Turn right out of the Rathaus, onto Börsenbrücke, cross Trostbrücke to the left and stay right on Ost-West-Strasse. Deichstrasse is about 5 blocks from the Rathaus.
Points of Interest
On Börsenbrücke you will see the Hamburg Borse and the Patriotische Gesellschaft.Behind the building to the right there is the bridge Trostbrücke with the statues of Graf Adolf III and Bishop Ansgar on either sides.
Cross Trostbrücke to visit the ruins of St. Nikolai Church which was destroyed by the fire in 1842 and reconstructed in 1874 only to be destroyed again in World War II. It is now an Anti-War Memorial. Next to St.Nikolai there is the hop market ("Hopfenmarkt") with its fountain Vierländerinbrunnen.
Following the bridge over Ost-West-Straße and keeping right takes you into the Deichstrasse with its traditional half timbered merchant houses and the canal Nicolai Fleet at the rear. The oldest street in Hamburg was home to the original Hamburg Harbor. The Great Fire of 1842 started in Deichstrasse 42 and spread north, devastating most of the city. There are some lovely German restaurants here so if you have managed to hold off on eating, stop in at any one of them and enjoy a traditional German meal.
Today Deichstrasse and Peterstrasse are of great historical interest. 39 Peterstrasse is the baroque facade of the Bevlingstift complex erected in 1700 and 27 Peterstrasse (constructed in 1780) is the oldest warehouse of its kind in Hamburg.