"Hamburg" a Hamburg Travel Page by ranger49

Before my first visit to Hamburg my ideas about the City were probably more influenced by the history of the Hanseatic League and WW2 films.

It was a coincidence that my German friends lived there but I had met and got to know them on their frequent visits to the UK.
My husband lived in northern Germany in his early 20's and had remained in touch with the friends from north of the city that he had made there. They too had been frequent visitors to us but for me it was a journey to the unknown and unexpected. Still an international trading city, Hamburg is the commercial and cultural centre of Northern Germany. but I was not really prepared for the excitement and interest the city has to offer.

And I still cannot understand why it is not more popular with British people, we are after all almost next door neighbours!

I have enjoyed our road trips to Germany, pasing through other countries on the way, with overnight stops - often in very out of the way places that are on few tourist routes.
But I most enjoyed crossing the North Sea on a DFDS ferry and waking after an overnight crossing to find we were sailing up the Elbe into the Port of Hamburg.

We arrived in Hamburg by ferry from Harwich UK and the passage up the Elbe and its green, tree lined banks was not quite what I expected.
This was a pretty scene with people living along the banks in very smart houses - not the busy, dirty, industrial scene I had expected.
In the harbour there were ships of all kinds - large cruise ships and expensive leisure craft.

Later I was to see the commercial traffic in the docks and the largrest container ship I had ever seen at close quarters!