Blankenese hangs on a steep hillside above the Elbe, and for a city as flat as Hamburg it comes as a surprise. This was once a fishing village, separate from the city until the 1930s, and the old part still has the look of a place that grew up by itself, with narrow, winding lanes, tiny houses clinging to the slope and a network of stairways, said to number in the dozens and to contain thousands of steps, linking them. Captains and pilots lived here, and their houses have views over the river that were once a working necessity and are now a luxury.
The Elbe is wide at this point, almost a mile of grey-green water, and the commercial heart of the port is just upriver. Container ships, bulk carriers and cruise liners pass close inshore, and from the beach at the foot of the hill you can sit on the sand and watch them slide by, with the great engines throbbing and the flags of the world fluttering. Further downstream at Wedel, a ship-greeting station called Willkomm-Höft plays the national anthem of each passing foreign ship, a tradition that dates to the 1950s.
For a rider arriving to finish the day, the approach is by way of the Elbchaussee, a long, tree-lined road above the river, lined with old merchant villas, and then down into the village by narrow, steep lanes. The final streets are cobbled, tight and usually busy with walkers, so go slowly, and park near the station. In spring, the fruit orchards of the Altes Land across the water bloom white and pink, and in autumn the light on the river is soft and golden.
Fuel is available in Hamburg's western suburbs and on the main roads, and the village has cafés, fish restaurants and bakeries. The evening is the best time, when the lights of the ships glow on the river and the hillside lamps flicker on.