Lately I've heard a lot about Hamburg, how awesome it is and I was curious to see it with my own eyes. Being in Berlin these days, was the perfect moment to do it. I bought train tickets and here I am in a train going to Hamburg.
With my book, enjoying a 2h train ride
The weather was not favorable to me, but I still have all my fingers. I must say, the rainy day enhanced the colors of this city.
I was not kidding about the cold
It took me a few time to get used with the temperature, but after that I forgot it was cold. I had set in mind to see the canals. I came here for that. I read some articles about this and I was impressed. It's said that it has more than Venice or Amsterdam. From what I've seen, it looks a lot with both of them, but on a different scale. If in the two cities mentioned the buildings are not so tall, here we find massive constructions.
All over the city you can spot Wasserträeger statues. Wasserträeger (in en. carrying water) was a popular profession that existed before the advent of centralized water supply systems. In Hamburg one of these Wasserträger, originally born as Johann Heinrich Bentz on January 21st, 1787, became a symbolic figure for the city. His nickname was Hummel, but it's not known precisely how he got it. The story says that kids made fun of him by yelling at him 'Hummel, Hummel' as they saw him passing with his filled buckets. Some of them even showed him their naked butts, well-knowing that 'Hummel' couldn't chase them with his heavy buckets. Therefore, he just replied by yelling back 'Mors, Mors!' which means 'Kiss my ass!' in a local dialect. Since then, the phrase 'Hummel, Hummel!' 'Mors, Mors!' has been a popular salute in Hamburg.
Another story about people of Hamburg, is the story of Henriette Johanne Marie Müller, called Zitronenjette. This woman made a living by selling lemons. Her famous call while she sold lemons was Zitroon! Zitroon!. At her memorial it's stated: "Your life was as sour as lemons; shall remembrance on you would it be worth? Your destiny is pointing to all the people for whom happiness has no time."
First I thought it is the evil queen from Snow White
Remaining in the history area, let's have a look at the five Hauptkirchen of Hamburg. Since I've got off the train, I saw some towers touching the sky. Wondering around, I got to one of them, the tower of St. Michaelis's church. In the morning there was very crowded so I didn't stay in the line, but in the afternoon the rain brought me again to this place. I was going to ask how tight are the stairs to climb the tower, but my brain was frozen. I went straight to it. It was ok, nothing compared to the experience from St. Peter's basilica. The tower offers you a panoramic view over the whole city.
The tower of St. Michaelis's church
In the picture below, the tallest towers that you see are as following: in the center is St. Nikolai church, in the right is St. Katharinen, and in the left, from front to back is St. Petri and St. Jakobi.
I end up this day with a walk in Speicherstadt, the warehouse district. In the twilight the redness of the buildings is enhanced. The brick architecture flourished in Hamburg in 1920. Brick was viewed by builders and their architects as a more effective and durable material in the rough climate of the north. What decides the brick's incomparable play of red, yellow is the firing process.
We spent the last days of our holiday exploring the classic Dalmatian cocktail of historic towns, jewel-like waters, rugged limestone mountains, gorgeous climate and Mediterranean cuisine of the Northern Dalmatia. Plitvice Lakes In order to have a full day to spend exploring Plitvice Lakes we stayed overnight in the area. It was so quiet and peaceful there! I wish we could have stayed more days to enjoy that serenity state of the place. Being in some way a remote place it wasn't easy to find a restaurant to have dinner, but when we did it was the best. Cevapi, traditional grilled minced meat with ajvar (roasted red peppers sauce) I don't have a sweet tooth but I enjoy trying local deserts. Traditional strudel with cherries - a touch of chocolate makes this simple desert in a delicacy Morning coffee with a view Love is in the air! From the accommodation we had 15-20 minutes drive to the Entrance 1 of the park. We have researched which trails to take and the best views are star...
The engine whistles and the fireman shovels coal into the firebox. An adventurous trip to days gone by is about to begin, when steam trams connected ancient towns like Hoorn and Medemblik. Seated in the antique coaches, we listened to the clickety-clack of the wheels, heard the escaping steam and felt the tram move through the timeless Westfrisian countryside. A friend told me about the steam tram rides between Hoorn and Medemblik, and I immediately booked tickets. We were fortunate to catch one of the trips that passes by the tulip fields in bloom. Hoorn Tram station At Hoorn Tram station which is converted in museum we discovered the story of steam trams in Netherlands, covering the 1878 - 1966 period. The Timeline exhibitions takes us back into history. Small objects, film images, photos and documents tell the story about the steam tram in the Netherlands. The common thread is a timeline in which the highlights of Dutch steam tram history are central. We were filled with excitement,...
After the short stop in Trogir we drove to Pula where booked accommodation for 3 nights to explore the city and surroundings. The country side on the way to Pula The drive took around 6h with some stops on the way. After we checked in we went directly in the city center for dinner. One speciality I saw it on the menu in the area is grilled squid with Swiss chard and potatoes. I was hesitant with the green leafs because they waiters were saying it's like spinach and I'm not a big fan of it. But this one was really tasty! Grilled squid with Swiss chard and potatoes @ Kantina Restaurant The next day we went to one beach in Pula in the morning, another beach in Rovinj in the afternoon and stayed for dinner in Rovinj and explored a bit the city center. Hawaii Beach Hawaii is a pebbly beach, with big rocks but it's worth it! The water is crystal clean and a good spot for snorkeling. It also has some high cliffs that attract the adventurous ones who want to jump ...
Comments
Post a Comment