Staircase Quarter – Tour through Blankenese

The picturesque stair quarter of Blankenese can look back on 700 years of history, and the mix of old and new houses can be reached on 58 stairs with almost 5000 steps. One can imagine what a high-performance sport this is for the letter carrier in wind and weather. Even the small bus of the HVV, the “Bergziege”, which runs every ten minutes, in a round trip, from the Blankeneser station through the narrow streets of the Treppenviertel via Strandweg and Waseberg back, often faces great challenges in winter. The oldest existing house is the Schubacks Haus from 1698. The fishermen who built their little houses there on the hillside had to work hard to feed their families. For the original fishing they built the “Ewer”, a sailing boat with a particularly flat bottom, later it developed into large cargo ships and in the end the container ships. In December you can find the “Ewer” as a shining official Christmas decoration in the streets and especially in a big tree in front of the church at the market place. Down at the Elbe, at the Strandweg, a lighthouse had to give way now, which belonged to the picture of the stair quarter since eternal times. For many Blankeneser a sad event. A second one is being dismantled in Baurs Park. New locations became necessary because the shipping channel from Mühlenberger Loch is being widened by more than 150 meters, thus changing the directional light line. A new lighthouse in bright red and white was installed next to the jetty “Op’n Bulln” and the second one in Hirschpark. One could write a thick book about the history and today’s Stair Quarter, there is so much to tell about this special place. You just have to take a look at it yourself.