More of Hamburg

Hamburg has so much more to offer . . .

We could never cover in any detail all the other attractions and features of Hamburg. We will mention a few names with a couple of comments to each, so that you can take up the search yourself. The areas mentioned are as follows:

St. Pauli and the Reeperbahn
The City Centre, Alster Lakes and the Alster Valley.
Hagenbecks Tierpark Zoo.
Forst Klövensteen
Elbe Dyke - Fährmannssand

St.Pauli and the Reeperbahn

"Infamous", but much changed (for the better) over the last ten years. There are still a few back street areas, where one is not advised to take the family, but the area as a whole now has an excellent selection of theatres concentrated in a very small area. These are certainly worth a visit; mostly also with the family. The "night life", proper doesn't really start until after midnight, so plan a long lie in after a club visit here.

This is also where the "Beatles" made their early debut in the then Star Club on the Grosse Freiheit (Much Freedom!)

In fact, the word "Reeperbahn", refers to the rope making track that was needed to make the ships ropes in olden times - I suppose you can translate it as Rope Maker Way! This indicates its closeness to the harbour and explains why there were so many sailors around in need of some solace in a foreign port!

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The City Centre, Alster Lakes and the Alster Valley.

Few other major cities offer their citizen the ability to go for a sail in the city centre in their lunch break or maybe just a quick canoe or rowing boat trip. These two lakes can only be described as beautiful and worth a visit. The pathways lead from beside the lakes up the Alster river valley and there you can see a lot of impressive villas, built by the Hamburg Merchants as their town houses. (Some then had their country houses out our way towards Blankenese.) Most houses these days are divided up into several apartments and even these can be large scale.

Whilst you are visiting the lakes you are also in the shopping centre of the city between the Jungfernstieg and the Balindamm or a few street further the Mönckeberg Strasse. All worth a visit.

For the winter days, when wandering between shops is very uncomfortable, there are a maze of modernised (but not spoilt) indoor shopping areas (you cannot call them Malls - that gives the wrong impression?), which have been hewn out of the centre of each "block" and allow the shopper to cross large areas of the city under cover. So countering the comment from a certain American visitor, whose visit coincided with a rather rainy period: "Great City, pity you haven' got a roof on it". Well now they have, for a lot of it any way!

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Hagenbecks (Tierpark = Animal Park or Zoo)

A very long established animal park that prides itself on the correct treatment of its inhabitants. A great day out for the kids and adults alike.

Although a friend took a birthday party full of their children's school friends there in the spring and were rather embarrassed by the questions such as "what are those two animals doing?"

You have been warned!

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Forst Klövensteen

The Klövensteen is located close to the north of Blankenese. It is large area of forest and surrounding country side (mixed farmland) that is idea for walking and cycling (as there are no hills such in Blankenese).

Best of all is that almost all of the country roads and tracks are "No Entry" for cars, so one only meets the tractor or horse. It is thus relatively safe to take the children on their bikes. You can drive to the edge and park your car. Then you must take your bike or go by foot.

It is possible to cycle all day there and with connecting tracks it is possible to reach the Elbe Dykes, described next.

Also worth a visit is the "Wildpark" (Wild = wild animals), a fenced area, where you can observe local species of deer and wild pigs, plus quite a few other creatures.

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Elbe Dykes - Fährmannssand

Starting at Wedel, the dykes protect the low lying lands to west. The dykes are grazed by many sheep and run as a wide green path for miles. The air there is generally very refreshing and it is a magnet for Kite flyers of all types. Good for walking or cycling.

There are a number of farms along the dykes that offer good value "Coffee and Cake" (Kaffee und Kuchen).

At the weekends, it can be quite popular.

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