Germany
Hanseatic Cities: Highlights of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen
Program No. 23867RJ
Learn about the history of German emigration as you explore the Hanseatic Cities of Northern Germany and trace your own family history with insight from local experts and genealogists.
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8 days
7 nights
13 meals
6B 4L 3D
At a Glance
In 14th-century Northern Germany, bands of merchants rallied together to establish the Hanseatic League – a collection of towns that traded resources along the coast. In the 19th century, millions of Germans passed through on their way to a new life in America, and Northern Germany is still a hotspot for immigration today. With Hamburg, the “gateway to the world,” as your home base, explore the history of German emigration through expert-led lectures and field trips to the Hanseatic Cities of Lübeck and Bremen. With plenty of time to explore on your own, visit medieval towns and memorials, sample regional cuisine and trace your own family’s history with exclusive access to the emigration database at the BallinStadt Museum.
Activity Level
Keep the Pace
Walking 2-3 miles per day, sometimes on uneven surfaces and cobblestone streets. Standing up to 2 hours at field trip sites and museums. Must be able to use public transportation and climb stairs in historic buildings.
Small Group
Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.
What You'll Learn
- Learn about Hamburg’s important role in emigration as the “gateway to the world” and research your own family’s journey at the BallinStadt Museum.
- Explore the medieval old town of Lübeck, an UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the charming cobblestone alleys of Bremen, the inspiration for a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.
- Learn about gravestone masonry at the oldest Portuguese-Sefardic Jewish cemetery in Northern Europe.
General Notes
Program includes independent time to explore the city and several meals on your own. Group Leaders will provide directions for self-directed excursions. Suggestions for free-time activities provided in preparatory materials. Give us a call to combine this learning adventure with “Berlin: Two Pasts, One Present” (#16952) for even more learning in Germany! We'll even transfer you for free between Berlin and Hamburg.
Suggested Reading List
(16 books)
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Hanseatic Cities: Highlights of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen
Program Number: 23867
Lonely Planet Pocket Hamburg
Lonely Planet's Pocket Hamburg is a colorful, easy to use and handy guide that literally fits in your pocket, providing on-the-go assistance for those seeking the best sights and experiences on a short visit or weekend away.
This house is mine
All her life Vera has felt like a stranger in the old and drafty half-timbered farmhouse she arrived at as a five-year-old refugee from East Prussia in 1945, and yet she can’t seem to let it go. Sixty years later, her niece Anne suddenly shows up at her door with her small son. Anne has fled the trendy Hamburg, Germany neighborhood she never fit into after her relationship imploded. Vera and Anne are strangers to each other but have much more in common than they think. As the two strong-willed and very different women share the great old house, they find what they have never thought to search for: a family.
Germany: Memories of a Nation
From Neil MacGregor, the author of A History of the World in 100 Objects, this is a view of Germany like no otherFor the past 140 years, Germany has been the central power in continental Europe. Twenty-five years ago a new German state came into being. How much do we really understand this new Germany, and how do its people now understand themselves?
Six Essays in Hanseatic History
The Hanseatic League was a remarkable and unique organisation in medieval Europe. It extended from Novgorod to London, Lubeck to Venice. The Wash havens of Lynn and Boston have the earliest and strongest commercial links; six experts, working from their own specialisms and viewpoints, contributed conference papers which are presented in this title.
A Companion to the Hanseatic League
The Companion to the Hanseatic League discusses the importance of the Hanseatic League for the social and economic history of pre-modern northern Europe. Established already as early as the twelfth century, the towns that formed the Hanseatic League created an important network of commerce throughout the Baltic and North Sea area. From Russia in the east, to England and France in the west, the cities of the Hanseatic League created a vast northern maritime trade network. The aim of this volume is to present a “state” of the field English-language volume by some of the most respected Hanse scholars.
The Germans of Charleston, Richmond and New Orleans during the Civil War Period, 1850-1870: A Study and Research Compendium
This work is the first monograph which closely examines the role of the German minority in the American South during the Civil War. In a comparative analysis of German civic leaders, businessmen, militia officers and blockade runners in Charleston, New Orleans and Richmond, it reveals a German immigrant population which not only largely supported slavery, but was also heavily involved in fighting the war. A detailed appendix includes an extensive survey of primary and secondary sources, including tables listing the members of the all-German units in Virginia, South Carolina and Louisiana, with names, place of origin, rank, occupation, income, and number of slaves owned. This book is a highly useful reference work for historians, military scholars and genealogists conducting research on Germans in the American Civil War and the American South.
Germany Map
A sturdy map of Germany (including the region east to Prague) at a scale of 1:700,000 with good topographic relief, roads, waterways and index.
Luebeck City Guide
This book leads you through alley-ways, walks and passageways of the old town center, shows you the beauty of the medieval North German brick stone Gothic buidlings and gives you short information about the important sights.
Forces of the Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was a commercial and defensive federation of merchant guilds based in harbour towns along the North Sea and Baltic coasts of what are now Germany and her neighbours, which eventually dominated maritime trade in Northern Europe and spread its influence much further afield. This title deals with this topic.
Germans to America: 300 Years of Immigration 1683-1983
A look at German immigration into America. Nice book for genealogy or those interested in the immigration of Germans. Lots of photos and illustrations.
The People of the Hansa
As a historical subject, the Hansa has been largely ignored. As a literary subject, it is usually a small extra, a player you recognise but need not remember. Most, if asked, would be unable to envision the Hansa. Holbein left us two pictures from the 16th century but little else has survived. It has never found itself the setting of a serious book in English literature. So this book is unique. The Hansa, a medieval association of German merchants, trade from Russia in the east to the Bay of Biscay in the west and this gives us the setting. All the historical events presented are true. The main characters are a fictionalised family of merchants who, like the Hansa, have conflicting desires and principles.
German History in Modern Times: Four Lives of the Nation
This history of German-speaking central Europe offers a very wide perspective, emphasizing a succession of many-layered communal identities. It highlights the interplay of individual, society, culture and political power, contrasting German with Western patterns.
Five Germanys I have known
The "German question" haunts the modern world: How could so civilized a nation be responsible for the greatest horror in Western history? In this unusual fusion of personal memoir and history, the celebrated scholar Fritz Stern refracts the question through the prism of his own life.
The Hanseatic League - A History of the Rise and Fall of the Hansa Towns
There is scarcely a more remarkable chapter in history than that which deals with the trading alliance or association known as the Hanseatic League. The League has long since passed away, having served its time and fulfilled its purpose. The needs and circumstances of mankind have changed, and new methods and new instruments have been devised for carrying on the commerce of the world. Yet, if the League has disappeared, the beneficial results of its action survive to Europe, though they have become so completely a part of our daily life that we accept them as matters of course, and do not stop to inquire into their origin. To us moderns it seems but natural that there should be security of intercourse between civilized nations, that highways should be free from robbers, and the ocean from pirates.
Bremen Compact
This city guide offers you 5 walking tours through Bremen, short historical information about this beautiful Northern city and further tips for restaurants, coffee shops and museums.
Buddenbrooks: decline of a family
First published in 1900, when Thomas Mann was 25, Buddenbrooks is a minutely imagined chronicle of four generations of a North German mercantile family - a work so true to life that it scandalized the author's former neighbors in his native Lübeck.
As he charts the Buddenbrooks' decline from prosperity to bankruptcy, from moral and psychic soundness to sickly piety, artistic decadence and madness, Mann ushers the reader into a world of rich vitality, pieced together from births and funerals, weddings and divorces, recipes, gossip and earthy humor. It is perhaps the first great family saga of modern literature, and it brought to public notice a writer of world stature who, three decades later, was to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Meals
13 Meals
6 Breakfasts
4 Lunches
3 Dinners
The following choices may be available when requested in advance: Gluten Free, Vegetarian
Lodging
Lodgings may differ by date. Select a date to see the lodgings specific to that date.
Display
- Oct 11, 2025 - Oct 18, 2025
- May 10, 2025 - May 17, 2025
- Jun 14, 2025 - Jun 21, 2025
- Sep 13, 2025 - Sep 20, 2025
- Oct 11, 2025 - Oct 18, 2025
6 nights
Hamburg
The Madison Hotel Hamburg with its 166 rooms is ideally situated between Elbphilharmonie, Speicherstadt and the city, just below the town's emblem – St. Michaelis church. From our hotel, you can reach all places of interest on foot and explore Hamburg. We provide excellent transport connections to the highways as well as to the public transport. All of our rooms and suites are at least 35 m² large and offer, amongst other things, a spacious working area with modern technology and a large and comfortable bed with a high-quality mattress. A spacious bathroom and a fully equipped kitchenette with refrigerator await you in your air-conditioned room. Our Marley’s restaurant presents a wide range of international dishes. The breakfast buffet is served from 06:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and on Weekends and holidays even until noon. Directly in the house, there is the 3,500 m² Meridian Spa fitness & wellness oasis. Our guests can use the Meridian Spa free of charge from monday-thursday until noon.
6 nights
Hamburg
The Madison Hotel Hamburg with its 166 rooms is ideally situated between Elbphilharmonie, Speicherstadt and the city, just below the town's emblem – St. Michaelis church. From our hotel, you can reach all places of interest on foot and explore Hamburg. We provide excellent transport connections to the highways as well as to the public transport. All of our rooms and suites are at least 35 m² large and offer, amongst other things, a spacious working area with modern technology and a large and comfortable bed with a high-quality mattress. A spacious bathroom and a fully equipped kitchenette with refrigerator await you in your air-conditioned room. Our Marley’s restaurant presents a wide range of international dishes. The breakfast buffet is served from 06:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and on Weekends and holidays even until noon. Directly in the house, there is the 3,500 m² Meridian Spa fitness & wellness oasis. Our guests can use the Meridian Spa free of charge from monday-thursday until noon.
6 nights
Hamburg
The Madison Hotel Hamburg with its 166 rooms is ideally situated between Elbphilharmonie, Speicherstadt and the city, just below the town's emblem – St. Michaelis church. From our hotel, you can reach all places of interest on foot and explore Hamburg. We provide excellent transport connections to the highways as well as to the public transport. All of our rooms and suites are at least 35 m² large and offer, amongst other things, a spacious working area with modern technology and a large and comfortable bed with a high-quality mattress. A spacious bathroom and a fully equipped kitchenette with refrigerator await you in your air-conditioned room. Our Marley’s restaurant presents a wide range of international dishes. The breakfast buffet is served from 06:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and on Weekends and holidays even until noon. Directly in the house, there is the 3,500 m² Meridian Spa fitness & wellness oasis. Our guests can use the Meridian Spa free of charge from monday-thursday until noon.
6 nights
Hamburg
The Madison Hotel Hamburg with its 166 rooms is ideally situated between Elbphilharmonie, Speicherstadt and the city, just below the town's emblem – St. Michaelis church. From our hotel, you can reach all places of interest on foot and explore Hamburg. We provide excellent transport connections to the highways as well as to the public transport. All of our rooms and suites are at least 35 m² large and offer, amongst other things, a spacious working area with modern technology and a large and comfortable bed with a high-quality mattress. A spacious bathroom and a fully equipped kitchenette with refrigerator await you in your air-conditioned room. Our Marley’s restaurant presents a wide range of international dishes. The breakfast buffet is served from 06:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and on Weekends and holidays even until noon. Directly in the house, there is the 3,500 m² Meridian Spa fitness & wellness oasis. Our guests can use the Meridian Spa free of charge from monday-thursday until noon.
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