I lived six months in Hamburg during the 2000s and then went over a decade before returning (note to self, October 2020 wasn’t peak time to see any city at its best, especially when it coincided with a 10pm curfew!) As a port city, the original Hanseatic city is in a constant process of renewal and reinvention and has a rhythm unlike anywhere else in Germany. It’s a city many have a fleeting knowledge of – Beatles, Reeperbahn, Christmas markets – but not one many know well.