Hamburg’s complex character manages to be both industrious and playful.
The symbol of St Pauli
Anywhere else, repeatedly seeing a skull and crossbones flag might be a little intimidating. But in Hamburg, it’s a symbol of the good fight. The St Pauli football club unites a social movement under the rather piratey emblem that finds its way onto every banner, T-shirt and window sticker. It is notorious for its vociferous fans, social activism, ban on right wing nationalists and punk spirit, and encapsulates the feisty side of Hamburg.
The Reeperbahn and the Beatles
The club’s vibe can be considered an extension of the Reeperbahn, the notorious dockside strip of red lights, happily unsophisticated bars and live music venues that has half the world clutching a beer and the other half clutching pearls.
This is where the Beatles honed their craft, playing marathon sets night after night, before they broke into the big time. That’s over half a century ago, but Hamburg’s mix of hard graft and feelgood entertainment still courses through the city’s veins.
Hamburg’s nightlife neighbourhoods
There are some parts of town where creative bohemianism wins out – St Georg is gay-friendly, wine-drinking and increasingly self-styles as artisan, while Schanzenviertel plays it unrepentantly grungy. But, most of the time, uncomplicated, rather raucous fun drives Hamburg’s after-dark personality. For Germans, this is the home of musical theatre, with massive arenas built on the banks of the River Elbe to host the likes of Mary Poppins and the Lion King.
Hamburg the money-maker
By day, however, the Elbe is home to the city’s serious side. For every docker letting his hair down, there’s a sober merchant checking the ledgers.
Germany’s second largest city has been about financial gain for most of its existence. From the 13th century, it was a key member of the Hanseatic League, a network of port cities across northern Europe with a laser-honed focus on prosperity through trade.
The third busiest port in Europe
Hamburg’s port, on the Elbe but welcoming in the biggest ships on earth via the North Sea – still funds many a luxurious lakeside house. It’s the third busiest in Europe after Rotterdam and Antwerp, and it is a genuinely awe-striking model of mechanised gigantism. Hulking machinery, allied to 21st century technology, means shipping containers are processed at a phenomenal rate. Behind the city’s good-natured rowdiness is a higher logistical being – an engine room of ruthlessly efficient globalisation.
Hamburg’s beating, mostly automated heart is astonishingly impressive, and not just for the more geekily-inclined visitor that the city caters to extremely well. But its soul is something very different altogether, and it comes wrapped in a skull and crossbones scarf.
More Germany travel
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