Hamburg (Germany): 5 Nights

~ youkyong

May 2025

Eating? As I said earlier, we were in Germany to see my relatives & that meant eating. This time it was a feast at my cousin’s house in Hamburg: home grown vegetables, homemade kimchi, seafood, beef etc.

My mother ended up marrying her best friend’s cousin, thus, her best friend became my aunt. This aunt decided to go to Germany to get a PhD & took her 3 boys with her since she was a married housewife with kids. She did become the first Korean to get a PhD in German literature from a German university, and her kids became German citizens. She went back to Korea to teach but the boys remained in Germany. Eventually the boys all got married & now there are 3 nephews and 2 nieces for me to visit in Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich, and I try to see them whenever we are near Germany.

After dinner, we took a walk to digest the feast. This would allow us to have dessert.. Conveniently, there’s a park/natural preserve in the neighborhood.

The next morning, Mr. & Mrs. Hamburg Cousin volunteered to show us around. Pat and I have been to this city several times, but we didn’t mind having a refresher course.

When German sailors and soldiers were returning home from abroad in olden days, the sight of the tall spire of this church signified being back home. So our tour started from St. Michael’s Church, the biggest church in the city.

Teleman was the the music director, C.P.E Bach was buried here, Brahms was baptized at this church

Hamburg is 75 miles inland from the North Sea, but it is one of the top 3 ports in Europe. How could this be? The great Elbe River connects the city to the ocean.

The port is in downtown Hamburg & it seems to be an integral part of the daily lives of the “Hamburgers.” (Google AI tells me a female from Hamburg is called Hambugerin. Who knew!) And, yes, the beef patty sandwich was named after the city of Hamburg. More on that at this link.

Previously, we had traveled on their public ferry system to enjoy the scenery of the Elbe.

Another way to go across the Elbe is through the Old Elbe Tunnel
My cousin said Block Brau was full of tourists but actually loved by the locals as well as a typical brew pub.
The waiter talked us into getting their 6-beer special deal which turned out to be too much since only 4 of our group (of 6) drank beer.
We had to try the pork knuckle – pretty tender and delicious

Their philharmony hall is Hamburg’s love and pride. Known for architecture and acoustic quality, we will have to attend a concert there one of these days.

Our cousin-guides took us to an art exhibit out of town the next day, and that will be a separate post. Their daughter and her husband showed us around a little fishing village where he grew up in on the 3rd day.

The 4th day we were on our own, and we explored the city center. The plaza in front of the city hall pictured above really is THE center of this town.

We slowly walked north toward the botanical garden. There were plenty of interesting buildings all around.

The botanical garden is a peaceful, beautiful place only a 20 minute walk from the city hall. We were lucky enough to catch  their water show one summer & it was impressive.

Time to eat. We had has enough German food in the 2 previous days, we went into a Vietnamese restaurant. Well, not many restaurants were open before noon anyway.

Hamburg is one of those modern major cities where ethnic restaurants thrive, and the competition elevates the quality. We were happy with what we ate and how much we paid.

What makes Hamburg a water friendly city is not just the river and the port but the presence of the big lake in the middle of the city. Alster Lakes are actually one lake divided into two. The city hall and restaurants and shopping areas are around the smaller lake, and some big houses are around the big lake, we were told.

One area of Hamburg that we didn’t get to introduce our friends to was the Beatles Plaza and the night life district. The fabulous boys honed their skills here before they became breakout stars in the early 1960’s. We visited there one morning some years ago and witnessed what things might have been the night before – the remnants of the wild drinking and having crazy fun.

Don’t get me wrong. Hamburg has its share of great churches, too. In fact, you can spend more than a day just visiting churches if you so desire.

Parking: coin and card operated 3 hour street parking spots were available in the center. Public parking garages were readily available when we were there (about 3-4 euros/hour). Some neighborhoods required a resident or guest permit for free street parking.