Hamburg Fish Market – It’s not just about the fish

// My trip to Hamburg was sponsored by Hamburg Toursim. However, it was my own idea to go and visit the fish market. //

Sunday morning last week, I got up really early to visit Fischmarkt, the fish market in Hamburg. It was a dark and rainy morning, so I didn’t expect it to be very busy. I mean, who gets up at 7 am on a Sunday to buy fish?
I’ll be honest and tell you that I didn’t do much research before visiting the Fish Market. If I had done that, I would probably have realized that Hamburg Fish Market isn’t really about the fish.

Instead, I spent the first hour walking around, wondering where the auctions took place, and where to get that sushi breakfast, I had promised my taste buds in return for getting up so early. My hopes were up, when I saw a big red building which looked like an auction house, but when I stepped inside, all I found were happy Germans drinking beer.

There were some fish mongers among the many stalls, but they were largely outnumbered by vendors selling other things such as fresh produce, candy and baked good, not to mention the flea market-style booths selling everything you could possibly need, along with some other things, you’ll never need, but which you’ll buy anyway, because it’s 7 in the morning and you’ve been partying at nearby Reeperbahn (the Hamburg party/red light district) all night.

As a matter of fact, the Reeperbahn crowd made up quite a large fraction of the visitors. A qualified guess would be that as much as 50% of the market-goers that Sunday were actually party-goers, dropping by the Fish Market on their way back from a night out.

Now don’t get me wrong. In spite of the fish-wise shortcomings, I really liked the friendly vibe of the market. Just the fact that you can get a beer and a fish sandwich at 7 o’clock (5 o’clock in the summer) in the morning each Sunday, all year round is quite amazing, and reason enough for me to love that place.

My Hamburg Blog