Hamburg is throwing a birthday party for its harbor next week, celebrating what it calls the world’s largest port festival. The menu of events celebrates the sea, the Hanseatic city and its rich maritime past.
Hafengeburtstag, to give Harbor Birthday, commemorates the city’s first formal charter in 1189, nearly 700 years after the area was first colonized by Saxons.
Among the features of the celebration will be a Tall Ship parade, and visits by various navel vessels and cruise liners. There will also be harborfront parades. Music stages, food markets, carnival rides and tours of the sailing ships will be capped with a massive Saturday night firework event.
Other May events in Germany include an International Dixieland Festival from May 11 to 18 in Dresden, followed from the 17th to the 24th by Dresden Music Festival, with a broader selection of classical, jazz and world music.
For those more tuned into tasting than listening, that’s also the dates for the Green Sauce Festival in Frankfurt, celebrating the local sauce that goes with everything. A week after that, Würzburg holds its Weindorf Wind Festival, with 100 Franconian wines from 30 vineyards on offer.
