The Wasserschloss restaurant in Speicherstadt in Hamburg.

Speicherstadt in Hamburg is an absolutely gorgeous piece of architecture. It’s like a ghost trade harbor. A hundred years ago, this was an extremely busy area. Nowadays it’s a mixture of offices and living quarters. But late at night, it’s a quiet area. The houses are built on wooden pillars, just like they are in Venice. In 2015, it was included as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

I arrived at Hamburg on my way home from an exhibition in Carousel du Louvre just as the sun was setting. I was tired, after the long drive alone. I had used the app from Hotels.com to book a hotel in the Speicherstadt neighborhood, and I just picked the first one, I found because I thought the price was reasonable. It seemed like a maritime hotel, from the quick look that I got in the app.

When I arrived at the hotel, it was really funky. I had to figure out if I liked it. But when I opened the door to my room, I was convinced that I had got a bargain for the night. The hotel was the 25 hours City Hafen hotel in Hamburg. Absolutely worth staying at. Just after arriving, I went out shooting photos.

–Jacob Surland