HAMBURG, GERMANY

Since days are getting warmer and sunnier in Germany now, I thought it is the right time to gear up my travelling schedule. While the weekdays are too hectic, we decided to use weekends for travelling. This weekend, me and my flatmate decided to visit Hamburg, which is located 91 miles north from Hannover. It is the second largest city in Germany. The good news is, since Hamburg lies within Lower Saxony, the travel cost for students is free. What else do you need? :D

Hamburg has the harbour port on river Elbe, third busiest port in Europe. You cannot go to Hamburg and not see it. So, our first destination was by default Harbour port. The first thing we did was bought day pass called "Hamburg Card", which costs 15.50 Euros for group ticket and 9.50 Euros for single. The group ticket accommodates up to 5 people. So, more people you are, cheaper it is. 

Harbour Port

I always have this strange mentality that sea area is peaceful. Although Hamburg Harbour wasn't that peaceful, I found it cheerful. Whether it was people attracting customers to get into their boats or promoting their restaurants, or just observing people wander around the sea area, the atmosphere had carried its own spirit that flashed the popularity of harbour itself. We easily spent about 2 hours there.  

                                                               

Alter Elbtunnel

Alter Elbtunnel located underneath the Elbe river is one of the main attractions in Hamburg. The entrance of the tunnel was bit scary though. We first had to take stairs down to I don't know how deep it was and it was bit acrophobic as well but I really wanted to see it. I literally had to force my housemate to go there. At the bottom of the stair, is the beginning of this delightful 426 m long tunnel, built in 1911 and is used by pedestrians and cyclists to cross Elbe river from south to the dockyard. The tunnel wasn’t scary anymore. It was like a normal road, with many people and cyclists. I really enjoyed the walk there :).

St. Michael's Church

It is the most popular church in the city. There is a lift but if you want to walk, 452 steps will take you to 132m up to the top of the church from where you can enjoy magnificent panoramic view of whole Hamburg. Visit to the tower costs 5 Euros but if you have Hamburg card, it will get down to 4 Euros. The top of the tower was extra windy and because there were just too many people, it was bit too congested. It was even difficult to take picture but the view was worth it.

St. Michael's Church

Hamburg city from the top of the church

MoMo, MoMo and MoMo

One of the reasons, I was excited about trip to Hamburg was, we had decided to visit Nepalese restaurant and eat Momo. I was missing Momo a lot since coming to Germany. Next to Hamburg central station was located one nice Nepalese restaurant called Himalaya Küche. Seriously, it was homely feeling to go there and chat with them. We thought Momo was bit expensive though, 6 Euros for 10 pieces but we managed to negotiate it down to 5 Euros, plus we got free coffee :D. 

Hamburg was a great experience. Somehow I found it bit similar to Berlin apart from the sea. People are very helpful but the only thing I wasn't happy about was the direction. The directions weren't properly guided. Especially in the train station, the most common things like tourist information, toilets and even the platform numbers between S Bahn and U Bahn. You follow it and in the middle, it disappears. You probably have to live bit longer in the area to understand them.