Germany > North Rhine-Westphalia > Cologne

Cologne

Our rating: 8.60

2011-06-08

Cologne is a major economic and cultural center, a very well known and promoted city, mainly due to its famous cathedral. The cathedral is the dominant of the city center. It is located near the railway station and is visible to all passengers passing through Cologne, as well as to people landing at the airport.

We are sure that most tourists visit Cologne because of its cathedral. Every year about six million tourists visit the famous gothic church on the Rhine. It is the most visited attraction in Germany.

Almost the entire city was destroyed during the bombings of World War II. Cologne Cathedral miraculously survived, despite a direct hit of 3 bombs. Construction of this masterpiece of Gothic architecture began in 1248 and lasted for centuries. On October 15, 1880, the construction was completed in a festive atmosphere in the presence of Kaiser Wilhelm I.

Cologne Cathedral is one of the largest churches in the world, the height of the towers is 157 meters. Upon completion it became the tallest building in the world for 4 years.

There are many other attractions in Cologne, but because of lack of time, we decided to see the Hohenzollern Bridge and go to the observation deck on other side of the river (in a skyscraper).

Cross the bridge on foot to see a huge number of "love locks". We counted the number of locks on one part of the metal fence, multiplied by the number of parts and got about 100,000 locks!

Be sure to visit the observation deck. We wanted to wait for darkness and see the cathedral with lights, but in summer the observation deck is open until 10 pm and there's still no darkness in Germany at this time.

Official website of the observation deck in Cologne
Official website of the Cologne Cathedral