Germany’s landscapes are somewhat lacking: the coasts are very pretty, but not breathtakingly beautiful; If you want to get to know the Alps from their spectacular side, you have to go to other countries. You won’t find canyons, deserts or primeval forests in this country. On the other hand, Germany has some man-made, sensational sights: the industrial plants in the Ruhr area, the opencast mines in Upper Lusatia and in the Rhineland, the production plants of BASF in Ludwigshafen and Volkswagen in Wolfsburg, maybe also the Frankfurt Airport together with the busiest motorway junction.
The port of Hamburg is definitely one of these attractions. It is not only one of the largest ports in Europe, but also one of the most traditional. Since the times of the Hanseatic League, Hamburg was initially the most important port in Northern Europe. It has survived all historical vicissitudes – even the peripheral location in divided Europe after the Second World War and the city government’s considerations in the 1970s to build a major airport and thus set a different accent in the transport infrastructure.