I was happy to visit one of the largest, the 4th to be precise, cities in Germany. Cologne is known for its more than 2000-year-old history, and we, a group of four with our passion for a journey, were able to visit places from different eras. For those who also wish to do the same, here are some notes.
Day 1
We arrived in Cologne around noon on a bright Tuesday in November. The first stop was the Cologne Cathedral (aka Kölner Dom) which is the third tallest church of any kind in the world [1].
Figure 1: Cologne cathedral by Loris Paleari, Flickr
Figure 2: Cologne cathedral, 2022
The construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248, and it took more than 600 years to be finished in 1880. The cathedral's tower is 155m long, and you can climb it with 500 steps. Although the climbing was difficult, getting down was an even bigger challenge as I felt my calves hurt. We also saw the cathedral's treasury, where one can see the rings, croziers, and pectoral crosses.
The last stop for the first day was the EL-De Haus. This building, constructed by Leopold Dahmen, started its life in 1934-1935 as a residential and commercial building. However, the importance of this house comes from times when it was used as a Gestapo office and prison during the Nazi reign in Cologne [2]. This museum made a huge impression on me as the stories told are incredibly touching. When you arrive at the front desk, you can get audio guides at a reasonable price. I strongly suggest getting an audio guide there as the information you get makes everything more connected as you go on with the exhibit. If you listen to all of the recordings, the visit takes approximately 3 hours with the memorial in the basement, which, in my opinion, is absolutely worth it.
Figure 3: El-De Haus view from Appellhofplatz (2018) by Raimond Spekking
Day 2
The second day started on a good note as we made our way to the Cologne Chocolate Museum (Das Schokoladenmuseum). This museum was founded by Hans Imhoff, a passionate maker of chocolates and a famous businessman. The museum itself has a lot of interactive games, which makes it more fun to visit. Of course, at each turn, you meet with delicious surprises, from pralines to chocolate fountains.
We saw the cacao tree with the chocolate fountain and met the famous purple Milka cow. There was also a small tropical greenhouse where you could see an actual cacao tree with several other tropical plants and trees.
Figure 4: Das Schocoladenmuseum. The chocolate fountain on the left and me trying to reach a papaya tree in the small tropical greenhouse on the right
Figure 5: Das Schocoladenmuseum. The famous Milka cow from the heart of the Alps
After visiting the delicious shop of the chocolate museum, we walked to get our tickets for TimeRide. TimeRide is a guided city tour that looks at history. It has five branches across Germany currently, and one of the best of them is in Cologne. There, we watched a short movie about the historical development of Cologne in the twenties. Then, we had an interactive show in a hatter’s store. Finally, we had a virtual ride with the first electric Cologne streetcar in 1926.
Figure 6: TimeRide Go! Cologne 1926.
Figure 7: Trying out different hats at the Hatter's store
The final stop of our 2-day visit was the Farina Fragrance Museum (aka Farina House or Duftmuseum). The museum is located at the eldest fragrance factory, founded by John Maria Farina in 1709. The building has three floors where the entrance is also used as the shop. On the top floor, the guide tells you the story of the Farina family and the public opinion and customs about perfumes around the 1700s. Later, you were led to the basement where you found the orıginal bottles and the equipment used by Farina himself. Also, the guide lets you know a few interesting facts about scents and how they are mixed. This visit was especially lovely among beautiful scents and aromas.
If I were to share more practical information about this trip, I should say that we have walked everywhere, almost 25 km in total. Also, our visit for the second day started around 10 in the morning, and we visited all places until dinner time. Having very old souls in our young bodies, we have skipped the nightlife of Cologne which might have been a different world. For those who wish to walk the same distance as ours, I suggest pinning all these places on your local map.
As we conclude our trip with scents of jasmine and rose, I can happily say that the trip, in general, and the places we saw were amazing. We had the chance to learn more about several eras in the city's history and had great experiences in each one of the exhibits we saw. To anyone who wishes to visit this city, I truly wish you the same pleasure as us.
[1] www.koelner-dom.de. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
[2] https://museenkoeln.de/ns-dokumentationszentrum/default.aspx?s=715. Retrieved 18 Nov 2022.
[3] https://www.schokoladenmuseum.de/. 18 Nov 2022.
[4] https://timeride.de/koeln/. Retrieved 18 Nov 2022.