The Aviator and The Blue Bear demanded healthy breakfast. They love smoothies without added sugar!
That day the Port of Hamburg was going to celebrate its 835 years birthday with a fireworks show at night. Flemming and I had bought tickets to a boat, in order to experience the show from the water side. They promised, the boat would be in the centre of celebrations.
We decided to spend the day by the harbour promenade and its surroundings, so that we could immerse ourselves into the vibrant party, going on in Hamburg. There were so many happy people, the atmosphere was unbelievable.
I loved the “lighthouse” on the photo below – so creative! And the owners could drive it anywhere.
In a short walking distance from the harbour, there was Portugese Quarter. Spanish and Portugese immigrants settled in the area since 1960s. Hamburg is one of the few places in the world where you can really live like Portugese do. There are many good restaurants, offering deliscious seafood.
Flemming looks a bit annoyed on the photo below, because he was a little hungry and a little tired, and just wanted to have some food and a cold beer, but I insisted on choosing a good restaurant which took some time:
Well, the truth is – all restaurants in that area are of a superior quality. They serve excellent meals, and provide good service, also to the tourists.
We spent time walking around there, and stumbled upon a fair few gigantic poppies. People were standing in a queue to get a picture of those beauties in the middle of a busy district. The flowers were 15-20 cm in diameter:
For dinner, we enjoyed German food (Flammekueche) and German wines:
Meanwhile, in the harbour, everyone was preparing for the fireworks. There were so many ships! Lovingly restored museum ships, naval vessels, cargo, tall ships, SAR, fishing and cruise boats, you name it.
Flemming and I boarded our boat, and soon we departured. We were sailing around the harbour, waiting for the fireworks to begin. It gave us an opportunity to see the Elbphilarmonie, we visited the day before, from various angles and in different light:
Though I didn’t really like it inside, from the outside it was magnificent, and I admired the architects and their creation.
When it got dark enough, the fireworks shooted up. They lasted for about an hour, and were Sidney style.
Hamburg celebrated its port birthday during 4 days, with a diverse programme every day. It is the largest port festival in the world, and I don’t think I ever saw so many people celebrating together. Lots of alcohol was sold, but we didn’t see any drunk or bad-behaved people.
There were maritime guests from all over the world – around 250 guest ships!
After the fireworks and the light show finished, we went on a port tour by night.
The Port of Hamburg was founded on 7 May 1189 by the Emperor Frederich Barbarossa who granted the Hamburgians the privilege of sailing free of customs duties along the Lower Elbe as far as the North Sea.
Hamburg had a strong position during the Hanseatic times (13th – 16th centuries). In the 19th century, it became the hub for transatlantic travel. From 1850 the Hamburg flag was to be seen on every ocean in the world. The Free Port was established in 1888, enabling traders to ship and store good without going through customs.
During the Second World War, the Port suffered tremendous damage, with 90% of quayside sheds destroyed. Today, it is one of the world’s largest and busiest sea ports, and primarily a container port. The main business partner is China.
Hamburg Port covers an area of 74 km2. Just to give you an idea of how big it is: the area of Copenhagen city is 90 km2.
It was amazing to see how quickly all those myriads of containers were moved around by robots. We didn’t notice even one worker there.
The port receives around 8,000 ship calls per year, has almost 300 berths and a total of 43 km of quay for seagoing vessels. More than 2,300 freight trains arrive per week.
It has 4 state-of-the-art container terminals, 3 cruise terminals and around 50 facilities that specialise in handling bulk cargoes. There are about 7,300 logistics companies based in the Hamburg city.
We had a great night in Hamburg, again! With so many wonderful experiences during day & night, it was difficult to go back to the hotel and just sleep, when there were so many exciting festivities around.