… and what I went through to take it.

I mean all that literally, by the way.

You see, all the photos I’ve posted of the harbor/waterfront area in Hamburg were taken from St. Pauli Landing Stages, which is where the bulk of the tourist action is.

However, the Old Elbe Tunnel, which was built in 1911,  runs 1400 feet (425 meters) underneath the harbor to provide a passageway below the water to get to the other side.  There are actually 2 parts to the tunnel, called “tubes”.  One tube is currently under renovation, so only the other one is open at the moment. There are different elevators for moving cars and people down to the tunnel.  Currently cars are only allowed across on weekends, and since I went across mid-week, there were only  pedestrians and bicyclists accompanying me. However, I found this video that shows a person in a car taking the car elevator down and crossing through the tunnel with people walking on either side of them. And in this other video that Chris found (thanks, Chris!), you can see how the car fits into the tunnel as it drives along.

Personally, I’m just as glad that there were no cars driving through when I was there – it would have been a tight fit, IMHO. With no cars around, though, the tunnel seemed fairly light and airy, at least as tunnels go.  The walls of the tunnel are decorated with ceramic tiles, some of which are patterned – I’ve included a few detail shots in the gallery below.

Anyway, when you’ve walked the length from one end of the tunnel to the other you emerge on an island across the harbor, where you’re treated to a panoramic look back at Hamburg. A local recommended it me for the photographic potential, which is why I went in the first place.

So now you see what I mean about the things I have to go through for a photo-op for the blog. You’re welcome. 😉

P.S. To open the panorama photo up in a separate window in your browser in a way to make it larger, click here, and then click again on the image in the separate window that will open up with it.