The beef on Hamburg

 A version of this article appeared in The Irish Times

“I WAS BORN in Liverpool but grew up in Hamburg,” said John Lennon.

Brahms could go one better – he was born in the city, and, like the Fab Four, first made his name here. According to his own account, the young Johannes Brahms made a living in his teenage years by playing piano in smoke-filled bars and brothels in the city. Klaus Groth, a contemporary of the composer, remembered the composer saying that after an evening of drinking and playing “he could only walk along an avenue by staggering from tree to tree, otherwise he would have fallen”.

For all musicians, from the greatest to the lowliest, this is likely to have a resonance.

Despite Hamburg's colossal musical heritage, it’s heavy metal which has bank-rolled its prosperity. Steel, copper, machinery, cars — they all pass through the city’s huge port; Hamburg is to ships what Salzburg is to Mozart or Clonakilty is to black pudding.

The harbour (a Unesco World Heritage Site) was founded in 1189. View it over a beer at a traditional inn like the Oberhafen Kantin, or catch a boat. Particularly recommended is no. 62 HADAG ferry to the fishing village of Oevelgonne. After goggling at the ocean-going freighters, stop for a coffee or beer and contemplate the fact that Hamburg’s prosperity is almost entirely down to its docks – the River Elbe has simply washed wealth into the city since the Middle Ages.

ALTHOUGH Hamburg has a hard-edged commercial background, you’re unlikely to be stuck for something to do. Aside from the Reeperbahn, the city offers art galleries and museums, classical music extravaganzas, ballet, cabaret and opera. You may perhaps baulk at the thought of Hamburg State Opera’s eight-hour production of Goethe’s Faust, but during the season plenty of accessible crowd-pleasing, productions are staged. They’ve been promoting opera here since the 1600s, and  you can get into internationally acclaimed shows for around a tenner. Meanwhile Hamburg's pubs and clubs are still there, caning it every night of the week.

NEGATIVE associations, including the war, plus misapprehensions and misconceptions about the Germany’s heroic lack of humour, not forgetting its reputation for a surfeit of orderliness, have conspired to relegate the country to the also-rans in the vacation stakes. It applies to Hamburg too, unfairly.

Admittedly, Hamburg can lay no claim to a classic Teutonic old town, nor many set-pieces for the architectural pilgrim. Mediaeval areas do remain, but a huge fire in 1842 followed by the RAF’s contribution to town planning in 1944-45 means that very little of the old city is still standing.

Less than eighty years ago Hamburg was rubble. But its distinctive silhouette arose again as the city was rebuilt, literally brick by brick.  

NOW that so many places have sold their souls to mass tourism, it’s good to visit this rugged, cosmopolitan port run on behalf of both locals and visitors.

I enjoyed Hamburg friendliness on several occasions during my weekend, and not just the lady in the Reeperbahn who asked in a delightful accent: “You wanna come in?” (As politely as I could – and mindful of the high reputation of Irish journalists – I declined). But in cafes, restaurants and pubs Hamburg hospitality was spontaneous and whole-hearted.. At my hotel the staff spoke English to UN interpreter standard; even better the receptionist didn't regard checking-in as an unforgivable impertinence. Unlike a County Down hotel I lodged in recently.

The Hamburgers may not have invented the word gemütlichkeit, but they know how to do it. You could scarcely ask for more: cheap opera, a warm welcome, confelicity* — and more pubs and clubs than seems any way sensible. A perfect weekend break in my book.

* confelicity: the opposite of 'schadenfreude', according to a bloke — who seemed to know about most things — I met at a sausage stall outside St Pauli U-Bahn station

Places to visit

HAMBURG IS dominated by the spires of its great churches.

One of these, St Michaelis-Kirche (“Der Michel”) has long been a landfall mark for ships sailing up the Elbe. Inside, it’s not the sober mausoleum you might expect — and with good reason. Back in 1530 when the Lutheran reformers arrived to tell the canny merchants of Hamburg about their new-fangled religion, the Hamburgers were all ears. They particularly liked the bit about not having to stump up to the Vatican for indulgences. Do that bit again, they said.

In three days they'd turned their backs on Catholicism, their faith since 800AD.

But the merchants didn’t want anybody thinking they’d fallen on hard times, ach nein, so adorned their new church outrageously. Out went the statues, and in came flamboyant ornaments, velvet-lined chairs (available for rental, naturally) and an enormous organ. Today the church can boast some 10,000 organ pipes. Some of the city’s great musical illuminati have tinkled the ivories here, including Bach.

You can often catch a free concert at noon.

The Alster

Wandering around Hamburg will eventually bring you to the two astonishingly beautiful lakes round which the city is built. The southern promenade, the Jungfernstieg, rises from the lake towards elegant boulevards. To circumnavigate the lake (about 5 miles) by foot rather than by skate, start at the impressive Rathaus, the city hall. Hiking in Hamburg is not often seen as a holiday option, and to be honest, it’s not really my sort of thing. So can I leave that one with you?

The train set

Now this is good. Hamburg has pubs, clubs, a throbbing red light district, a vibrant opera scene, and more classical music than you could shake a conductor's baton at.

But it also has the world’s biggest model railway, Miniatur Wunderland. The owners used to run a record label and nightclub and sold it all to build this layout. It’s an astonishing piece of work; you’ll be enthralled even if you’ve never owned an anorak.

The fish market

Built  in1703, the Altona Fischmarkt, opposite Dock 14, is a major Hamburg attraction, selling everything from former inhabitants of the Baltic Sea to families of live ducks (impossible as hand luggage). It opens at 4am, with raucous market traders, stalls, shops, pubs and cafes sprawling out along the Elbe-side from a towering ironclad central hall. When the fishmongers stop mongering their fish, jazz, pop and oompah bands take over the entertainment. No wonder the Beatles used to breakfast here in their Reeperbahn days.

The Kunsthalle, Glockengiesserwall

Acres of gallery space show off offerings from Munch, Francis Bacon, Emile Nolde, Picasso, Paul Klee, Lovis Corinth and the German romantics. Caspar David Friedrich – whose Man and Woman Contemplating The Moon inspired Beckett’s Waiting For Godot – is given generous room.
 

St Nikolai-Kirche

Devastated during World War II, the spire survives, while the grounds have been turned into a memorial to the casualties of war and persecution. Sobering, in a city that lost 34,000 people in one week.

The Reeperbahn

Inevitably the red light district, the Reeperbahn, calls; not literally of course. Unless you've been doing some serious planning ahead.

Be warned — a Saturday night here makes Temple Bar in Dublin or London's Soho seem like a convention of Finnish pastors.

To give you a flavour — an ‘adult-orientated’ shop in the middle of the Mile of Sin has an unusually large condom displayed in its window, offering a cash prize to any man who fits it. The money has been collected less than a dozen times. This should give you a yardstick, yes, as to how much time you might want to spend here.

But remember that the Reeperbahn can be exhilarating too, without your partaking of its usual entertainment opportunities. At Christmas a huge fair joins the fray, cheek by jowl with some of Germany's best theatres, bars and alternative music venues. The area has begun to move effortlessly from bawdy to boho.

The concert venue

Imperiously perched at the western tip of the gleaming new Hafencity stands the stunning Elbphilharmonie. Designed by the Swiss star-chitects Herzog & de Meuron, it cost €860 million to build. Worth it though — even if you aren’t going to a gig in this crystalline palace, the views both inside and outside are extraordinary.

Shopping

The Fabrik culture and flea market on Barnerstrasse is situated in a former 19th century machine factory which once produced parts for the shipping industry. Events include rock, jazz, classical, theatre, readings and politics.

The flea market takes over the space regularly to pack the hall and galleries with the contents of attics and cellars.

This is the very place for that essential stuffed giraffe’s head or cigarette lighter shaped like a sausage.

www.fabrik.de

Where to stay

Atlantic Kempinski

An der Alster 72-79, 00-49-40-28880

www.kempinski.atlantic.de

The top drawer digs in town. Should you book in here, you won’t be the first Irish person to pay a visit. Don’t Roger Moore your eyebrow, but Pierce Brosnan, masquerading as James Bond, clambered over the roof in Tomorrow Never Dies.

Cheapest double room €190, but rising very steeply

Empire Riverside Hotel

Bernard Nocht Strasse 97, 00-49-40-311190

www.empire-riverside.de

This towering top notch hotel is about as out-there as it gets.

Cheapest double room €193

Grand Elysee

Rothenbaumchausee 10, 00-49-40-414120

www.elysee.de

A privately owned five star hotel with wellness centre plus all the trimmings.

Double rooms from €190

The Steigenberger Hotel

Heiligeneistbrucke 4, 00-49-40-368060 or 00800 78468357

www.hamburg.steigenbergeri.de

All sleek stainless steel and glass in public areas, the rooms are understated and deeply luxurious. Breakfast buffets are the Full German – you could have muesli wrapped in salmon should you so wish.

Double rooms from €189

Hotel Louis C. Jacobs

Elbeschausee 401-403, 00-49-40-822550

www.hotel-jacob.de

Shimmering views across the River Elbe with your room service sun-downer; breakfasts are hearty, the service is understated and friendly.

Double rooms from €233