminal...
...in the Hamburg district of the same name.
We availed ourselves of the complimentary shuttle bus service that dropped us a very short distance from Hamburg's famous Rathaus...
...which fortunately had been our pre-planned starting point for our day. Our companion for the day was the trusted Eyewitness Travel Guide for Hamburg, a comprehensive and trusted publication...
No visit to Hamburg would be complete without a visit to Binnenalster Lake...
...which boasts on its south bank the most famous of Germany's shopping Streets, Jungfernsteig...
The St Nikolai Memorial was our next destination. Heavily damaged during air raids in the Second World War. It was decided not to make a complete restoration but to allow the ruins of the original church to become a memorial to the tragic consequences of war...
The St. Nikolai Tower houses a glass panoramic lift which takes visitors up to the 76 metre high viewing platform. Another outstanding feature of the Tower is the 51 Bell Carillion which is played every Thursday at noon...
A short walk back along Ludwig Erhard Strasse is the Church of St Michaelis. Hamburg's most famous landmark...
The St. Michaelis Church boasts a 132 metre Tower and a viewing platform at 82 metres. Inside the church, above the main entrance, looms a 6,665 pipe Steinmeyer organ...
...the largest of three organs in the church.
St Michaelis Church has an organ recital and service around mid-day and this event features on cruise ship excursions. On our visit I chose to climb the Tower and visit the massive Crypt while my wife enjoyed the recital. On my descent from the viewing platform my timing coincided with the noon peel of St. Michaelis bells...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-T8rTCZ4Pw
The kind of view one can expect from the viewing platform of St. Michaelis Church...
A very short distance from St. Michaelis Church is the monument to the first German Chancellor, Otto von Bismark. A very impressive statue set in a small green park, the only disappointment was the graffiti that has been allowed to spoil it's appearance....
Found in the same Grosse Wallenlagen city centre park as the Bismark Statue, we came across this building...
...an old WWII Median bunker, now transformed into an accommodation block - impressive?
( http://www.battlefieldsww2.com/Remnants_from_world_war_II_in_Hamburg.html has a little history of the wartime bunker)
No doubt Hamburg will always conjure memories for many as being the home of both the Reeperbahn and the true birth place of 'The Beatles'. The Reeperbahn itself is now a pretty seedy place and the centre of Hamburg's sex industry...
...
...and also home of Germany's most famous police station...
The Beatles? Well they are still very much revered in The Reeperbahn, and a monument, of sorts, to their genius...
...sits at the end of the road that leads to the venue of their Hamburg days, The Indra Club...
The western end of the Reeperbahn is actually no great distance from the Altona Cruise Terminal and it turned out to be a very pleasant walk, past the Old Jewish Cemetery...
...on Konigstrasse, before dropping down onto the waterfront with its attractions such as...
The U434 Submarine Museum
and the St.Pauli Fishmarket
Hamburg is a great city to visit and I think I am safe in saying that we covered some ground in that one day. There were a number of other interesting places we saw as well as some we missed but they will be for another day.
We left the ship just after 8.00 am and returned around 4.30 having had a long but fabulous day.
I trust members and visitors have found this thread both interesting and of possible benefit.
My wife and I visited Hamburg when we made a port call while sailing on Cunard's Queen Victoria in January this year.
The ship berthed at the Altona Cruise Terminal...
...in the Hamburg district of the same name.
We availed ourselves of the complimentary shuttle bus service that dropped us a very short distance from Hamburg's famous Rathaus...
...which fortunately had been our pre-planned starting point for our day. Our companion for the day was the trusted Eyewitness Travel Guide for Hamburg, a comprehensive and trusted publication...
No visit to Hamburg would be complete without a visit to Binnenalster Lake...
...which boasts on its south bank the most famous of Germany's shopping Streets, Jungfernsteig...
The St Nikolai Memorial was our next destination. Heavily damaged during air raids in the Second World War. It was decided not to make a complete restoration but to allow the ruins of the original church to become a memorial to the tragic consequences of war...
The St. Nikolai Tower houses a glass panoramic lift which takes visitors up to the 76 metre high viewing platform. Another outstanding feature of the Tower is the 51 Bell Carillion which is played every Thursday at noon...
A short walk back along Ludwig Erhard Strasse is the Church of St Michaelis. Hamburg's most famous landmark...
The St. Michaelis Church boasts a 132 metre Tower and a viewing platform at 82 metres. Inside the church, above the main entrance, looms a 6,665 pipe Steinmeyer organ...
...the largest of three organs in the church.
St Michaelis Church has an organ recital and service around mid-day and this event features on cruise ship excursions. On our visit I chose to climb the Tower and visit the massive Crypt while my wife enjoyed the recital. On my descent from the viewing platform my timing coincided with the noon peel of St. Michaelis bells...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-T8rTCZ4Pw
The kind of view one can expect from the viewing platform of St. Michaelis Church...
A very short distance from St. Michaelis Church is the monument to the first German Chancellor, Otto von Bismark. A very impressive statue set in a small green park, the only disappointment was the graffiti that has been allowed to spoil it's appearance....
Found in the same Grosse Wallenlagen city centre park as the Bismark Statue, we came across this building...
...an old WWII Median bunker, now transformed into an accommodation block - impressive?
( http://www.battlefieldsww2.com/Remnants_from_world_war_II_in_Hamburg.html has a little history of the wartime bunker)
No doubt Hamburg will always conjure memories for many as being the home of both the Reeperbahn and the true birth place of 'The Beatles'. The Reeperbahn itself is now a pretty seedy place and the centre of Hamburg's sex industry...
......and also home of Germany's most famous police station...
The Beatles? Well they are still very much revered in The Reeperbahn, and a monument, of sorts, to their genius...
...sits at the end of the road that leads to the venue of their Hamburg days, The Indra Club...
The western end of the Reeperbahn is actually no great distance from the Altona Cruise Terminal and it turned out to be a very pleasant walk, past the Old Jewish Cemetery...
...on Konigstrasse, before dropping down onto the waterfront with its attractions such as...
The U434 Submarine Museum
and the St.Pauli Fishmarket
Hamburg is a great city to visit and I think I am safe in saying that we covered some ground in that one day. There were a number of other interesting places we saw as well as some we missed but they will be for another day.
We left the ship just after 8.00 am and returned around 4.30 having had a long but fabulous day.
I trust members and visitors have found this thread both interesting and of possible benefit.
..Carol
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