Café Johanna is located at Venus Berg, which – to my mind – is a very special street. It’s near the harbour, near the portugiesen-viertel and the michel, but at the same time it is very calm because it is a little bit off the touristic trouble. There is a pleasant neighbourhood with lots of design and architecture studios.

The interior is kind of Scandinavian-style, everything is very simple and clear. They offer some snacks, very good cakes and fantastic coffee. Last time I had a Swedish cocoa-cake which was really awesome. Prices are not that cheap but everything is organically grown (which seems to be standard in hamburg’s café meanwhile – I remember I wrote this sentence before…). I think it’s the perfect stop after a walk ’round the harbour or the Portugiesen-Viertel and a very good alternative to all this crowded Portuguese cafés in the Ditmar-Koel-Straße (which are nice as well, no question).

By the way: none of the founders of Café Johanna is called Johanna. I never asked how they came up with their name..

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Café Johanna | Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Snacks | Coffee € 3.00
Venusberg 26 | Harbour | +4915787925891
Mon – Fri 08:00 – 18:00, Sat 10:00 – 18:00

Café Panter is definitely my favorite café in the Marktstraße. It is a very relaxed place with good music and friendly service. 

You need to order at the bar where you get all usual coffee specialties and some snacks like salads, pasta, sandwiches or cake. Their food is not cheap but they use only organic ingredients. I once had a very tasty tomato-buffalo-mozzarella-salad with basil. Their pasta is simple and good as well. I warmly recommend you try their chocolate-brownies. They are so delicious, tasty, juicy! You’ve gotta try them if you like chocolate as much as I do.

We often go there for a coffee during day times or for an aperitive in the early evening as they are not open that long in the evening. Thus it is perfect for a break from your shopping tour through the Marktstraße.

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Café Panter | Bars, Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Snacks | Coffee € 2.50
Marktstraße 3 | Karoviertel | +4940436218
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 22:00, Sun 12:00 – 22:00

The early bird catches the worm: For everybody who likes to take a long walk or to jog along the Elbe river in the early morning, take a Nordic breeze here:

The big stone, erratic boulder, is the oldest and probably first immigrant of Hamburg. During the Kansan glaciation (around 400.000 years ago) or the Wolstonian Stage (around 135.000 – 200.000 years ago) it came from East-Småland in Sweden to Germany and “slept” on the ground of the Elbe river in the valley till September 17th, 1999.

When they tried to deepen the Elbe river to increase the turning circle of big container ships, the stone became a dangerous obstacle. Divers prepared the Alter Schwede with steel-nets to lift it out of the water. A massive crane singled it out of the water, shortly after it came out it suddenly fell back into the river. Only 5 days later they tried it again, with hundreds of curious onlookers – it worked!

The 217 tons Småland-granite was baptized June 6th, 2000 with Elbe water and given its name: Alter Schweder (old Swedish). Between “birth” & “baptism” are 1,7 or 1,8 million years. The measure is 19,7 meter and 4,5 meter high. For geologists it’s very interesting to see the striation of the glaciers.

In the summertime it’s a nice spot for couples to watch a bit separately the sunset or making a fire with friends.

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Der alte Schwede | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Hans-Leip-Ufer | Harbour
24 hours daily

If you wanna go for a walk and are interested in flowers, plants, trees, dessert, … at least nature! Check out the Botanical Garden in Hamburg. It’s awesome!

Even the last drizzly weekend I was there and was really impressed again. So many different flowers. Have a look in the fragrance-tactile-garden – there I found a flower that smells like chocolate. Hilarious! Small labels and big “try-it-yourself” walls inform you about plants and their smell, touch and use. Discover the Botanical Garden, through all the different theme gardens from “plants of the bible” to “evolution of the rose” through all the continents.

The blue futuristic Loki-Schmidt-Building is a museum for economic plants encouraged by the ZEIT foundation.

One of my favorite places is the dessert garden with glas pyramids (which was a present of United Arab Emirates).

Special programs: The ‘Green School’ (A joint effort by the state institute of teacher training and school development and the faculty of biology of the University of Hamburg) hand out indoor plants and test plants for cytology, as well also carnivorous plants, succulents, etc. for learning.

Relaxing excursion: The Palme – the palm, is an outside café for some chilled coffee, ice cream and lovely cake. Also you’ll get sausages and potato salad there for absolutely affordable prices. (opens from April to October at 11:00 to 19:00)

Music excursion: Every first Thursday in the month there is a concert for free!

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Botanical Garden | Art & culture, Music, Relaxing | Free
Ohnhorststraße 18 | Altona & Ottensen | +494042816476
09:00 – till 1 1/2 hour before sunset daily

We love you, we love you, we love you, and where you play we follow, we follow, we follow, ’cause we support Sankt Pauli – Sankt Pauli, Sankt Pauli, and that’s the way we like it – we like it, we like it, Ooooohhhhhh – Oooohhhhhh”

There is no big wow-effect if you come in the stadium and you won’t think: jeeesus, this is huuuuge! No, the Millerntor is simple and cult. Here I lived through cheers to black despair, from being stunned till my eyes were filled with tears. The fans are unique! The football players step in the arena supported by AC/DC‘s “Hells Bells”, the people sing and dance everywhere and show the brown and white colors of their flags.

That moment gives me goosebumps. Old-punks and alternatives, students and businessmen come together singing the same songs. Not only is the game important but also the atmosphere. Whether you come just for a beer (of course Astra €3,50) or jumping and singing with the Ultra Sankt Pauli Fans in the south stand.

If FC Sankt Pauli scores, Blur’s “Song 2″ is the song of the moment. If they lose the game, there is only one sentence in the air: “As a fan of St. Pauli you need to be suffering!” and singing goes on: Oooooooooooooolé, forza Sankt Pauli!

BTW: in summer (mid Jun-mid Aug): Movienights at Millerntor. opens:20:30, starts: 21:30 -after sunset. Prices are affordable: movie €6, Astra €3,50 & popcorn €1,50.

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Millerntor-Stadion | Art & culture, Relaxing | Entrance for the South Stand € 11.00
Auf dem Heiligengeistfeld | Sankt Pauli | +494031787451
See program

The black box with big white letters stands inconspicuously on the Altonaer Balkon (Altoner balcony) in the beautiful harbour scenery. If the sun is shining – don’t be scared, just go in and close the door behind you.

You have to wait few minutes till your eyes acclimatise to the dark. You’ll see the harbour upside down moving projected picture on a white wall.

The Camera Obscura is deemed to be the forerunner of photo cameras. Invented in times of Renaissance also know as pinhole camera. It is a camera without a lens and a single very small aperture. The smaller the hole, the sharper the projection, an upside down and right-left reversed picture.

It’s a pretty nice experience! And for free!

BTW: The current projected picture can also be seen in the foyer of the Altonaer Museum.

You could also try to take a picture (without flash) of the projection and yourself.

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Camera Obscura | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Palmaille 75 | Altona & Ottensen
Tue – Sun 10:00 – 17:00

If you’ve got itchy feet, because you haven’t traveled in a while, or if you are homesick, because you are still traveling – this is the best place to go!

Dockland is a fantastic 25m high office building (by HadiTeherani) formed like a ship, situated in the middle of the harbour with a great view from the top to the docks with all incoming and outgoing ships.

Take the HVV-ferry from Landungsbrücken to Dockland for a romantic harbour sunset. It always gives me the feeling I am at the gate of the world! No entrance fee, only a little work-out with all 140 steps up to the platform.

But after that little exercise I am always feeling like ‘Rocky’ on the top, – no matter if it is foggy or sunny, Monday or Saturday, in the morning or evening (closed in night), it is always awesome! Ohhh, itchy feet!

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Dockland | Relaxing | Free
Van-der-Smissen-Straße 9 | Harbour
Daily (except nights, closes at 23:00 and if it’s too stormy)

Behind big red walls is the most sinful street of Hamburg. Around 250 women work there, sitting in shop windows, waiting for any male walking the only 60 m street. It’s probably the most polarizing street ever.

Here the history in short: In horrible times of National Socialism there was a prohibition on stripteases and prostitution. But in St. Pauli they couldn’t eliminate the typical business. So it was only allowed in one narrow street – Herbertstraße. To let nobody see what is officially forbidden, the head of Nazi district built barriers on both ends in 1933. Since 70′s there have been big signs forbidding women and teenagers under 18 years to enter.

So that’s why I collected all quotes from male friends, after waiting for them on the other side: „Women in shop-windows flirt with me.”, „In my imagination this street was bigger.”, „Why do women do that?”, „I saw a nurse had hardly got a stitch on.”, „Clear offers everywhere.”, „This way is much shorter, than the long way around!”, „How long did you wait for me?”

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Herbertstraße | Art & culture, Relaxing
Herbertstrasse | Sankt Pauli
24 hours daily

Of course it is NO furniture store, but if you come in, you feel a bit like that. Sooooo many sofas all around.

I appreciate this place during the day, when the sun warms up the sofa you’re sitting on while drinking milk coffee. When the sun goes down, the as-hip-as-you-can-be people come from work (the wanna be’s and wanna see’s), the music gets louder and hipper and it’s hard to find a place on a sofa. Some call it an “after hours bar”, I call it an exhausting scenic bar at nighttime.

Better go there during daylight: The people are relaxed and easy-going! The amiable service have time to talk and sometimes to sit for a while with you, and the music fits the situation – call or better write a letter to an old friend, it’s the right time and place for that!

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Zoë 2 | Bars, Coffee & tea, Relaxing | Beer € 2.00
Neuer Pferdemarkt 17 | Schanze
From 10:00 daily

“Dear Zoë,

how do you feel today?

I’d like to say to you, how stunning you are. You are perfect to meet friends or strangers or both and it’s like they already know each other. Always you welcomed me with open arms, no matter if I was stressed out or absolutely relaxed, there was a place for me and a smile on your face.Your drinks are cheap and groovy. Your cosy couches and the yellow-red lamp shades in the back rooms are reminiscent of my grandmother´s warm living room. About the secrets and mystics in your vault, we have to talk next time once more. The rooms are a bit shabby and rustic – but it’s honest! Let’s face it: You are the real Zoë, the authentic Zoë!

All my Love, Kyra.

PS: By the way: good choice to provide rooms with movies like “Gegen die Wand” or “Absolute Giganten“.

PSPS: I was seriously pissed seeing that you raised all prices all of a sudden without even talking to anyone. You’re on the same level as all the other places now. Please tell me why!”

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Zoë Bar | Bars, Cinemas, Coffee & tea, Relaxing | redwine € 2.60
Clemens-Schultz-Str. 96 | Sankt Pauli | +494031792323
Thu – Sat from 20:00