The origins of the city of Hamburg lie on the banks of the Alster and not on the greater Elbe river which is one of Europe's major waterways. The city's name is a derivation from the Old Saxon word "ham" which means riverbank and it formed the old name of "Hammaburg" which literally meant castle or fortification on the riverbank. Supposedly there existed already in the 7th and 8th centuries a Saxon castle just south of Saint-Peter's cathedral on what today is Domplatz, cathedral square. The area of Hamburg's first castle is now a parking lot and the name Domplatz is named after a temple, Saint-Mary's, which is no longer extant. The Alster is really just a creek measuring 56 kms and was dammed up in 1235. This phenomenon created a lake named after the creek: The Alster. It is divided into two parts, the Binnenalster (inner Alster) directly in the city center, and the Aussenalster (outer Alster) surrounded by the districts St-Georg, Hohenfelde, Uhlenhorts, Winterhude, Harvestehude, Rotherbaum and the inner city as well. The parks along the Alster are ideal places for barbecues, pick-nicks, kicking a football around with friends or playing frisbee; but the most popular activity by far is jogging around the outer Alster's 7.4 kms stretch with stunning postcard views of the ancient Hanseatic metropolis, Germany's second largest city after the nation's capital Berlin.
