As a tour guide, I love showing the parts of my city that are related to the sea. But not just the obvious ones at the harbour but those you need to know in order to enjoy the view.

I took this picture from the Ellerntorsbrücke, an old bridge -among our thousands of bridges in the city- which dates back to 1668 in its current form. Its predecessor from 1530 was a wooden bridge and has always been part of the street which crossed Hamburg (when it was still small town). It spans the Herrengrabenfleet and closes the gap between the older part of town (Altstadt) with the newer part (Neustadt). At the Altstadt edge you find the Fleetinsel with its restaurants and art galleries.

I love to hang out and see the old storage houses from the bridge. One is the old storage from E. MICHAELIS & CO that you can see on the picture. They still exist — they started as a paper store and are now a big company related to paper and printing and still based in Hamburg, just at a different spot.