Port of Call -- Hamburg/Lubeck

When we awoke on September 13th, we were docked in Hamburg, Germany.  Our tour didn't leave until after lunch but we decided to stay on board rather than venture out into the busy port.  It would have been Glen's mom's 101th birthday so we thought of her and how she loved to travel.  In later years, she and Jim (and Aunty Pearl) cruised on Princess ships and I think she was with us on this trip.

Hamburg is Europe's second largest port and lies on the Elbe River and its two tributaries, the Alster and Bille Rivers.  Officially, it's called Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and was a free imperial city-state of the Holy Roman Empire in the middle ages. It continued to be a sovereign state until unification in 1871.  During World War II, it was heavily bombed so most of the buildings within sight of the ship were modern.  The most impressive was the new concert hall called the Elbphilharmonie.

After the war, it became a state in the Federal Republic of Germany and in the early sixties launched a group called The Beatles.

Germany and beer go hand-in-hand so we chose to take a tour of a brewery.  It also involved a walking tour of the town of Lübeck.  Again we were warned it would not be an easy walk.  Despite this, a woman complained she didn't know it would be so hard.  Glen used his cane for stability on the cobblestones but other than that, he was fine.

Like Hamburg, Lübeck was part of the Hanseatic League (confederation of merchant guilds) and an important port on the Trave River (flows into the Baltic Sea).  The town is now famous for its Brick Gothic architecture (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and the first taste of this unique building style was the Holstentor or city gate (see photo).  Lübeck is in the state of Schleswig-Holstein which gives the gate its name and to the famous dairy cattle, Holsteins.  Built in1464, the gate protected the river from invasion, apparently mostly Danes.

Our guide, Stephanie, used a walkie-talkie system to tell us about the town.  If you wandered too far from her, the receiver around your neck cut out.  I learned this first hand when photographing the Holstentor.  I got involved in my efforts to capture its grandeur and began following the wrong people into a shopping complex.  Fortunately, I lost contact with Stephanie so retracted my steps.  The group, including Glen, had crossed the street whereas I had not.  Glen said he panicked a bit until he saw me returning.

In the middle ages, the town was known for its salted fish.  On one bank of the Trave River were the brick salt warehouses.  The workers, mostly women, would gut the fish and toss the entrails into the river.  This meant the place stank and the water undrinkable.  No one worried about that since everyone drank beer!  My kind of town!  There were different types of beer and children drank one that was 0.5% alcohol.

Talk of beer made us thirsty so Stephanie took us to the only surviving brewery (Brau Berger) of the middle ages (about 140 breweries dotted the town at that time).  Brau Berger was opened in 1989 by Harald Berger who wanted to brew a middle ages style beer, Zwickelbier which is unpasteurized and brewed in barrels.  The cellar vault in which we consumed the drink was built in 1225 and is the oldest in Lübeck.  Thomas Rosenhahn is now the brewmaster and with the help of another brewery, produced a flight of beers for us.  We tasted them all and also enjoyed a delicious pretzel.

To walk off the effects of the beer, we meandered through the streets of the town learning about its unique architecture.  Most buildings were made of brick as fire was a constant threat in the middle ages.  As families grew more prosperous, they would cover the brick with stucco or plaster in lovely pastel shades.  Houses were also built in backyards and tiny alleys ran between these small homes.

The prime example of Brick Gothic construction in Lübeck is St. Mary's church built between 1250 and 1350.  It is said the devil thought the townsfolk were building a wine bar and they didn't dissuade him of that idea.  He helped as best he could as he found wine bars good for harvesting souls.  When he discovered they were really building a church, he was not pleased until the townsfolk promised to build a wine bar across the street in the town hall.  Which they did.

Inside the church, vaults are the tallest brick ones in the world, the central nave being 38.5 m (126 ft) high.  The brick is painted white with wonderful floral motifs.  During WWII, it was almost completely destroyed by fire and several great works were lost including the Totentanzorgel (organ) probably played by J. S. Bach and the Dance Macabre paintings.  Due to its destruction during the war, St Mary's is one of the Cross of Nails centres.  A Cross of Nails is made from three nails of the roof truss of Coventry, England's St. Michael's Cathedral destroyed by the Nazis in WWII.   It is a symbol of peace and reconciliation given to churches damaged during the war.   Next to the cross in St. Mary's lies the church bell which fell from the tower during the fire and was left in situ.

After a quick march through the Market Square two sides of which are the town hall, we arrived at what makes Lübeck famous today--Marzipan, a confection made of sugar and ground almonds usually molded into different shapes.  Lübeck claims to have invented marzipan when the town was under siege and the only food left was sugar and almonds.  The most famous store, Niederegger, was founded in 1806 and their logo features the Holstentor.  Lübeck marzipan is supposed to have less sugar than other varieties.

We had a half hour to ourselves so Glen and I went to the Market Square.  We sat enjoying the passing scene until it was time to catch the bus.  At this point, it was obvious we would miss our dinner reservation time at Sabatini's restaurant onboard the ship.  Back at our cabin, we did a quick change before heading down to supper.   It was at this time, the captain announced our travel plans had changed and due to a hurricane along the east coast of the US and a storm over Belfast, we would take the mid-Atlantic route across to New York City, our final destination.  He also mentioned we wouldn't be leaving on time as the train from Berlin bearing over 100 Princess passengers had broken down.  Good to know Princess waits for those on tour who have problems.

They are also forgiving of those who miss their dinner reservations.  AMA had paid for the reservations ($30/person) so we had no choice of which time or day.  We arrived at Sabatini's one hour late.  Alexandro was very understanding when we said our tour was late and found us a lovely table by the window.  Unfortunately, instead of watching Germany slip by while we ate, we watched the buses from Berlin arrive at the terminal.  The food was excellent, though and our server Yuriy from the Ukraine, amazing.

After our meal we sat on the balcony and watched the ship sail down the Elbe River and out into the North Sea, heading west back into the English Channel instead of north to Norway.

To view photos of this excursion, go here.