Cruising Around The Port Of Hamburg

by

Mackenzie Patel

Ciao World Travelers! I’ve been looking forward to feverishly penning this article for a while because it details one of my favorite parts of my Germany/Switzerland excursion. After grazing with the cows in Engelberg, tasting homegrown wine in the Pfaltz, and driving 220 km/hr down an autobahn near Wurzburg, I finally settled in Hamburg, Germany for a few days. This seedy city, known for its famous museums, impressive hauptbahnhof (central train station), and animated European culture, also harbors a much more monumental attraction: the iconic port of Hamburg. Although most people usually don’t fly to Hamburg just to view its massive port, I would argue it’s the most interesting aspect of the metropolis. Its dirty streets and kitschy museums are nothing special (excluding the amazing Kunsthalle), but its grandiose port definitely is. The overpowering scent of salt assaults the senses a few blocks away from the bustling, expansive seaport crammed with fishermen, boardwalk tourists, and cheap souvenirs from the multitude of small stores. Before beholding the stunning view of the Elbe River, I would first recommend exploring the adjacent Elbtunnel, an underground passage in the art deco style connecting two halves of the city. Descending into a 1920s era sausage of luminous stone, one immediately feels the drop in temperature and a quiet hush seeping into the ground. Although the tunnel is a whopping 1,398 feet long, my mother and I only traipsed a few steps because our ferryboat was about to depart. The art deco ornamentation and the classy vibe, not to mention the chasm of dimly lit space before our eyes, was an overwhelming experience. Research more about the 1911 tunnel here.

Emerging into biting sunlight and a cool breeze, I ran to catch a ferry along the boardwalk that would carry me throughout the sea of plastic containers, massive cranes, colossal shipping vessels fulfilling all accounts of exaggeration, and similar cruise ships. My particular boat, the Louisiana Star, was beautiful inside, carpeted in a velvety blue with dark wooden accents—I could’ve been in a mini Titanic for all I knew. Jostling for a seat in the overcrowded ship, I finally resorted to claiming a piece of railing for my own and surveyed the entire port before me. The seascape panorama was one of the most unique and flooring sights I’ve ever witnessed. The scale of everything—from the buildings to the container ships to the width of the river—was too gigantic to be comprehensible. The dry docks with vessels such as the Jules Verne from Marseilles were bigger than sporting stadiums in their length and sheer monumentality. When your surroundings are pumped on exaggerated steroids, you start to understand how insignificant you are and just how ingenious the human race as a whole is. After flirting with the boardwalk for a while, my ferry broke up with the shore and navigated the shipping docks head on, coming extremely close to brightly colored containers and cranes with CHINA stamped all over them in capital white letters. Mechanical, civil, and environmental engineers would’ve been frothing at the mouth with intelligent excitement because unnamable contraptions and regal windmills dotted the manmade islands of industry. I was in awe because the vivid colors popping out from every corner and the stunning weather licking my face and arms was so calming. I had learned many new tidbits on my trip (i.e. the types of wine grown in Germany, how to say “potato” in German, and the delicate process of cheese-making), but this experience was on a totally different plane of scale and comprehension.

Besides seeing the mother of all docks, I swam in a river of other buildings (literally) including the city hall, the warehouse district, St. Michael’s Church, and the ultramodern Dockland Office Building. However, the one structure that utterly captured my heart and curiosity was the Elbphilharmonie, the famed concert hall of brilliant glass overlooking the impressive port. It’s hard to explain my overpowering attraction to this building; is it the unusual shape, the beauty of its interior, or the elegance of its form that makes me so digress? It projected into the sloshing gray/green waters like some alien being, an edifice fit for the third dimension, not some commercial River churning with thousands of ships per month. The new concert hall is set to open in January of 2017, but a viewing deck boasting dashing views of the port of Hamburg and the inner city will be open in 2016. I am enamored with this work designed by Herzog & de Meuron, so much so that it’s on my bucket list to listen to a symphony within its futuristic halls. Also, I succumbed to the allure of the tacky souvenir shops and snagged a shot glass with a print of the mesmerizing Philharmonic building on it…

Overall, I would recommend skipping the gaudy Miniatur Wunderland Museum of roving trains and embrace the stunning Port of Hamburg. As the third largest port in Europe (behind only the ones in Rotterdam and Antwerp), it is truly an industrialized marvel of the modern world.

Tips For Exploring The Port Of Hamburg:

• Buy your tickets at the kiosk near the docks by the Elbtunnel
• Get to your ship early because mine changed right before we boarded!
• Snatch a seat on the top viewing deck; experiencing this shipping mammoth from the inside of a window cannot compare.