Maritime city of contrasts: Germany's Bremerhaven

By Stephanie Lettgen Jul 6, 2010, 12:42 GMT

Bremerhaven, Germany - A fascinating view is awaiting visitors in the Sail City viewing platform in Bremerhaven. From 86 metres up, a visitor can immediately grasp what is so special about this maritime city of contrasts.

Right next to each other at the harbour stand a number of modern museums of striking architecture, sandwiched in between light towers and museum ships. Off in the distance one sees cruise ships and container vessels.

'Bremerhaven is a long, narrow hand-towel,' says tour guide Manfred Suendermann in describing the shape of the city. Then, pointing westwards towards Wilhelmshaven, the 64-year-old adds, 'and right over there is (German state) Lower Saxony.'

What also cannot be overlooked is that which has given Bremerhaven the reputation of not being a particularly attractive place.

Between such attractions as the 'Havenwelten' (harbour worlds) and the pedestrian zone there stand the tall buildings of a shopping and apartment complex from the 1970s.

And in the central part of town as well you can search in vain for some scenic side streets. For one thing, the city was nearly completely destroyed by bombing raids in World War II.

For another, Bremerhaven actually was only founded in 1827, when the city-state of Bremen purchased a plot of land from the Hanoverian kingdom in order to build its own harbour, giving the place its name Bremerhaven, or Bremen's harbour.

In the meantime, structural change has left its mark. The shipbuilding and fishing industries have lost many jobs and the population has dropped to around 115,000.

But Bremerhaven has worked hard to change its image. According to Bremerhaven Tourism Promotion office boss Volker Koelling, just in the 'Havenwelten' alone some 500 million euros (600 million dollars) in public funds have been invested over the past few years.

Last year, the city's hotels registered some 300,000 guests while 1.5 million day-visitors also came. It is scarcely possible to take in all the city's tourism highlights in just a single day. You need more than three hours alone just to calmly enjoy the 'Klimahaus Bremerhaven 8 Grad Ost' (climate house 8 degrees east).

This tourist magnet was opened in June 2009. The interactive science show invites you to take a journey along the 8th degree of longitude.

The trip includes a mountain pasture in the Swiss Alps, proceeds on to the island of Sardinia, then the Sahel zone, Cameroon in central Africa, with other points along the way including Samoa, Antarctica, Alaska, and the Wattenmeer sea not far offshore from Bremerhaven.

'The basis of the exhibition is an original expedition,' says Klimahaus spokesman Wolfgang Heumer. A team undertook a tour along the 8th degree longitude line, meeting the most greatly differing people and cultures along the way. Film clips of the team's impressions are part of the show.

But the true-to-life experience of the weather comes alive in the lavishly-built settings and in the original items together with smells and sounds. Temperature differences of more than 40 degrees let the visitor alternatively freeze or break into a sweat.

On the Swiss mountain pasture a synthetic cow stands there, ready to be milked, while in a sound studio one can try to learn how to yodel. While walking through a tropical rainforest at night you can feel the moisture drops falling from the leaves overhead.

And the emigration building is worth a visit. Since its opening five years ago, it has received more than one million visitors.

Starting in 1830, Bremerhaven was the port of departure for some seven million people setting out for the New World. On entering the museum, each visitor gets a boarding card printed with the name of one of those emigrants.

Also while taking a journey into the past, visitors should take in the German Shipping Museum (DSM). Opened in 1975, the museum presents 5,000 years of maritime shipping history. Be it a paddle-wheeler, rescue vessel or sailboat, many original ships are on display.

But Bremerhaven has more than just a lot of museums to offer. There are harbour tours and bus tours to take in the sights, while at the zoo the maritime theme continues with penguins, polar bears and seals.

And the 'Schaufenster Fischereihafen' (fishing harbour show-window) offers a variety of fish-and-seaside experiences, with numerous harbour taverns, restaurants and shops inviting you for a stroll and for something to eat and drink.