Hamburg - Elbe Tunnel and the Bunker

We took a walk under the Elbe River! 

The Old Elbe Tunnel runs for 426 metres beneath the river, with the tunnel floor about 24 metres below the surface. Thankfully, I wasn't thinking about how much water was on top of us as we went through it! 

The tunnel first opened in 1911, built to provide a much-needed connection between the city and the busy harbour on the south side of the Elbe. It is has had plenty of upgrades and improvements since then, but the original structure is still very much part of the experience. 

Today, the tunnel is open to pedestrians and cyclists. Vehicles used to use it too but that is no longer the case with the building of more bridges. 

Getting down to the tunnel was, for me, more interesting than the tunnel itself. At either end, you can take one of several elevators or the stairs. These aren't just ordinary stairwells. The staircases are beautiful structures that zigzag back and forth down the shaft. I counted 132 steps. There is also some detailed woodwork around the outside of the shaft. 

The elevators are equally impressive. They are enormous because they were originally designed to carry vehicles down into and back out of the tunnel. These days they carry pedestrians (I'm sure mostly tourists like us) but also lots of bicycle commuters. 

Once you're down at tunnel level, the two parallel tunnels stretch ahead beneath the river. The walls are lined with information about the tunnel's original construction, the engineering challenges involved, and the many projects and improvements that have taken place over the years. 

There are some fun decorative details. Set into the walls are ceramic plaques depicting creatures associated with the Elbe such as fish, rats, crabs and other animals or sea life. 

I would have liked to spend more time reading the information panels and learning more about how the tunnel was constructed but the kids were moving through the tunnel at considerably greater speed than the adults! So I took quick photos of the information to read later but took some time to admire the architecture. 

The tunnel has appeared in several movies, a music video, and is often used for art exhibitions and musical concerts. Perhaps most surprisingly, it hosts a marathon! Participants in the Hamburg Tunnel Marathon run 48 laps of the two parallel tunnels to reach the full marathon distance. 

Once we emerged on the other side of the river, we had great views of the Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall, St. Michael's Church and many other distinctive buildings as well a boats moving along the Elbe. 

After heading back through the tunnel, we headed to the Hamburg Bunker, a massive concrete World War II air-raid shelter and flak tower. It was built in 1942, the walls are up to 3.8 m thick and thousands of people could shelter inside during air raids. 

Today, the bunker houses a hotel, cultural space and urban garden. It's been added on at the top and is now 58 m high and covered with greenery, including thousands of trees, shrubs and other plants. 

We climbed the stairs that wind around and around the outside of the building, gradually making our way to the top. The main thing that kept the kids going was the promise of a playground somewhere along the way. Sadly, that never materialized! Thankfully, there was a big open green space on the roof where they could run around for a while. 

We stopped at one of the coffee shops part way down for drinks and pastries which was a very welcome break after all those stairs! 

The views from all around the bunker were fantastic, giving us yet another perspective of Hamburg. It was all a very interesting and historic way to spend the day!