Here comes the third instalment of the journey through Germany and my final stop in this brilliant country before I then move into Belgium for my first hardstyle and hardcore festival, The Qontinent. An event I was both very excited about but equally as apprehensive as to whether I would survive a full weekend of the harder styles of dance music. You’ll have to wait and see though. First there’s Cologne to complete! Sitting on the River Rhine, it’s a place famous for its cathedral but also plays host to a plethora of older buildings mixed in amongst the modernisation of their city as it’s been rebuilt. Another thing the city is known for, like others such as Paris, is the love lock tradition, hosted at the Hohenzollern Bridge, where many a couple will put their love lock on it and throw the key into the river.
Before we get into the main body of the blog though, if you haven’t caught up on the trip so far, there was the first stop in capital, Berlin, followed by a few days in Heidelberg, so make sure you don’t miss out on those two to get up to speed with what’s been going on.
Up to date? Then without further ado, let’s get into it! Here’s Cologne:
Why I Headed To Cologne
As I was further heading west through Germany towards my festival in Belgium, there were a couple of places that stood out for me to visit, these being Frankfurt and Cologne. From the title of this part of the blog, I’ll give you a guess as to where I was heading. As to what brought me here was a mixture again, with another friend met out on my travels living here, whilst being drawn by the fact it is a well visited location for its landmarks such as it’s cathedral and bridge. With all this considered, I just wanted to check it out!
My Thoughts On Cologne
Cologne is becoming a modern, exciting city with plenty of newer, contemporary real estate being built but at the same time, it embraces the buildings of its past by integrating them into those of the modern era. It is a place that has something for everyone. If you are wanting to go there to visit a popular, contemporary city, then it’s certainly the place for you to go from what I saw whereas if you’re wanting history, there’s plenty to delve into with the building scattered around the city. If culture is what you’re wanting, there’s literally hundreds of museums and galleries for you to get lost in. A fan of just landmarks, then there’s nothing better than the cathedral and the titles it holds. Finally, if you’re thinking of somewhere romantic to go with your partner and “lock in” your love with a padlock on the bridge, Cologne is a serious contender.
A city with lots to offer a traveller, not that I made the most of it myself, giving you a very satisfying experience on all fronts. So please use this blog as inspiration on what to do but also a lesson learnt on making the most of the opportunities presented when in new and exciting cities.
Recommended?
Though I’ve been quite open about my time in Cologne maybe not being the most satisfying for me, I wholly put that down to me and how I went about it there. I would recommend a trip to this city as it does have a lot to offer. Whether you want to get out and shop until you drop, learn about it’s histoy and how the city has been majorly rebuilt, or there’s the option of the landmarks highlighted above. I’m sure if you ask anyone else who’s been here then they’d be able to give you a more in-depth analysis of the place.
I do however intend to return in the future, for one reason or another, so when that happens, I’ll come back with either an update or a new blog that will (hopefully) blow you away!
Day 5 – Wednesday
One thing that I noticed whilst in Germany is that their trains are brilliant. Being quick, efficient and comfortable, I had no complaints at all about them. Two trains with a short but sweet stop in Frankfurt, a couple of hours later passed and I had arrived in Cologne, stepping out of the train station into the early afternoon sun, ready to explore. Accompanied by my large bag, the first port of call was to head to the hostel and check in.
My hostel of choice was the Cologne Downtown Hostel, based right in the middle of the city centre (I guess the clue is in the title) and was conveniently a short walk of 10 minutes away from the station. A highly rated hostel on Hostelworld naturally drew me to here and was reasonably priced for my stay of two nights here, at just €50. This got me a clean, modern hostel featuring all the expected facilities on offer. A big open plan common room with the addition of a piano and guitar, accompanied by a terrace overlooking the cathedral, a modern and open plan kitchen and dining area, and comfy dorms with snug bedding and a decent amount of storage space for your valuables. However, again I was left living out of my bag that was tucked away under my buck bed.
Overall, it was a good hostel that was on the slightly pricy compared to what you usually pay but you got what you paid for in the additional comfort compared to other places that I’ve stayed so would be a recommendation if that’s what you’re looking for. The only downside I found with this hostel was the atmosphere of it. I don’t know if I caught it at the wrong time but it seemed that no one was there! Apart seeing very few people in passing when moving round the hostel, the only person that I really met during my time there was one of the roommates who downloaded their life problems on me and from what I saw, anyone else they came across without allowing any real input. You certainly all kinds of characters in hostels but hopefully things worked out for them in the end!
Once I was checked into the hostel and managed to freshen up after carrying around my bag in the sun, I headed to the reception to see what they would recommend doing in Cologne for that afternoon. Helpfully, they had a map of the city with all the well known landmarks highlighted on it, as you can see to the right. So my plan for that afternoon and early evening was to plot a little route between these landmarks and then get out and explore Cologne.
What I found when I headed out was a relatively new and contemporary city that is built around the older buildings of yesteryears, incorporating them into the new build to embrace its history. Since leaving and doing a little research as I wrote this blog, I found out that this was due to the fact a lot of the city was destroyed during World War Two. During this walk around, I made an effort to pop into my friend’s shop to surprise them, which they really appreciated to have a quick chat on any recommendations of what to look at that evening before I went on my way.
I managed to find a few good photography spots in the setting sun, with one of my highlights being some artistic photos on the bridge, using the love locks attached to the railings. Another one was the shot from the other side of the River Rhine, with the summer sunset being the backdrop behind the city skyline, with everything being dwarfed by the silhouette of the cathedral. With plenty seen and ticked off my self made guided tour, it was time for some dinner and head back to hostel to see what I could come up with for the evening plan.
I wasn’t exactly expecting a crazy night out like I had in Berlin but to at last meet a few people and possibly have drinks in the hostel or in the local area. However, I was pretty shocked though when I entered the common room and found next to no one! I’d never known this to be the case in a hostel before, there’s always someone around to bump into. This ultimately left me pretty stumped on what I was going to do with my evening!
My Plan B ended up being me heading to the gym to let off some steam and catch up on the sessions that I’d missed since I’d started this trip. Facing the issue of not having a gym membership to any of the local gyms, I managed to find myself an app where you can buy gym passes for only a day, if they aren’t already offered by the gym you’re looking at. The app that I used was called Payasugym but it now comes under a new name of Hussle. My experience of using the app was simple. I simply logged in, searched for gyms near my location in Cologne and bought a pass, just like that! It gives you the prices, what facilities are on offer there and any other pertinent information you’d need prior to your session. Since it’s first use in Cologne, I’ve been able to use it few other times in the UK and other countries when I’m going from city to city. Certainly a useful and helpful app to have if you’re looking to train whilst you’re away, even more so in nations where you can’t read the language!
Day 6 – Thursday
My only full day in Cologne and it was time to make the most of it! My plan for the day was for me to continue with my walking tour that I designed for myself based on the map that I had from the hostel to go out and see the all the sights on offer, picking up where I left off from the day before. As for the evening, I was going to rendezvous with before-mentioned friend based here to have a catch up since the last time we saw each other at the festival we met at. When I sit and reflect, it’s crazy the amount of people I’ve met from my adventures and the network of great people I know around the world. It definitely shows you can meet some brilliant people and long term friends away from home.
One of the biggest landmarks and one of things that it is famous for in Cologne is the cathedral and this was definitely my highlight from that day. Standing at 157m, it is the tallest twin-spired church in the world and boasts the largest façade of any church in the world. What a few accolades if you ask me! As a building, it clearly stands out amongst the rest of the city surrounding it in spectacular fashion and that’s just from afar. Once you’re up close and personal, you’re simply dwarfed by this intricately designed cathedral, as shown by the stonework around it. It’s truly amazing and you can see why it took so long to build.
From here, the only way was up! You can climb the South Tower up to around the 100m mark for just €3 but you face the challenge of 533 steps between you and that point, if you’re up to the task. I won’t deny it, it can be a bit of a leg and lung burner! From here you can see Cologne stretch out in several directions from the various viewpoints, though unfortunately a murky day in Germany didn’t allow me to see it in all its glory.
Whilst up here, you can get an insight into the size and scale of this building when you reflect upon other landmarks around you, the streets below and continued attention to detail of the stonework all the way up here. Then you remember you’re not even two-thirds of the way up! You can additionally feast your eyes on the world’s largest free swinging bell at 24 tonnes! What was I saying about accolades this cathedral holds?
One thing that I’ve noticed writing about this part of my journey, I didn’t make the most of my time in Cologne at all and you may have picked up on it a few times that I’ve disappointed in how I’d travelled up to this point in my life. Don’t get me wrong, this didn’t stop me having a great time but as I’ve got more and more trips under my belt, I’ve learnt what I truly enjoy from travelling and what I want to gain from it, influencing future escapades. This does also mean I have a valid excuse to have to revisit some of these places and do it properly next time.
As to what I’d want to do should I revisit the city, the first couple of things that I would check out would be the free walking tour that they offer here, as I’ve heard from others that it is definitely worthwhile and would allow me to find out more about this place. The other thing that I would check out would be bar crawl here, giving me the full experience about the nightlife on offer. Other things on my list of things to do next time would to actually go and see the Shrine of The Three Kings, rather than just only walk into the entrance of the cathedral and be sure to check out the greener areas in and around the city. I think this would definitely give me a more complete insight into the place and fulfilled experience.
The evening’s entertainment, as mentioned before, was to meet up with my friend living in Cologne, head over to their apartment in the south part of the city and just catch up on what’s been going in each other’s lives. Looking back, it could have been an opportunity to head out and see what the city has to offer for nightlife, especially with a local knowing the best places but alas, it wasn’t to be.
Day 7 – Friday
The activities of Friday in Cologne were very much like that of the last day in other cities that I’d been to: get breakfast; get packed up; get to the train station and head off to the next location. It was a short but sweet trip to Cologne that had some great highlights included in it however, maybe not quite made the most of it which, looking back, is a regret but also a lesson for the future. Hopefully this is not only a lesson for me though but a lesson that you can take forward with your travelling.
Next I was heading to Wachtebeke, Belgium for my first hardstyle festival, The Qontinent, before continuing my travels north into The Netherlands, with visits to Rotterdam and Amsterdam. If you want to continue the journey with me, finding about what went down there and how one activity in Amsterdam changed my travelling forever, you’ll have to wait until the next releases of Quilty Covers. To be one of the first to know when this is released, hit follow on my Instagram link below, with the bonus of seeing what I’m up to in the present day, or like the Facebook page, also found below.
