A Cologne river cruise gives you the perfect way to see this fantastic city, famed for its cathedral and its classical style. But you’ll also find great big slabs of straight-lined, brightly-coloured modernity here too, and a cultural heritage that goes way beyond medieval history and the Second World War. So what’s on offer if you’re looking past the usual attractions on your next Cologne river cruise?
Hohenzollern Bridge
Spanning the Rhine right in the city centre, and connecting Cologne to major routes through the rest of Europe, the Hohenzollern Bridge initially looks like quite an unassuming metal construction for pedestrians and trains. But take a closer look, and you’ll find that the railings are covered with ‘love padlocks’ – decorated or engraved with the names of friends and loving couples, and attached to the bridge before their owners throw away the key.
This is a thoroughly modern tradition, rising to popularity in the 2000s in many European cities. Countless padlocks dedicated to love might make for a heart-warming sight during your tour of Cologne, but they might not be around forever. Many local councils in Europe have taken to removing love padlocks from their cities – over concerns that, combined, they could damage the paint and metalwork of important architecture, and place extra weight on load-bearing structures. The combined weight of the love padlocks on Hohenzollern Bridge, for instance, is estimated to weigh around two tonnes. Whichever way you feel about it, that’s a lot of love.
Schokoladenmuseum
It sounds so much better in German, don’t you think? Cologne’s Chocolate Museum combines a modern feel with a fairytale look, and makes the perfect place for a sightseeing tour during your next Cologne river cruise. If you manage to tear yourself away from the chocolate factory on the ground floor, you’ll be able to walk around a modern cultural museum which charts the history of the chocolate trade – and the development of industrial chocolate production from its early beginnings, right up to its delicious modern conclusion.
You’ll find exhibitions of sculptures made in chocolate, pile upon pile of mesmerising chocolate eatables in the expansive gift shop (you wouldn’t be interested in that) and an incredible chocolate fountain, where a never-ending flow of sweet, velvety deliciousness flows from giant golden coca beans. But again, you probably wouldn’t be very interested in that.
Museum Ludwig
Dedicated to contemporary art, the Ludwig Museum snapped up works by Warhol, Segal and Lichtenstein in the 1960s and now boasts one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of American Pop Art. Exhibitions here vary between styles and media, and you’ll even have the chance to see some works by Dali and Picasso, since the museum’s main objective is to display works by a range of artists from the twentieth century. 2014 promises some great contemporary exhibitions too – including surrealist outdoor sculpture, a look back over art of the previous century and the sharp, angular lines of modern art/architecture hybrid installations by Oscar Tuazon.
Annual events
Cologne is a city with a busy social calendar, whether you’re here for the warm stalls, snowy pines and enchanting illuminations of the Christmas market, or putting on your finest rave wear or gothic attire for the alt-culture Amphi Festival. Other events for 2014 include Summerjam reggae festival and the Cologne Pride festival in July; and the spectacular fireworks of the Kölner Lichter lighting up the night sky over the Rhine.
Perhaps the largest event is Cologne Carnival, a firm cultural fixture which begins on November 11, and goes straight through to March. The carnival spirit really takes over at the end of February and into the beginning of March; there’s no such thing as last orders in the pubs and bars during these “crazy days” of the carnival, and you’ll likely find yourself amongst street parties and spontaneous shindigs all over the city. Come dressed in red and white, the city’s colours, and even if there’s a language barrier, you’re still likely to get a warm welcome from the locals.
Farina House
Once you get home from your river cruise, people are bound to ask you about the cologne in Cologne – so be sure you pay a visit to Farina House, to arm yourself with some devastating knowledge about Germany’s famous fragrance. Giovanni Farina, an Italian perfume maker, worked here three hundred years ago to create the first eau de cologne – named after his new home town. The fragrance was wildly successful at the time, and wildly expensive too – since Farina had been able to produce a popular fragrance of a consistently high quality.
Take a tour of the old Fragrance Chamber in the museum and you’ll be able to get a real feel for Farina’s perfume-making process – and an opportunity to smell the various essences that he combined to create it. Head down into the cellars where Farina created his perfume and wander around a replica of the eighteenth-century distillery, used to create the famous fragrance for the royal houses of Europe – what better way to create some memories on your next Cologne river cruise?