top of page

Hamburg

Recently I spend 2 days in Hamburg for a marine biology conference. Though our days were filled with lectures and excursions, I got a quick glance at the eventful spots Hamburg has to offer. First of all I must say that I hadn’t taken into account the enormity of this city. I am used to cities where you can move around by bike and even by walking if needed. However, in Hamburg the main transportation methods are buses and subways. As the costs can get pretty high from this one expanse, I would recommend looking for a multiple-day pass, or leaving after 9am and going for a one-day pass. The latter costs around 6 euro’s, which accounts for 2 ‘circles’ in which you can use the public transportation wished for.

In the are Sankt Pauli I had a wonderful lunch with my friend. She had discovered this place because of her cousin and I must say, I think this was my favourite spot in Hamburg (of the very small part that I actually saw). It is called the Rindermarkthalle and in this building many shops are gathered, both food and non-food. One of the places which I really liked was Brot & Stulle. This little shop makes their bread right in front of your eyes and they have many sorts of bread either whole or already sliced and topped with the most amazing products. I heard I had to try a Franzbrötchen and as I did I understood why they told me this. Somewhere between a croissant and bread this dough is both soft, sweet and yet bread-like enough that you can properly chew it. Between the layers of dough a mixture of cinnamon and sugar it ends up being a lovely breakfast or four o’clock snack. Another product which I tried at Brot & Stulle was a slice of green bread, topped with mozzarella, tomato and pesto. Though this combination of toppings can hardly ever go wrong, this delicious green bread added an extra touch to it. You can easily say I’m in love with this little bakery and it’s products.

Speicherstadt

Another great place in Hamburg is located in what I think was not the most charming place I have ever seen. As you get out of the subway Sternschanze you can walk into an area full with little bars and restaurants. Most of them look cosy, but not really fancy on the outside. If you are capable however to look a little further (or if you know where to look), you might stumble across a restaurant called Jill. If no one had showed me this place, I would have never known it existed. I can only be very grateful that at least now I do and I can share it with all of you reading this. Jill is a modern-looking pizzeria with a centre of live cooking pizza oven. The waiters are extremely nice and the food is delicious. Go for the Cucumis as a drink. This soda based on cucumber is not available in many places, so you should try it now that you’re here. Fancy something with alcohol instead? No problem, just order a gin with it and you are good to go! Though I only I one pizza and salad, I think there is no doubt that all the flavours available will taste divine. If you still haven’t gotten the feeling which I had while eating here, then wait until you hear one of the staff members sing. It makes you feel as if you are launched straight into Italy (besides the fact that everyone speaks German instead of Italian). For all the sweethearts reading this, I must honestly confess that I did end with dessert. The tiramisu here has a swirl of orange because of the orange zest mixed through the mascarpone mixture. It was a nice twist, but next time I will go back to a normal tiramisu.

Elbphilharmonie

For all of you more interested in architecture, I highly recommend the Nord Akademie building during sunset, the Elbphilharmonie building and Speicherstadt. These places are modern and old school respectively, but both have their own charms. Conclusively I think Hamburg has a lot to offer for nearly everyone. I must say I’m happy to be surrounded with nature again, but seeing this city for the first time while having the help of someone who has been here more often has made me discover this city in a really nice and relaxed way.

RECENT POSTS:
SEARCH BY TAGS:
bottom of page