If you watch the cruise industry, you may have heard of Villa Vie. It’s been making the news as it passes its 3-month delayed mark. Round-the-world cruise stranded in Belfast with passengers onboard (msn.com)
I’m one of them. Rather than stay in Belfast or Canada waiting, I’ve been traveling, as one week became several, and several weeks became several months. With the latest delays as the ship continues to be prepped to pass its sea trials (hopefully this Monday), the company offered the residents a chance to go to either Hamburg or Amsterdam.
A group of five of us said Hamburg in hopes that it would not take long and the boat would be on its way to pick us up shortly. We’re still waiting, but we’re making the best of it by exploring everything Hamburg has to offer.
We purchased the Hamburg card for a group of 5 for five days. It costs 87.60 euro, so about 3-4 euro each per day. That covers the cost of the metro which we use daily since our hotel is not in the center of town. It also gives us discounts at many museums and attractions, which we have been using.
It is a good deal for us, but unfortunately, the one who purchases the pass has to be there for it to be valid. That’s me. So, I can’t miss anything that others want to go see and sometimes that irritates my intraverted soul.
Now, it is true that most of this works on the honor system- including the transportation system. So far, we have never been stopped on the busses or subways, and while they might glance at the pass on my phone at musuems, they’ve yet to ask for ID. But if you get caught, it’s pretty stiff fines, so why chance it.
We could have done everything individually, but this was the cheapest method.
Rathaus
One of the best buildings in Hamburg is the city hall building. It was inaugurated in 1897 after the original was destroyed in 1842. Its interior is 17,000 square meters, and its tower soars 112 meters tall.
It is free to visit the lobby and inner courtyard. There are interior room tours for a price if one is interested, but I was happy with my freebie.
Botanical Garden and Parks
Planten un Blomen is a botanical park that is broken into four sections. There is the old botanical park, which is currently under renovations, the new botanical park which features a rose garden and japanese garden, as well as two park walks at Gorch-Fock-Wall and Holstenwall.
We actually did this on two days because day one was Rathaus and the old BG and the two parks in one afternoon, and then we did the new botanical gardens on a separate morning with another harbor walk.
Hafen City and Waterfront
Hafen City is a newer district but part of the ancient port. The old warehouse district has been transformed into shops, restaraunts, and attractions.
St. Peter’s Church
The oldest art in Hamburg is the two lion heads on the enterance doors of St. Peter’s Church, dating from 1342. They survived the Great Fire of 1842 and WWII bombing.
St. Nicholas Church
St. Nicolas has not faired well and was the target of most of the bombing during the war. It was originally built in 1195 and burnt in the 1842 Great Fire.
After the fire, the church was rebuilt from 1874-1876. After the bombing in WWII, it was decided to demolish most of the unsound structure and not rebuild. There is only the crypt, which houses a musuem and the tower left. An elevator was installed in the tower in 2005, and for 6 pounds (4.5 with the Hamburg card), I got to visit the tower and museum, which focuses on the WWII bombing.
St. Michaelis Church
This is one of Hamburg’s main five churches. The clock tower here is 132 meters tall and has an elevator up most of the tower. I did need to climb a few floors to get to the elevator. It costs 6 euro for the tower and 4 for the crypt. (Hamburg card is 8 for both)
Harbor Tour and Hop on Hop Off
Again, I didn’t do both of these on the same day because with the Hamburg card, there is a discount on both. The Hop on Hop off tour of the city is good to get an overview and see where to take the public buses to later.
Taking the HOHO bus does take a lot of time as it moves slow. It is a 90-minute circle.
There are earplugs to listen to the information in multiple languages, but German is live and loudly broadcasted throughout the bus, making it difficult to hear the audio in other languages. It cost 18 euros with a 3 euro discount.
The harbor tour has a one – or two hour tour. It is only a few euro more for the two hours, so that is the one we went on. Again, the guide sounded hilarious in German (everyone was laughing), and there was an English audio you could access through an app. I didn’t bother.
Personally, I think the one hour would have been plenty unless you really like cargo ships. It was 36 Euro (19% discount) and I wouldn’t repeat the trip.
Alter Elbtunnel
This tunnel that spans the Alter River was opened in 1911. I can’t even imagine how they built this thing.
Old Elbe Tunnel Hamburg (hamburg-travel.com)
Hamburg Dungeon
Looking for a fun way to spend some time led us to the Hamburg Dungeon. It is a cross between a haunted house, an amusement ride, and an interactive museum. Children under 10 are not allowed, and it is a dark experience. I had a lot of fun listening to people scream and jump.
It has only one English tour each day at 3:40. We also received a discount here with the Hamburg card, so we pre-booked our tickets. They cost 27 euro without the pass and 21 euro with.
Miniatur Wunderland
After going through the Dungeon, we visited the Minature Wonderland right next door. Again, we pre bought tickets for 5-5:30 opening, since the website made it sound like buying at the counter would include hour long waits. When we got there, I didn’t see any really long lines, so I don’t know how true that would be.
It was 20 euros each and would have been 19 at the counter.
Hamburger Kunsthalle/Museum of Art
Thursday the weather was forecasted to be 30 celcius so we wanted to spend more time walking indoors than out, so musuem day was born. The Museum of Art is 11 Euro with Hamburg Card and 15 without.
I spent about 2 hours wandering the halls and looking at the art. The main gallery is everything from old styles up to the present day. Most cards are in english and german so I can understand the information.
The basement of the museum holds special exhibitions, including a modern art section.
MARKK
Now I have to admit I am not a museum person. I really don’t enjoy most, and my feet hurt after a while, so I was less excited to visit a second large museum. Its major selling point was that it is free after 4 on Thursdays.
Now remember I have to be with my group for the tickets (including transportation) to be valid. So I fairly quickly went through this one and then went and had a drink and read my book while I waited.
Marine Museum/ IMMH
By Friday, we were running out of ideas of things to do in Hamburg and energy to do them, but it was the last day that our Hamburg card was valid so it was off to the Maritime Museum.
Ironically, it was cheaper by 1 euro for three of our group to get the seniors discount rather than the card. It was 12 for seniors, 13 for the Hamburg Card or 17 for adults regularly.
The museum has 9 levels: minatures, paintings and treasure chamber, oceanographers, merchant and passenger shipping, navies of the world, arsenal, ship building, sailing ships, and navigation and communication.
Again, we budgeted 2 hours to explore before our lunch reservation.
Oberhafen-Kantine
For lunch, we went to the Oberhafen-Kantine. It is a small restaurant under the rail tracks and beside the harbor. It is not a place you’d stumble upon by accident. It has been around for 99 years and has more of a slant than the Leaning Tower of Piza.
Apparently, every few years, the pier area floods, and one side of the building sinks lower.
Elbphilharmonie
One of the newest buildings in the harbor is the concert hall. The building itself is a very distinctive landmark and offers amazing views of the city.
It is free to enter but you need to get a ticket at the information desk. The queue moved quickly.
There is an option to buy a skip-the-line ticket for 1 or 2 euro if the line was bad.
Leave a Reply