HAMBURG'S HISTORIC HARBOR CRUISE
Mark Twain on the Elbe
What
the heck is a Mississippi River Paddleboat doing in Hamburg Harbor?
The Mississippi Queen offers
dinner
and sightseeing cruises on the wide
Elbe River which divides Hamburg. And a riverboat is not the only incongruity
to this unique northern German city where old clashes with new. 
Except
for the language, Hamburg has the feel of a cosmopolitan modern
city very much like the east coast US. Hamburg harbor is the second largest
port in Europe and meanders through fingers and channels for many kilometers
and even travels through canals into the city, where locks raise and
lower the levels between the upper and lower Alsters, two small lakes
which are the central feature of the city’s heart surrounded by
grand hotels and turn of the century offices of Hamburg centered international
corporations.
Best Sights of the City from the Harbor
Along
the channels of the harbor, among the cranes hoisting containerized
freight, with some
of the most modern
computerized freight handling
advances, Hamburg also uniquely boasts centuries-old brick freight warehouses
(See SPEICHERSTADT
Hamburg History, Dungeons
and Model
Railroads) still in use along the canals where
workman raise cargo from the barges below on ropes to the storage floors
three
stories above the waterline. The harbor tour boats dock near
the Speicherstadt on the
Elbe River Walk (see Hamburg Maritime Model Ships Museum). A great family sight-seeing what-to-do activity, kids
especially will love
the close up 
views of the bulbous noses of giant
freighters in dry dock and arching crane arms as the tour boat travels
through the locks which control the channel heights, ducking under the
low tunnel bridges.After
a boat tour of the harbor or the canals stop for a romantic drink
at sunset on the
Feuershiff, a fireboat
turned into
a bar & restaurant which watches over the harbor, putting out
hunger and thirst rather than fires. Take in the views
from the
spire of St. Micheliskirche (See If
its Baroque it must be "Michel").
Where to stay in Hamburg? The Hotel Inter-Continental Hamburg is located near diplomat row, around the corner from the American and British consulates housed among grand mansions built by Hamburg’s shipping wealth along the upper Alster.
The Renaissance Hamburg Hotel is in the city center next to Hamburg indoor shopping mall the Hanse-Viertel and convenient walking from the grand shore of the lower Alster.
If you’re traveling by train and budget, the Kronprinz Hamburg is right across from Hamburg Bahnhof, a pleasant tourist priced hotel connected with a nice restaurant beautifully ambienced with hand crafted wooden ship models decor celebrating Hamburg’s nautical heritage. © Bargain Travel Europe
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SEE ALSO:
SUPERMODEL
SECRETARIES - HAMBURG
BUCERIUS
KUNST FORUM ART MUSEUM IN HAMBURG
HAMBURG'S
REEPERBAHN
FERRY THE ELBE TO LUCKY CITY
FAMILY
HERITAGE TOURS TO GERMAN
