Lomography

Ferry harbour cruise - Hamburg
written by graefin on January 19th, 2009 , 2 comments (2 votes)

Please activate JavaScript to see this gallery.

Hamburg, Landungsbrücken. Men with blue hats advertise the “Große Hafenrundfahrt” (harbour cruise). Their shouts ring in my ears while I make my way to the ferry pier. I don’t want to pay a lot of money for a harbour cruise when I can have one without stupid cock-and-bull stories.

I just hop on the next ferry of line 62 to Finkenwerder and am off! The ferry boats in Hamburg usually depart from the Landungsbrücken pier, some also start at Sandtorhöft (but that’s too far off for people who don’t know the city). But it is easier to follow the crowd, so you will start your cruise at Landungsbrücken and then drive the Elbe downstream towards Finkenwerder. On your left you will soon see the famous dockyard “Blohm and Voss” and if your’re lucky the “Queen Mary 2” – a luxurious cruise liner – lies on dock for repair. On your right you will first stop at “Altona/Fischmarkt” where on Sunday mornings the fish market takes place.

Then you follow the Elbe further down passing the fish selling companies on your right and the dockyards and parts of the Freihafen at your left. Next stop is “Dockland/Fischereihafen”. You may leave the ship here if you want but just for a short stop in order to climb the stairs of one of the buildings there – hint: it looks like a ship. From the top you have a wonderful view across the Elbe. But we will go further downstream and pass by the huge container ships! The ferry captain will stop next at “Museumshafen/Oevelgönne”. Also a nice place to visit. But not now on our harbor cruise. The ferry now crosses the Elbe and stops at the terminal stop “Finkenwerder”. You can wait on the ferry and go back to “Landungsbrücken” or jump on to the ferry boat towards “Teufelsbrück”.

It’s your choice but I would – as this is your first cruise – go back to the start and take the ferry back to “Landungsbrücken”. Because this time you pass by the dockyards very close and have an amazing view at the docks of Blohm and Voss.The ferry passes the left shore this time. And you should definitely not stay inside the ferry boat take the stairs to the upper deck. First of all you need to feel the wind in your face, then hear the waves swashing at the bow. Taking pictures is also easier outside than inside.

Whenever I find the time I take the ferry to explore the harbor because it is always changing and never looks the same. And it doesn’t matter whether it is raining, sunny or cloudy. Ships are always fascinating. From central station you take line U3 direction “Barmbek” and leave at “Landungsbrücken” (yep it’s again line U3). Oh and the most important thing!! A “real” harbor cruise will cost you about 15Euro and this one only 2.70Euro.