Schanzenviertel Hamburg - neighborhood unplugged

10.6 millions of overnight guests and additionally 111 millions of daily visitors Hamburg had in 2012.

And many of them visited some of the hotspots St. Pauli, St. Georg or Schanzenviertel where they hope to find some kind of the original, immoral, nonconformist and at the same time very trendy Hamburg. 

So do I.

Whenever I visit Hamburg, Germany's cosmopolitan capital in the north of Germany,

I like to stroll through the strees of Ottensen, St. Pauli or the "Schanzenviertel".

On the one hand I find tons of photo motifs and scenes, on the other hand it's a pleasure to explore the small, unique and independent little shops, restaurants and coffee bars.

Here's one on the unique fashion shops where I bought a t-shirt:

Elternhaus.com

Elternhaus - literally translated into "family home" - but be warned - it's not the shop and the clothes you might expect because of its name ... ;-)

Outside the shop the street looks like this...

...but these items already belong to the neighbor shop, where they sell a hodgepodge of...???

...curiosities and bits and pieces!

You can even buy the model of Munich's Frauenkirche / Church of Our Lady there! ;-))

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Or artworks of international renown..!

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But what I like most as a photographer is the street art and the graffiti...

Hamburg's borough called Schanzenviertel (literally translated into: entrenchment quarter) is not an official part of the city. It's the name of an older housing area of the districts of Altona, Mitte, Eimsbüttel, St. Pauli and Rotherbaum.

Formerly known as a "problem neighborhood", the Schanzenviertel nowadays is more and more a hip and trendy neighbourhood and a cultural as well as subcultural heart of Hamburg.

I hope you liked my stroll "in the neighborhood" of Hamburg's Schanzenviertel,

although it's not the idyllic world many of you display in your blog posts.

It's neighborhood "unplugged" like you find it in many cities of our beautiful and interesting planet.