Best of Hamburg<3

Hello there Loves,

I hope y’all had a wonderful Christmas!
Ours was basically just one big feast but in between all the food and quality time with family and friends, I finally found some time to write down our experiences made in Hamburg. Such a charming city!<3
And just fyi the city with the highest number of bridges. There’s even more bridges than in Amsterdam, London, or Venice.

Well, now – Friday morning: We took a day off and headed out north early in the a.m. After a 5-hour-drive, we arrived at the Apartment Hotel in Hamburg. It’s a neat hotel with big clean rooms with a new bathroom and a small kitchenette. The bed is so comfy that I’m considering to just fall asleep instantly. But of course there’s too much to do to just stay indoors:

We take a bus downtown, eat some ice cream at the Europapassage, have our hair cut for tonight’s big event, and keep strolling down to the “Landungsbrücken” (the pier). It seems like there’s a starbucks right around every other corner. Definitely won’t run out of caffeine.

The Pier:

When we finally get to the pier, the sun breaks through the clouds and warms us up. Could it get any better then this??

We enjoy the view and spontaneously decide to do a harbor tour (€15,00/person – only €10,00 with Hamburg-Card!).
The tour starts at the red boat. Unlike what I expected, it’s not a fireboat, but used to be a lighthouse. Today, it contains a restaurant and hotel.

We then take a peak into Hamburg’s “Speicherstadt” and continue past the million-dollar-philharmonic and the building that looks like a shish kebab, that hosts Hamburgs most expensive condos. Just imagine the view from up there!!

We stay on deck most of the time and pass on the opportunity of the warmer indoors. So by the time the tour is done our noses glow rudi-red and we are freezing. In an attempt to warm up, we look for a restaurant to grab some food before heading over to the musical “Lion King”.

We choose the Hardrock Cafe right by the Landungsbrücken (pier). It’s cozily warm, our burgers are INSANE and the music pretty awesome. Pretty sure we woulda stayed longer if it wasn’t for the musical.

The Musicals:

But I’d take the musical over the Hardrock Cafe any time!
The stage is on the other side of the harbor, so we take the ferry across. There’s also an underground tunnel for those who like walking better.
The musical is great, the costums are BOMB – absolutely breathtaking!! – and make me tear up right at the first song. So here I am: crying, smiling like a fat kid with a lollipop, and trying to take it all in.
The voices of the singers are “okay”. They don’t completely convince me. When it comes to the singing, I enjoyed “Tarzan” much more (also staged in Hamburg). But the show is spectacular and Raffiki makes me laugh out loud (<- lol 🙂 ).
I wasn’t allowed to take pictures. But here’s a tiny little sneak peak: CLICK.
Of course, there’s numerous more musicals happening in Hamburg. It’s a scene!

The Michel:

The next morning, we sleep in “late”: at 9a.m. we get our included breakfast and leave for the park „Planten und Bloomen“ where an ice skating rink is set up.

Not far from the park, the “Michel” is towering over the city. Since it’s Hamburg’s landmark we can’t but climb it. It’s a long way to the top and an old story comes to my mind: Back in the day, every groom who got married at Michel had to carry his new mother-in-law to the very top. Poor guys!
The view is worth the sweat though:

The Museums:

Located right in the “Speicherstadt”, the world’s biggest warehouse district, are many museums. The Miniature-Wonderland, the Navy Museum, and the Hamburg Dungeon only to name a few.
Even though we liked the Amsterdam Dungeon much better due to the great performance of its actors, the Hamburg Dungeon was worth its entrance fee (€ 24,95/person) too!!
Here is everything you need to know from opening hours to combi-tickets.

Culinary Culture:

Everyone should visit the Hamburg Fish Market at least once and eat a fish burger. Duh! And I already told you about the Starbucks right around every corner – and about the Hard Rock Cafe right by the pier… But we were recommended an italian restaurant in the portugese quarter that I would like to mention real quick: Ristorante L’Ancora.

The Pizza Ruccola (€ 12) we chose, was probably the best I’ve ever had so far. The wine was delicious, too. Needless to say I went from hangry to happy within only a couple of bites.

Two wonderful days in beautiful Hamburg, northern Germany. Can’t wait for the next city trip!!

xoxo – Lisa