Fischmarkt St. Pauli

The Hamburg Fischmarkt has been a Sunday-morning fixture since 1703: between 5 and 9.30 a.m. (from 5 in summer, from 7 in winter), the Große Elbstraße between Altona and St. Pauli fills with bellowing market criers, tourists, Reeperbahn stragglers heading home and long-settled Hamburgers. Just about everything is on sale: freshly landed fish and shrimps, smoked eel straight from the oven, fruit baskets ('one banana, two banana, three banana - all four!'), flowers, classic confectionery, cheese and live chickens. Three Marktschreier are particularly famous: Aal-Hannes (going strong for decades), Bananen-Werner and Käse-Olli - their routines are pure theater. In parallel, the historic Fischauktionshalle next to the Fischmarkt jetty opens its doors for the legendary 'Fischmarkt breakfast party': live bands, a live DJ, German Schlager, a breakfast buffet and beer from 6 a.m. - quite possibly the oddest Sunday-morning party in the country and a must for anyone who has just survived the Reeperbahn. Practicalities: entry is free (both market and hall). Getting there: S1/S3 Reeperbahn, then a 10-minute walk, or straight to S1/S3 Königstraße. Busy in summer, pleasantly quieter in fall and winter. For breakfast: the shrimp-roll stalls inside the hall, or the eel stalls outside. Do not turn up at Sunday lunchtime - by 10 a.m. everything is packed away.