The Alster is a shy river. It is already hiding at its source: in the forest under a richly decorated bronze plate with a mermaid on it stretching towards the Hamburg city coat of arms. In order to find the cover, which the painter Volker Meier designed in 1968 based on the model of old drain covers, you have to leave the Hanseatic city and drive to Henstedt-Ulzburg, a good ten kilometers away as the crow flies. The Alster rises there in the Rhen district – or at least this is where they agreed. It’s not really clear, in the middle of a landscape of moors and spring meadows that ultimately feed the Alster.
Hiking near Hamburg: The Alster from the source to the mouth – travel
