St. Pauli from across the river

Another day in Hamburg. After leaving the hotel, which was located fairly close to the main railway station, we took a subway to St. Pauli Piers, where we descended to the Old Elbe Tunnel, a pedestrian and vehicle tunnel built in 1911 that goes under the Elbe river to the other side. There were some great views to the other side of the river. In the picture above you can see some of the sand-coloured buildings of the St. Pauli Piers. After returning to the other side we walked across the riverside until we reached the museum harbour with 25 old(-ish) ships and boats. Hamburg has the second busiest port (after Rotterdam), and it's located right across the river from the downtown area, so maritime is very present there, especially by the riverside.

We headed back from the museum harbour through the Elbchhaussee, a long street with a lot of parks, some impressive upper-class houses and nice views to the river. In St. Pauli we checked out the Beatles-Platz and wandered through the (in)famous Reeperbahn and some of its side streets where the naughty business supposedly happens. Our final sightseeing spot was the Krameramtsstuben, 17th. century buildings originally built as homes for widows of the members of Guilt of Shopkeepers. They are the last remaining buildings of their kind in Hamburg and are apparently the oldest lane of terraced houses in the world. It was a fascinating place to visit and we hade some great food in the atmospheric restaurant located on the lane.

In the evening we felt like we had enough sightseeing for the day, so we picked up our luggage from storage at the hotel and headed back to Lübeck, where we had a hotel room reserved for the final night on German ground. In the evening we took a walk in the old town Lübeck. Some of the smaller streets and alleys there are very atmospheric to walk through at night, almost takes you back in time a few hundred years.