One of Germany’s best cities to visit, I didn’t make it to Cologne until my second trip to the country. I started my travels here at the city’s most famous landmark, Cologne Cathedral, also known as the Kölner Dom. The cathedral is so massive that I found it difficult to get a good angle of the entire building while also avoiding the scaffolding that covered parts of it. The photo above was the best I was able to do at the time. To my surprise, Cologne Cathedral is actually one of the most visited landmarks in all of Germany!
Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248, although work stopped for centuries before the cathedral was finally completed in 1880. The inside is every bit as impressive as the exterior and makes up one of the most beautiful cathedrals I’ve ever visited. The photo above shows the enormous interior and main worship area inside the cathedral.
Not all parts of the cathedral were open to visitors. This beautiful hallway was blocked off by a large metal gate. Even though I wasn’t able to explore the area, I was at least able to stick my camera through the bars and get a photo. You can see some of the incredible architecture, from the designs in the ceiling to the details in the floor.
Aside from its history, Cologne Cathedral is also an unexpected hangout spot for people, especially teenagers. The cathedral was a good reference point for me while walking around the city, so I passed by it often. Each time I saw large groups of people hanging out on the cathedral steps. It seemed like an odd choice for teenagers to hang out, but as you can see, the steps were crowded with them.
Immediately across the street from the cathedral is the elegant Excelsior Hotel Ernst. The crosses in the windows were what originally caught my eye, especially with the cathedral sitting directly across from it.
Another prominent church in Cologne is Great St. Martin Church. Located in Cologne’s Old Town, the church traces its history back roughly a thousand years and is one of the most recognizable buildings along the city’s skyline. Its enormous tower rises above the colorful buildings surrounding it near the Rhine.
Germany is also famous for its sweets, and Cologne has a particularly strong connection to chocolate. Even when I first arrived at the Cologne train station, I was greeted by people handing out free chocolate samples. Not a bad way to arrive in a new city!
Cologne even has its own Chocolate Museum. I didn’t visit it, and now I regret it! The price seemed pretty steep at the time, and I was with a local who had already been there many times, so we decided to see other parts of the city instead. I did at least peer through some of the glass windows, where you could see actual cacao trees growing inside. The museum even has a famous chocolate fountain.
I was at least smart enough to visit the gift shop, where you can buy all the chocolate you want. Above are some of the chocolate truffles that were available. The shop was pretty large and had all kinds of other chocolate and souvenirs for sale. I ended up spending quite a bit here since it was the perfect opportunity to pick up gifts for people back home.
Surprisingly, one of my favorite places to visit was a large market in Cologne. Usually markets are something I seek out in developing countries or when there’s something culturally unique going on, like a Christmas market during the holiday season. This market was huge and seemed to have just about everything you could think of.
Vintage items like these old radios and collectibles seemed to be popular. I was surprised there was enough demand for so many of them, but I saw plenty of stands selling old radios, stamps, coins, and all kinds of similar items.
This nursery was also near the market. Germany isn’t necessarily the first place I think of when I imagine elaborate gardens, but there were plenty of beautiful plants and flowers for sale here.
One of my favorite parts of the market was the artwork. There were lots of photographs, digital art, and traditional paintings. I’ve always liked the concept of a modern city being overtaken by nature, so this image of what Cologne might look like reclaimed by a rainforest was an instant favorite of mine.
I generally like to walk as much as I can when traveling, but I used local transportation when I needed it. Cologne has an extensive public transportation system, and the photo above shows one of the underground stations I used while exploring the city.
I love walking around cities because you never know what you’ll stumble across. The medieval gatehouse above is known as Severinstorburg and was part of Cologne’s medieval city fortifications. Today the historic gate still stands within the modern city and is even used for special events such as weddings.
I passed by the ruins of this church several times while walking around Cologne. Old St. Alban was heavily damaged during World War II and, rather than being completely rebuilt, its ruins were preserved as a memorial. The site is fenced off, so you can’t simply walk through it, but from outside you can see the ruins and the sculpture known as Mourning Parents, which commemorates the human cost of war.
Near the cathedral I came across this free concert. Everything was in German, so I had no idea exactly what it was about, but I got the impression it was connected to some kind of cause or awareness campaign. The guy in the photo was giving a speech between songs. He started off calm but eventually began shouting and trying to energize the crowd. From what I could tell, he wasn’t having much success.
The Rhine River runs directly through Cologne and is a major part of the city. Sightseeing boats and river cruises travel along the Rhine, offering another way to see Cologne and its skyline from the water.
Germany is famous for foods such as bratwurst, schnitzel, and spätzle, but döner kebab has also become incredibly popular. Thanks to Germany’s large Turkish community, döner restaurants can be found all over the country. They’re so common that döner has become a major part of modern German fast-food culture.
I always find it interesting how different countries can be much stricter about certain things than the United States and completely relaxed about others. These bee-covered pastries caught my attention for exactly that reason. Back home, seeing bees crawling over food for sale would probably alarm a lot of customers, but here nobody at the bakery seemed too concerned!
Along the Rhine near the city center you’ll find some of Cologne’s most recognizable traditional architecture. These colorful buildings were some of my favorites in Germany and give this part of the city a completely different appearance from Cologne’s more modern neighborhoods.
Just behind the traditional buildings is Cologne’s busy city center. Many of the streets here are pedestrianized, making it easy to walk between the shops, restaurants, and surrounding attractions. The shopping area itself felt much more modern and had many of the same stores you’d find in other large European cities.
There are also plenty of narrow passages and alleyways throughout the downtown area. I liked walking through these much more than the main shopping streets. They were some of the places where I could still get a feeling of being in an older German city rather than a completely modern one.
While walking through one of Cologne’s neighborhoods I came across these guys playing a local throwing game. At the time I thought it might have been Klootschieten or the similar German game of Boßeln, both of which involve throwing a ball along a road or course. I wasn’t able to figure out exactly which version they were playing, but it was interesting to stumble across a traditional local game while wandering through the neighborhood.
Above is a photo of Cologne’s MediaPark, or at least part of it. I wish I had taken a better photo because MediaPark is a large modern development built around offices, businesses, residences, and public spaces. I mostly crossed through the neighborhood and continued on my way, so I didn’t take many pictures. There’s also a large lake surrounded by green space, where I came across the swan below.
These condos are also part of MediaPark. They were located toward the back of the neighborhood next to a grassy city park. As you can tell, they’re definitely modern in design, and I imagine they must be incredibly expensive to live in. I’d love to see the inside of one just out of curiosity.
One unfortunate result of World War II is that so much of Cologne’s historic architecture was destroyed. I’ve always been interested in medieval Germany, but in a heavily rebuilt city like Cologne it can sometimes be more difficult to get a feeling for that history than in parts of France or the United Kingdom. Ironically, the medieval-looking scene in the photo above was actually inside my hotel!
