Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [604]
A bus tour is a stress-free way to piece together this sprawling jigsaw of a city. As with boats, there are numerous tours; the best for non–German speakers, with reliable recorded commentary in several languages, is Hamburg City Tour ( 3231 8590; www.hamburg-city-tour.de; adult/under 12yr €15/free; half-hourly 9.30am-5pm). Its open-topped double-decker buses pass all the leading sights over 1½ hours; tickets (sold on the bus) allow you to jump on and jump off all day. You can board at stops including the Hauptbahnhof (Kirchenallee exit), Landungsbrücken and the Rathaus.
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THE BEATLES IN HAMBURG – FOREVER
I was born in Liverpool, but I grew up in Hamburg.
John Lennon
It was the summer of 1960 and a fledgling band from Liverpool had been assured a paying gig in Hamburg, if only they could come up with a drummer. After a frantic search, Pete Best joined John, Paul, George and Stuart (Sutcliffe) in August that year.
Within days, the band opened at the Indra Club on the notorious Grosse Freiheit to a seedy crowd of drunks and whores. After being egged on by the club’s burly owner to ‘put on a show’, John went wild, screaming, leaping and shouting, and performing in his underwear with a toilet seat around his neck.
After 48 consecutive nights of six-hour sessions, the Beatles’ innate musical genius had been honed. The magnetism of the group that would rock the world began drawing huge crowds. When police shut down the Indra, they moved a block south to the Kaiserkeller – and the crowds moved with them.
At the Kaiserkeller, the Beatles alternated with a band called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, whose drummer was one Ringo Starr. But they hardly had time to get to know each other before an underage George was deported in November, and Paul and Pete were arrested for attempted arson. All three escaped the German authorities and returned to England. There, as ‘The Beatles: Direct from Hamburg’, they had their Merseyside breakthrough.
In 1961 the Beatles returned to Hamburg, this time to the Top Ten Club on the Reeperbahn. During their 92-night stint, they made their first professional recording. Around this time, manager extraordinaire Brian Epstein and the recording genius (now Sir) George Martin arrived on the scene. The Beatles’ recording contract with German producer Bert Kaempfert was bought out and they began their career with EMI, with one proviso: exit Pete Best, enter Ringo, a more professional drummer. Stuart Sutcliffe had also quit the band, and not long afterwards died of a brain haemorrhage.
In the spring of 1962, the final constellation of the Beatles logged 172 hours of performance over 48 nights at Hamburg’s Star-Club (once at Grosse Freiheit 39, but now long gone). But with their increasing fame in England, they began to shuttle off more regularly for home and foreign shores. To usher in the new year of 1963, the Beatles gave their final concert at the Star-Club, immortalised in what would become known as the ‘Star-Club tapes’.
The Beatles returned occasionally to Hamburg in later years. But it was the 800 hours of live performance on grimy red-light district stages that burned away their rough edges to reveal their enduring brilliance.
Beatlemaniacs can relive the Beatles’ career at the Beatlemania Museum.
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Walking Tours
Dozens of walking tours operate throughout the city, many with specific themes, such as red-light tours, ‘historic hooker’ tours, Beatles tours, culinary tours and more. Tourist offices maintain a list of seasonal departures. The Hauptbahnhof tourist office also rents DIY GPS walking tours (€8 per 4hr).
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FESTIVALS & EVENTS
The city’s biggest annual event is the three-day Hafengeburtstag (Harbour Birthday; www.hafengeburtstag.de) in early May. It commemorates Emperor Barbarossa granting Hamburg customs exemption and is energetically celebrated with harbourside concerts, funfairs and gallons of beer.
Established in 1329, the Hamburger Dom (www.hamburger-dom.de), held in