Leaving Hamburg on the Elbe

The clothes are hung in the closet, the toiletries bags are distributed in the bathroom, the suitcases are stowed under the bed - and after a first welcome champagne, the ship has already been explored. Now the journey begins.

It's time to say goodbye to Hamburg! From the Elbphilharmonie to the museum harbor Övelgönne, the harbor bustle can be enjoyed one last time.

The ship has now turned her bow towards the west. The view is directed to the dockland, which is reminiscent of a ship's bow and has the shape of a parallelogram. Further along the journey, the Köhlbrand Bridge - Germany's second longest road bridge - stretches out to the left. Cyclists are only allowed to cross the Elbe here once a year, when some 180 professionals - and some 22,000 everyman and everywoman - take part in the Cyclassics in the summer. At the same time, the Elbe tunnel is crossed and the Elbe beach is passed. Not far from there, in the middle of the Elbe, a round pontoon can be seen, on which a man with dark trousers and a white shirt seems to be watching the shipping traffic. Now you can once again enjoy the magnificent panorama of Hamburg's suburbs, where the banks of the Elbe show their noble side with the noble Blankenese on the steep slope of the 75-meter-high Süllberg. Before then at the Falkensteiner bank and the nature reserve Wittenbergen is passed. The Hanseatic city of Stade in the Alte Land is about five kilometers from the banks of the Elbe. At that time Stade was even more important than its big neighbor Hamburg! Today the city charms with a brick-red old town, medieval half-timbered houses and alleys, much decorated merchant houses, maritime flair and the Hanseatic port. With the Kugelbake Cuxhaven the northernmost point of Lower Saxony and thus also the mouth from the Elbe into the Baltic Sea is reached.