This is (likely) my last in the series of Berlin travelogue posts for a while, but a fun one. Toward the end of my trip we took the inter city express train north to the port town of Hamburg.

It’s really weird to see so many signs that say Hamburg and realize they are not advertising a restaurant! The name of the town is thought to be derived from Hamburg, a castle/fort built to defend trade routes in the 9th century.

Our own American hamburger sandwich may have possible roots in the ground meat ancient people purportedly ate in the region of Hamburg…it’s debatable, but the hamburger sandwich is having a moment of popularity currently, in Berlin and beyond.

Our Hamburg trip was another tour of all my favorite city sites…architecture, food, and gardens!

The Inter City Express Train

Our trip started at the train station in Berlin where we boarded the Deutsche Bahn express train. This is a high speed train that makes the 4 hour trip in around 2 hours.

We booked seats in first class where they serve you refreshments at your seat, and in the ‘quiet car’, for a very reasonable fee. There is a dining car as well, though I’ve never been on a train here long enough to explore that…another time, on a longer trip, I definitely will!

The train station in Berlin is a remarkable visit all by itself, with zillions of shops and food places. And round glass elevators! Even the regular transit/subway stations have glass elevators, which is SUCH a nice option if you are towing luggage (or pushing a stroller or bike).

I ordered my breakfast tea, from a nice steward and it was delivered in a ceramic mug. I am a happy camper. Outlets, hooks, luggage racks and a fold out table and so. much. room…if only the airlines were this nice, or at least 1st class was this affordable.

Near the end of the trip, a conductor came through with a basket dispensing shortbread heart cookies to all the passengers. This is probably my favorite mode of transportation. If there was a train to Europe, I’d be game…alas, a pesky ocean is in the way…

We arrived in the bustling and equally huge train station in Hamburg, and had an easy walk across the street to our hotel.

Hotel Reichshof

The Hotel Reichshof (which loosely translates Imperial Court) was lovely and quite modern, though it is an older building and some of the elaborate details have been preserved.

Built in 1910, the luxury hotel was built in the ‘modern’ more streamlined style of the day on the exterior, but the interior was resplendent in the opulence of the Golden Twenties with Italian marble, elaborate wood paneling, and iridescent copper..

Present day, intriguing chandeliers line the marble lobby casting a warm glow with textured pink glass panels reminiscent of some exotic sea life?!

Huge windows fill the arched openings to the street, and numerous seating areas and a bar/cafe are arranged around the lobby. An impressively done gallery wall anchors one end of the seating area.

The hotel room was very comfortable and very modern. The headboard had built in night lights. I loved the detail of a closet rod with integrated lighting built into the wardrobe, and the hanger built into the ironing board to hang it up!

We headed out to explore after checking in. I was grateful that at least SOME of Hamburg saw fit to obviously mark the bike paths. In Berlin you just kinda have to know…and I’ve learned which part of the sidewalk they are the hard way!

The city has a lot of interconnected waterways and canals leading out to the river that connects to the Elbe and ultimately to the North Sea. We had lunch at a cafe on the Aussen-Alster, a central lake.

While in Hamburg we took a tourist boat tour of the lake. It was all in German🙄, but I had my trusty Jenna-translator. I learned that the lake is very shallow, only about 1 1/2 meters at the deepest. It contains some ferry stops that are part of the transit system.

Only 3 private homes actually have lakefront property on the main lake and these are valued at ~ 22 million euros each…they also get the privilege of tour boats gawking at them every half hour all day long!

Another interesting snippet is an art installation of the ‘ordinary man’. This is apparently one of 4 throughout the city and is carved from a single piece of oak and bobbing on a mooring. He is taken in during the winter months for repairs and refurbishing…which he needs as he seems to be a favorite spot for sea birds to relieve themselves?!

The funky glass building down on the waterfront seaport by the river is home to the Hamburg Philharmonic. The lower portion of the building is brick and the upper portion houses the Philharmonic concert halls, a Westin hotel, and private residences.

The shape is meant to mimic waves. Fun fact: my daughters roommate, who is a building project manager/engineer for a construction company, worked on this building!

A free observatory deck is about halfway up the building between the brick and glass sections and we took the wild curved multi-story escalator up the tunnel to it.

We also managed to find a lovely lounge overlooking the observation deck serving Kaffe and Kuchen :) I LIVE for this lovely German afternoon tradition!

We ended our first day with a tasty late night snack at a sandwich shop and started the next day with yummy custard pastries at a Portuguese bakery. We do love exploring the food options! 😏

We checked out and stored our luggage at the front desk in the morning. The concierge at the hotel insisted on giving us some hot tips. He told us about the street market under the elevated transit line, the botanical gardens, some of the shopping districts, and a bit more about the waterfront area.

We didn’t make it back to the waterfront, but we managed all the rest before the day was over!

Shopping

There are tons of shopping areas and cafes, and we wandered through the main arcade and flower planter lined streets of the downtown shopping district and did a turn of the large bougie department store at the head of the lake.

Street Market

Although there are many street markets in Hamburg, the Islemarkt, which runs like one long street under the elevated train is a favorite of locals (only 20% of the attendees are tourists). It is only open Tuesdays and Fridays and we happened to hit it on a Tuesday!

Containing vendors for every specialty food category - meats, fish, cheeses, spices, coffee/tea, eggs, produce, and bakery trucks and stands, it also sports assorted specialty and international cuisines in additional to a variety of coffee and beverage stands.

Sprinkled in amongst the consumables are plentiful flower stands, resources for things like knife sharpening, and clothing, woolens, and giftware vendors. We even saw the same vendor we had purchased my basket tote bag from in Berlin!

We both bought some clothing, and, of course, snacks!

Botanical Garden

In the heart of the city is an incredible public garden called Planten un Blomen which is low German for plants and flowers - just what it sounds like.

The gardens are extremely well kept and must require constant maintenance. We saw several people tending many of the gardens, and even encountered a toy sized park van on one of the paths!

The park is about 116 acres and has ponds, waterfalls, 3 or 4 cafes/concessions, an Asian garden and teahouse, an amphitheater, and an impressive rose garden full of paths and arbor arches around a central steel gazebo covered in climbing roses.

The central pond, which apparently has nightly water and light shows set to classical music, is surrounded by idyllic sitting areas, and contains a section of stepping stones and a robust stock of koi fish! I’m sorry we didn’t know about the light show…it definitely warrants a return trip.

Buildings of Hamburg

One of the most impressive buildings in the older part of the city is the Town Hall

The seaport district has a lot of red brick and some Dutch influenced architecture

There is, again, so much rich detail in the buildings in such an old city…one of the many reasons I love visiting Europe is for the beautiful detail and craftsmanship of centuries old architecture.

Even the sidewalks are pretty!

Afternoon Tea and Heading Home

We wrapped up our afternoon with tea and petit fours back in our hotel lobby when we went back to collect our suitcases.

And then it was time to head back to the train station! Our train car was a rather lengthy hike to the first car which was waaaaaay down the platform under the station plaza and beyond the road and a bridge!

We arrived home to the Berlin train station fairly late - 9:30ish, and were in search of a snack. Many of the concessions inside the train station were closed except for the MacDonalds and Subway….I did NOT go all the way to Berlin to eat at an American fast food chain!

As we peeked outside the main entrance - on the plaza was a courtyard of tables surrounded by food trucks and a party atmosphere! Live music was playing on a stage in the corner, and string lights with colorful beach-pail shades crisscrossed the plaza.

We settled on some arepas from a Venezuelan food truck - what a great welcome home!

I adore the city of Berlin AND the location and transportation that makes it easy to explore a variety of other cities near and far! In a perfect world I would be bi-continental :)

In any case I plan to return as often as possible as a piece of my heart lives there now.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this peek at my travels - if you missed the other insider highlights of this trip, they can be found here:

A visit to the spectacular Berlin Botanical Gardens

Thai Park food and Potsdam charm

Berlin’s Tiergarten

What’s in my suitcase?

Auf Wiedersehen!