Meet the author Malte Brenneisen in Hamburg

Malte Brenneisen

Malte studied Journalism in Bielefeld and worked in Hamburg as a freelancer for the Financial Times Deutschland, GEO WALDEN and Spiegel Online. In 2013 he founded Die Brueder Publishing, together with family and friends. They now develop and create media for companies as well as their own magazines and events, such as Indiecon – the Independent Publishing Festival in the creative district Oberhafen. Malte has lived in different neighbourhoods in Hamburg for more than ten years, making him the perfect author for The 500 Hidden Secrets of Hamburg. He loves to explore different parts of Hamburg and its metropolitan region with his old VW minibus ‘Kotten’. You can follow Malte on Instagram. Photo by Martin Sinn.

"Hamburg is a beautiful city but also a bit rough, it’s weird but also welcoming."

What Malte loves most about Hamburg

The unique mix of contrasts has something to do with it for sure: on the one hand, Hamburg has that urban sparkle, on the other hand, it has the natural beauty of the beaches along the Elbe River and the verdant banks of the Alster. It’s a beautiful city but also a bit rough, it’s weird but also welcoming. But the most important explanation as to why Hamburg is such a liveable city, are the people who call Hamburg their home. Like Evelyn Subbert, who runs a seamen’s pub on the Elbchaussee. Or Marco Antonio Reyes Loredo, who you’ll probably run into when you visit the arts and culture centre Zinnwerke on the river island of Wilhelmsburg. These locals have devoted themselves to their vision of an even more diverse, welcoming and warm city, and in doing so they’ve created wonderful places of encounter. My guide is an ode to these authentic gems.

Hamburg - Standard exterior
Standard in St. Pauli

Malte's perfect day in the city might look like this

On a perfect day off, I wake up in my VW campervan Kotten at the ElbeCamp campsite, make coffee and go for an early walk with my family and my dog ​Mücke along the Wittenberger Ufer beach. At lunchtime I meet up with friends at the Hobenköök, in the creative quarter Oberhafen - and eat a fish bun with precious ingredients from the region. In the afternoon I stroll through my home turf Ottensen and visit some local retailers – or I visit a new exhibition, for example in the Deichtorhallen or in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe. The evening will end in St. Pauli where I'll probably have dinner with my wife at Krug. If we make it to the park Planten un Blomen in time, we will enjoy the water light concert at 9 pm. With a long drink at Standard, we let a perfect day come to an end.

 

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