The Karolinenviertel, wedged between the Schanze and the Heiligengeistfeld, is one of the most distinctive small districts in central Hamburg — a couple of streets of late-19th-century tenements that survived the war, gentrified slowly and now hold an unusual concentration of independent designers, second-hand bookshops, vegan cafés, hat-makers and political bookshops.
Marktstrasse is the main artery, with the Rote Flora — a fiercely autonomous squatted theatre, much loved by the city's left, much complained about by the police — at its southern end. The neighbourhood backs onto Hamburg's main park, Heiligengeistfeld, which once a year fills with the giant DOM funfair (Spring, Summer and Winter editions). The S-Bahn station Sternschanze is a five-minute walk away.