It's early Sunday morning in Germany's largest port city. At the weekly fish market, early risers stroll among produce stalls while fishmongers call out bargain prices in singsong tones. But inside the historic fish auction hall, it's still Saturday night. The beer is flowing and a live band plays, soothing the clubbers who have wandered down from the gritty Reeperbahn, the nightclub strip where the Beatles played their first shows.

This is Hamburg, the "Gateway to the World,” where the maritime independent spirit has created a culture all its own…

Read the rest in the latest issue of Inside Rotterdam