[Hamburg] Hafen City

I had added this as a section in my post about the Blue Port and Hamburg Cruise Days but decided this could be separated because the port itself has a story to be told.  I've been on tours that take us in and around the port and it is really something else.  While my sister was visiting us over the summer, we went with my German class on a little field trip and visited Hafencity.

 

Read on to find out more about this little 'city' within Hamburg.

HafenCity was declared to be a separate district on March 1, 2008. 

In the 1990's Hamburg had become a place with enormous potential, there was a chance to transform the edges of the port around the city center. Henning Voscherau, the city’s former first mayor, began this in 1991.

Keeping this a secret gave Hamburg a huge potential for development. Only a handful of people were in on this project, this helped prevent the cost going up as well as resistance to the acquisition of buildings or companies.

- Work began in 2003 and since then they've only built half of what's in the master plan.

- It is considered "the largest building site" in Europe, you can find shipyards, docks, terminals and ships from around the world. 

- The Port of Hamburg has shaped the development of the Hanseatic city. It is just as much as part of Hamburg as the Elbe, Alster and Jungfernstieg.

At the Hamburg information center

Although... new life has arrived in HafenCity. Here you can find cafes, restaurants, office and apartment buildings and a University  The most interesting construction project in HafenCity has to be the Elbphilharmonie. A concert house they are building to represent Hamburg like the Sydney Opera house represents Australia, Well, that's what I've heard they were aiming for when they started with the project, we'll see how it goes.

Although for various reasons it is not yet completed, the current view is already impressive enough.

Here are some more pictures from the day I was there with my German class:

There was a Ferris wheel at the edge of Hafencity (near the University). My sister, me and a friend from class were the only ones that went up

After our ride it was nearly one so we had to get back to Harburg, but not before a group picture.

Linking up with Travel Tuesday.

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