We arrived in Hamburg after a gruelling bus journey and it was a lot grittier than Berlin. Being a lot closer to the sea probably explains why it was a LOT colder than Berlin as well.
When we got out of the bus station we noticed barefoot beggars (in what was perhaps 0°C temperatures), I was fully clothed had shoes on and could feel the cold. My heart broke for those less fortunate than ourselves.
Our hotel was situated quite close to the Hauptbanhof/bus station so we walked and on the way came across a lot of Stolperstein. The area we stayed in was quite run down as well. We left our hotel after dropping our stuff off to find somewhere to eat.
We came across a bar that serves food and I had a lovely German seafood medley. As Hamburg is a port city relatively close to the sea, I imagined the seafood would be fresh – and it was a lovely dish with a variety of fish and potatoes. Afterwards we visited an Oktoberfest themed bar with staff serving in Lederhosen.
We then decided to check out the extravagant Christmas market beside the City hall. It was a lot busier than the ones in Berlin.
Before returning to our hotel we decided to check out a few of the bars around it, in the St. Georg area of Hamburg, and dive bar would be an understatement describing them all. Although Germany has a nationwide smoking ban, each of these bars greeted you with a cloud of smoke upon entering. The most noteworthy of the dive bars was a gay bar called Kunterbunt, and that was because of a couple arguing at the bar because the Spanish one kept flirting with everybody else around him.
The next day we decided to squeeze in some of the sights – first up with the Elbphilharmonie to visit the viewing deck.
Afterwards we checked out the UNESCO protected Speicherstadt, which is the biggest warehouse district in the world. If it wasn’t so cold we may have stuck around a little longer.
We detoured through the St. Pauli district afterwards to check out the “adult Christmas market” there. We had visited the wax museum on the St. Pauli strip – Panoptikum, which was interesting as it had a wax figure of Adolf Hitler, Eva Braun and Joseph Goebbels each existing from the 1930s, albeit hidden from view behind a mirror and only viewable through a special one way mirror – which I found interesting due to the largely blanket ban Germany has on that part of its history.
After the wax museum, we walked out onto the strip to check out the now open “adult Christmas market”, and it was surreal. Something I have always associated with churros and mulled wine – this time round is filled with sex toys.
That night was Amy’s birthday – so we went out for food, and as you do whilst in Germany, we ate Chinese. Our last night after dining, we looked for a bar to try – and Google advised the bar that’s part of the Hilton hotel, telling us it wasn’t overly expensive (it lied). One brief drink there, before we headed to the M&V bar, which was much livelier, much more affordable – and just generally welcoming.
All in all, I wasn’t as fond of Hamburg as I was of Berlin, but I would go visit again and give it a second chance, albeit at a much warmer time of the year.