TRAVEL

Hamburger &

ShipEarly Beatles, the Reeperbahn and ah,s our favourite meat roll... this city is a riot for a short break

ch bin ein Ham- But more of that later. burger. I am a Ham- by jim murty You want me to show you Hamburg’s most famous neighbourhood, the raucous, racy, burger. No, not one of party portside district of St Pauli and its main those advertising gim- least for a couple of days, where I will learn all about the original Hamburger, the rundstück artery, the Reeperbahn? Right? Or rather you mick guys, dressed up want Iin bun, burger, lettuce warm, the best place to eat them and the Ger- Stefanie Hempel to show you. Trust me, you mans who are quite happy sharing their names and tomato padding who really do. with the world’s most famous fast food. And I Stefanie is something of an institution in St tries to get you to use his will also learn first-hand how to detect a Ham- Pauli (pronounced Sankt Powlee), with her fast-food outlet. burger if I ever suspect one might be approach- No, I am a resident of Hamburg, at ing me back home. turn to next page

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Holiday snaps by jim murty Hipsters lounge in the I’m delighted to toast Turkey on beach bar on the docks 95th birthday... from previous page travel facts Beatles Tour and ukelele. What Stefanie Why German trains HOW TO GET THERE doesn’t know about Der Fab Four and par- Jim flew to Hamburg ticularly their teenage days in Hamburg between 1960 and 1962 with Aer Lingus from €92 isn’t worth knowing. Stefanie takes our 25- always run on time round trip. Visit www.aerlin- strong party around the landmarks and They think small in Hamburg. gus.com. clubs which made men and musicians of How else would they fit so many The Beatles and belts out their songs, iconic railway journeys under the one WHERE TO STAY both on the street and in the St Pauli roof: Germany, Scandinavia, Switzer- The Reichshof Hamburg Hotel museum where she plays a six-song set. for two nights for the sample Whatever else you do on the Reeperbahn, land, Austria, Italy, America. Me. I’m waiting in a station in the dates of December 1-3 for a Mustafa Kemal and The Beatles saw plenty of that includ- Atatürk founder ing the mud wrestling which particularly Alps, well obviously not the actual twin large room from €289, intrigued a 17-year-old George Harrison, mountains, but this is certainly how Visit www.reichshof-hotel- of the Turkish you’ll not spend a better three hours in St the Lilliputians would have built them. hamburg.de. Republic Pauli than on Stefanie’s Beatles tour. And it is how twins Frederik and Gerrit Taking you back then to 1960 and The Braun and their nightclub owner part- WHAT TO DO Beatles boarded a ship with the Mersey ner Stephan Hertz conceived them. Miniatur Wunderland (www. invasion, St Pauli’s promoters keen to cash u t l u 9 5 t h mistaken for a Turk (I’m Black This is the Miniatur Wunderland which miniatur-wunderland.com). Irish) on the flight over when an air in on the American sailors’ huge appetite Hempel’s Beatles-Tour. (www.. yildönümü Tür- for rock’n’roll and save on the outlay of was opened in 2001 in Kehrweider in kiye’ye mi... and steward started a conversation having to pay out for London bands. the historic Speicherstadt or Ware- hempels-musictour.de. with me in Turkish. The Beatles were bad at the start, junk- house district of Hamburg, and I’m Elbphilharmonie (www.elb- here’s to the A day or so in to our holiday in yard bad, and had only an hour set when playing with the biggest model train philharmonie.de). next 95. Bodrum and a market trader Hamburg clubs required four, the bars set in the world, pressing all kinds of StrandPauli (www.strandpauli. MAlas, I could not take up the kind picked up our eight-year-old son invitation of His Excellency, and heir Ally and twirled him staying open through the morning. buttons to switch lights on and off. So de) Stefanie shows us the places where The Mr Leven Murat Burhan, the Turk- around on account of his name that’s 1,040 trains over 15,400m (or a Dulf’s Burger (www.dulfs- being similar to the common Turk- Beatles lived (or more accurately burger.de) ish Ambassador to Ireland existed). mile) of track, with 263,000 figures and to attend the reception for the 95th ish name Ali. the exhibits taking up around a quar- anniversary of the Republic of By the end of the holiday I felt ter of the 73,000sqft of floorspace. a gauntlet of abuse from the Turkey this week as Judy Murray one of them and even came second Over nine sections, the project is not local children as he went about was trying to teach me tennis in in a talent contest... to the belly finished yet and they aim to add on his daily chores on account of his Portugal – more later! dancer. t includes the freezing storage France and England/Scotland. wife’s philandering. This week though was all about It seems Scots/Irish dancing is room next to the cinema where their They’d call out Hummel, Hum- Turkey. popular there too. first promoter put them. She also Ireland? A few years off yet but any Of course, Turkey, while a new Turkey has thankfully recovered replica of our DART network would mel (his wife’s name which for shows us a photo of an angelic Paul some unknown reason means Republic, is one of the world’s from the terrorist atrocities in wrappedI in a Union Jack to keep warm have to come with a loudspeaker Bumblebee). And so when Ham- oldest countries dating back to Istanbul and Irish holidaymakers and John smoking a cigarette for the same announcing cancelled and late trains, burgers meet in a foreign setting 900AD. are returning in numbers. reason. the trains moving only intermittently they play out the scene by greet- And it made a huge mark on We found a sample week with Next up is the famed Hotel Pacific where while the 6pm back to Greystones, Co. ing their colleagues with ‘Hum- history and civilisation when Abbey Travel at the three-star they stayed on their last engagement in Wicklow would have all the passen- mel, Hummel’ to which they are the Ottoman Empire was in its Hotel Centro Bodrum which is only Hamburg, when they played the Star gers crammed into the carriages like met with the response Mors, pomp. 800 metres from the beach on Club. Mors and a turn of the bum. I fell in love with Turkey and the Bardakci Bay from €461pp, flying By this point The Beatles had honed sardines. Turks from the moment I set foot with the excellent Turkish their act into something that would in a Hoot, hoot!! in this enchanting and exotic Airlines. matter of months become Beatlemania. country. Call (01) 8047100 Visit www. You can still book their room at The In fact even before, having been abbeytravel.ie. Pacific to this day to stay. ust like the old water- The multi-millionaire Paul could, of carrier is supposed to OF course while we had the AND Aer Lingus too has been course, choose his pick of fancy hotels in have done in days of ski boots on last week for expanding its routes with Hamburg now such as the sumptuous yore. I spot a statue of our Seven-day Special season sunworshippers in Cork getting a Reichshof Hotel in the heart of the Jhim as we take our evening taste for travelling from their own opener there was a lot going city opposite the Hamburg Cen- amble along the portside and doorstep to Lisbon with the take the obligatory selfie, you on in winter sun. And new inaugural flight there taking off tral Station (Hbf) and only a typi- routes. Vancouver has become cally efficient train journey to St can also buy little statues of him last week. Aer Lingus is also Pauli. in any of the souvenir shops a bit of a Holy Grail for our treating Corkonians to new routes Built in 1910 as the ‘Hamburger which makes a great memento of young people over recent to Dubrovnik and Nice for Traditional Hotel’, like the rest of your Hamburg trip. years and WOW air is making it summer next year. Hamburg which took a huge hit in Our last evening we also take easier to get there, and for us the Second World War due to its on water... who are we kidding, WITH the clocks going we take on beer in a hip beach parents to get out there and industrial important to the Nazi check on them. The Icelandic back, being away et al, I’m effort, it has risen from the ashes bar on the quayside. Come again! low-fares airline will have six all over the place with the of those days. flights a week to the West Coast seasons. I rely on Aer Lingus to The Reichshof was completely Yes, the Hamburgers have developed the area next to their Canadian city with a stop-off in keep me right. It has Christmas renovated in 2015 and is now part markets to Europe’s most of the Curio Collection of Hilton Fishmarket as a beachfront and Reykjavik with fares from Hotels which is a hallmark of qual- this is where the young hipsters €129.99 commencing on June 6. festive cities from €29.99. Visit ity. It features Art Deco design (and us) go to recline in deck- 2019. Visit www.wowair.ie. www.aerlingus.com themes with the elegant pink light chairs and drink cocktails, after fixtures and marble walls and rich our hamburgers of course. It’s THERE’S no secret why the down my front. I might not have pit stop. A ship passes by bedecked in and opera glasses, the Elbphi is great value too, two burgers and KEEP volleying! Just back leather in the lobby setting the Canaries are so popular – from The Magnolia Hotel in mood of luxury. kept dignity intact but I did juicy You’ll see nautical themes all Lion King branding while I half for all the Hamburgers and the chips, three beers and a Pina medium done hamburger and its around as if you needed any expect Mary Poppins to fly by on reserves queue is part of the Colada at the St Pauli Beach guaranteed sun. Sunway offers seven Denis O’Brienland, Quinta do This being Germany too, service nights’ half-board from €899pps at the Lago in the Algarve where I was and comfort are to the fore – we egg, coleslaw and bacon filling. reminder that this is a city built on her way to the splendiferous Elb- daily ritual of city life. Club costing south of €50. You can soak it all up with beer, its shipping. So when in philarmonie, or Elbphi to the Even if you don’t have time to Some will now go on into the four-star Aqua Suites Hotel, departing put through my paces on the were given an upgrade to a deluxe November 24. Flights included. Visit room. And this being Germany too though I passed on the American Hamburg... locals, amphitheatre. take in a performance at The Reeperbahn and maybe refuel in tennis court by none other than breakfast included every possible lite stuff, I wanted an authentic I jump on a ship on an hour-long There you’ll find higher culture Elbphi it is still well worth a visit the bustling Fishmarket in the www.sunway.ie/(01) 231 1888. Judy Murray. I’ll give you a cut of meat and every cheese Pilsener in a Hamburger’s bar trip around the port through Ham- enjoyed by the great and the to the observation deck for spec- early and middle hours of the fuller account in the next few known to animal. It is no exaggeration to say that a trawl around St Pauli. rather than a Hamburger bar. burg’s renovated and historic good, among them Trump, Mer- tacular views of the waterfront morning. But as the steel of the HIT the seas... seven nights full- weeks of what’s on offer there But, of course, there is one meaty modern-day America was built on Dulf’s on Karolinenstrasse has Local brew Astra, with its anchor Warehouse district and take in the kel, May and Putin who all and it is here that our guide Jorn boats on the water glisten board Dubai, Abu Dhabi & Sir and at sports dreamworld The dish which will always be King in the immigrant German staple, the been recommended to me and it label is your only man and well views of the party ships and con- tapped feet together when the tells us how to spot a Hamburger against the twilight I feel stuck Bani Yas cruise from €659pps Campus. Two nights, Friday and Hamburg, the other truly global pork sandwich, the rundstuck doesn’t let you down, although I priced at under a fiver a pint, and cert halls across the water where G20 summit was held in Ham- on your travels. to the spot. (interior cabin). Travel December 11, Saturday from €216pps. Visit brand made in Hamburg. warm, and it is still the perfect go- might have, the juice from my the scruffy Kitty Kat bar around our favourite musicals are burg last year. The story goes that a poor Me, I’m all about the Hamburg- other dates too. Visit GoHop.ie/(01) the corner in Feldstrasse is a great playing. But it is not all stuffed shirts water-carrier back in the day ran ers and the ships! 2412389. www.magnoliahotel.com, to food to refuel, particularly after packed Farmer’s Burger drizzling Ryanair round trip from €114. [email protected] Page 14 Page 15