What to do in Cologne!!!!!

So last week I told you all about the River Cruise conference I went to, However whilst at the Convention we had a free day and a great time exploring everything Cologne had to offer.  Unfortunately we were a week to early for seeing the Christmas Markets but they looked lovely, we saw them being set up with a prime position in the centre of the city and also close the River front by the Chocolate Musuem.

On arriving at the Marriott Cologne hotel our rooms weren’t quite ready so they provided a room for our luggage leaving us free to enjoy the day in the city . From our hotel we wandered down the banks of the River Rhine which was only a few minutes walk, from there we could hardly miss the main focus point of this beautiful city, Cologne Cathedral.

This Gothic Roman Catholic church, known as  “Kölner Dom”   which officially opened in 1880 although the original building of this started in 1248,  is a true architectural masterpiece. We stood for ages in amazement at the details that covered every part of it. The Cathedral welcomes around 20,000 people day, entrance is free of charge and inside is just a impressive as the outside.

In the square immediately outside the cathedral apart from the Xmas Markets there were various street performers some very good, some a little scary but all entertaining.

Whilst we strolled through the city we found ourselves on the Bridge over the Rhine. On the top of this your couldn’t miss a sea of colour on the fence of the bridge. This colour was thousands of little metal locks. Each of the had couples names or initials on them some very simply some had obviously a lot of thought put in to them with inscriptions engraved.  When we meet with our tour guide that evening he told us these are the “Locks of love” and there were around 70,000 attached to the bridge. He went on to explain the couples in love go up to the bridge to attach their lock then throw the key into the Rhine to prevent their love to be unlocked. It is thought that the romantic custom originated in Italy

 As we had some time to fill before we meet with the rest of our party, we decided to see Cologne the best way we could think of on a  city trolley. The 45 min tour of the city cost just 6 euros and showed us all the nooks and crannys of Cologne.

I mentioned earlier the chocolate museum. On the first evening we arrive we were very fortunate to meet our hosts for the night Jessica and Angela from APT, and first on their agenda was a escorted tour of the Lindt chocolate museum in Rheinauhafen this is directly in front of the old town close to Cologne Cathedral.  The unique museum presents diverse history and present of cocoa and chocolate. As a self professed chocoholic you can imagine how much I loved seeing this fascinating place. We were shown the history behind chocolate. For more haxenthan 160 years, Lindt has been a leader and pioneer in the premium chocolate industry and mastered the art of gourmet chocolate making. Our tour guide took us into the factory to show us how the Lindt chocolate was made and shaped and even to my delight got to sample some. As we left there was a Lindt hot chocolate coffee bar and souvenir shop which was so reasonable in price and had some lovely gifts I was able to bring back for my children.

From here the APT girls treated us to authentic German night out starting with dinner at the oldest restaurant in Cologne The Haxenhaus.

This restaurant to me resembles a Viking bar, the menu typically rustic food and some very surly staff, and had I been in the UK I would probably walked out but somehow their attitude fitted the theme of the venue therefore was part of the charm.

We finished of the evening in a local club with some dancing and enjoying the local hospitality and on the short walk back to our hotel we found a lovely bistro over looking the Rhine where even in the winter weather we sat outside to take in the view and the staff brought us some fleece blankets, to simply watch the world go back.

What appealed to me about the area we stay in, was that everything was close by that we enjoyed strolling from place to place simply taking in the atmosphere. I cant wait to go back. Maybe next time I will be able to see the Xmas markets in full swing.

If you would like to find out more about my trip? Or thinking about taking a River cruise to Cologne please feel free to contact me on 0800 408 6160 or email me directly at [email protected].