Rugged, cosmopolitan Hamburg offers a musical legacy stretching from Brahms to The Beatles, beautiful bridges and churches, and a 'Mile of Sin', writes Mal Rogers
'I WAS BORN in Liverpool but grew up in Hamburg," John Lennon once said. Brahms could go one better. He was born in the city and, like The Beatles, first made his name here. And the fabbest of them all, Johann Sebastian Bach, also tinkled the ivories locally.
Despite this colossal musical heritage, it is heavy metal that has bankrolled Hamburg's prosperity. Steel, copper, machinery, cars - they all pass through the huge port of Germany's second city.
Despite this hard-edged commercial background, there's plenty for the visitor: art galleries and museums; Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamburg Opera and Hamburg Ballet (tickets from €8.50); exotic rhythms in clubs ranging from the hip to the hedonistic; modern musicals (from Dirty Dancing to The Lion King); and cutting-edge rock and jazz.
The small, crowded pubs of Hamburg are huge on jazz. Plus, as befits the city that gave its name to the most ubiquitous takeaway foodstuff in the known universe, more eating places than you could shake a fork at.
If you're still wavering, just consider this: the extravagant number of waterways and lakes in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, as it likes to call itself on formal occasions, means there are more bridges here than in Venice and Amsterdam combined, with more than 2,400 crossing the 55km of waterways that meander through the city.
You can buy an authentic sailor's cap at Walther Eisenberg, a traditional hatter on Steinstrasse - €50 will get you into the hat and the maritime mood.
Admittedly, Hamburg can lay no claim to a classic Teutonic old town, nor any must-see set pieces for the architectural pilgrim. A few medieval areas remain, but a huge fire in 1842, followed by Allied bombing 100 years later, more or less flattened the city.
Hamburg's distinctive silhouette remains, however, dominated by the five towers of its great churches. One of these, St Michaeliskirche (Der Michel), has long been a landmark 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 newfangled religion, the Hamburgers were all ears. They particularly liked the bit about not having to stump up for indulgences. In three days they had turned their backs on Catholicism, their faith since 800. But the merchants didn't want people thinking they'd fallen on hard times, so they adorned their new church outrageously. Out went the statues and in came flamboyant ornaments, velvet-lined chairs (available for rent, naturally) and an enormous organ.
Today the church boasts some 10,000 organ pipes - more like a section of the Giant's Causeway than a member of the piano family. You can often catch a free concert at noon.
Somewhat inevitably, we come to the Reeperbahn, in the St Pauli area. Should you be of a sensitive disposition, this is the time to avert your eyes. An adult shop in the middle of the "Mile of Sin" has an unusually large condom displayed in its window and offers a cash prize to any man who fits it. The money has only been won twice.
But the Reeperbahn can be exhilarating, too, without partaking of its standard fare - on a Saturday night it can make Temple Bar seem like a convention of Finnish pastors.
At Christmas a huge fair joins the fray, cheek by jowl with some of Germany's best theatres, alternative music venues and übercool bars. The area has moved effortlessly from seamy to bohemian.
Now 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 travellers. 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 reputation of The Irish Times, I declined.) Oh, and thanks to my guide, Jürgen, I finally know how to pronounce schadenfreude. Now I can sneer at people who don't.
www.hamburg-tourism.de, www.germany-tourism.co.uk
Where to stay, where to eat and what to do if you're in the German city for a weekend
5 places to stay
Atlantic Kempinski. An der Alster 72-79, 00-49-40-28880,
www.kempinski.atlantic.de. Double rooms from about €210. Top-drawer digs in Hamburg. Should you book in here, you won't be the first Irish person to pay a visit: Pierce Brosnan, masquerading as James Bond, clambered over the roof in Tomorrow Never Dies.
Empire Riverside Hotel. Bernard Nocht Strasse 97, 00-49-40-311190, www.empire-riverside.de. Doubles from about €160. This towering top-notch hotel is about as out-there as it gets - square crockery, decidedly unsquare clientele.
Grand Elysee. Rothenbaumchausee 10, 00-49-40-414120, www.elysee.de. Doubles from about €170. A privately owned five-star hotel with wellness centre plus all the trimmings.
Steigenberger Hotel. Heiligeneistbrücke 4, 00-49-40-368060, www.hamburg.steigenberger.de. Double rooms from about €170. All sleek stainless steel and glass in public areas. The rooms are understated and deeply luxurious. Breakfast buffets are the full German - you can have muesli wrapped in salmon should you wish.
Hotel Louis C Jacobs. Elbchausee 401-403, 00-49-40-822550, www.hoteljacob.de. Doubles from about €180. Shimmering views across the River Elbe for your room-service sundowner; breakfasts are hearty, and, like everything else, here they just seem to appear.
5 places to eat
Parlament. Ratsweinkeller. Grosse Johanistrasse, 00-49-40-70383399,
www.parlament-hamburg.de. The city's oldest restaurant, in the wine cellar of the Rathaus, or city hall, is the place to try a prodigious helping of pig's knuckle surrounded by boiled potatoes. Ask for extra sauerkraut.
Alt-Hamburger Aalspeicher. Deichstrasse 43, 00-49-40-362990, www.aalspeicher.de. For chow with a view book yourself a terrace table at Aalspeicher, situated on one of Hamburg's oldest streets. Fish take a starring role - Aal is German for eel. It would therefore seem perverse not to go for the smoked eel.
Fischerhaus. St Pauli Fischmarkt 14, 00-49-40-314053, www.restaurant-fischerhaus.de. Upstairs, overlooking the harbour, you'll get fish and twinkling views; downstairs, fish and cosy wood panelling.
Zu den alten Krameramtsstuben, Krayenkamp 10, 00-49-40-365800, www.krameramtsstuben.de. Built in 1620, this is a cosy place to eat classic local dishes such as corned-beef hash, herring, beetroot and mashed potato with a fried egg on top. You won't feel hungry again for 24 hours.
Old Commercial Room, Englische Planke 10, 00-49-40-366319, www.oldcommercialroom.de. In the shadow of St Michaelis's Church, this traditional Hamburg favourite serves up soul-warming comfort food - everything from schnitzels to mammoth portions of soft-as-butter scallops.
5 places to go
Built in 1703, the Fischmarkt is a major Hamburg attraction, selling everything from former inhabitants of the Baltic Sea to live families of ducks. When the fishmongers finish, jazz, pop and oompah bands take over. No wonder The Beatles used to breakfast here in their Reeperbahn days.
Hiking in Hamburg means the Alster lakes, beginning just in front of the impressive Rathaus in the centre. Allow a couple of hours to complete the eight-kilometre circumnavigation - you'll want to stop at a few of the fashionable waterfront cafes en route. Some do barbecues in summer and autumn.
Hamburg is to ships what Salzburg is to Mozart. The huge, historic harbour (a Unesco World Heritage site) is the most comprehensive urban development project in the EU, HafenCity ( www.hafencity.com). The port is as close to an ocean-liner theme park as you'll get. View it over a beer at a traditional inn, Oberhafen Kantine (Stockmeyerstrasse 39, 00-49-40-98235615, www.oberhafenkantine-hamburg.de).
The best way to take in Hamburg is by boat. An armada of river and harbour cruisers depart from Landungsbrücken. Better (and cheaper), catch the No 62 Hadag ferry (00-49-40-3117070 www.hadag.de). Part of the public-transport system, it's covered by a Hamburg Card (available at all Hamburg tourist-information offices or on 00-49-40-30051300. Get off at the fishing village of Övelgönne, which has loads of cafes, and catch the 112 bus back to town.
The St Nikolai memorial (at Willy-Brandt-Strasse 60, www.mahnmal-st-nikolai.de), a church that was devastated during the second World War. The spire survives, the grounds have been turned into a monument to the casualties of war and persecution. Sobering, in a city that lost 34,000 people in one week.
Check out
Kunsthalle. Glockengiesserwall, 00-49-40-4281312000, www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de. Acres of gallery space includes works by Munch, Francis Bacon, Emil Nolde, Picasso, the German Romantics and Caspar David Friedrich, whose Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon helped to inspire Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot.
Hit the shops
Hamburg is hard-wired for shopping. Arcades, department stores and upmarket malls carry all superstar labels; more outré fashions are concentrated in the Karolinen and Schanzen areas. For stranger swag there's Flohcampus, a flea market at the University of Hamburg's Von-Melle-Park. The very place for that essential stuffed tiger's head or dancing sausage.
Hot spot
Dress up and head for the 20up Club on the 20th floor of the Empire Riverside Hotel (Bernhard Nocht Strasse, 00-49-40-311190,
www.empire-riverside.de). Arm yourself with a cocktail - try the Kiez Cruising for €10 - and push your way through Hamburg's style-savvy punters for a window view. Then gaze down on the twinkling lights and dark waters of the Elbe until the small hours.
To avoid
Possibly Nena, who has been singing
99 Red Balloonsfor the past 25 years and lives in Hamburg. Be on your guard.
Go there
Aer Lingus (
www.aerlingus.com) and Ryanair (
www.ryanair.com) fly from Dublin to Hamburg several times a week. Aer Lingus flies to Fuhlsbüttel airport, about 10km from the city centre; Ryanair flies to Lübeck airport, about 55km from Hamburg.