03. Early Europe & Colonial Americas, Art & Humanities, Europe, Germany

Cologne: The city of the Rhine, the Cathedral, & the Three Kings

Cologne: The city of the Rhine, the Cathedral, & the Three Kings

After our Christmas in Aachen we moved on to Cologne. We stayed 2 nights in Cologne in another cute AirBnb; the first day for exploring the Rhine River Valley and day 2 we got to meet my sister’s boyfriend, Mathias, and his family (exciting!) and touring the Cathedral and The Shrine of the Three Kings.

 

The river is what made this city so important throughout history and today it cuts through the city like a knife, we did a little riverside exploring but mostly concentrated our efforts on the UNESCO World Heritage Site Cathedral!

The Cathedral is monumental for various reasons:

  1. It contains the “relics” of the Three Magi
  2. It took over 700 hundred years to build (thanks to the Protestant Reformation putting a halt to that)
  3. It is one of the largest churches in the world (although there is always debate about the ranking)

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In all honesty, it was kind of underwhelming. It was certainly a gorgeous, intricate cathedral but I didn’t love it…I was the only one who felt this way by the way. No idea why, typically medieval churches get me all gaga.

After a full day we got to meet Mathias’ family, it was a lot of fun and we were at dinner until past midnight. Fantastic end to the day, wish they could join us on the rest of our adventures in Germany!

Read more: Eating Around Germany

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JMF

P.S. Cologne is a great stopover or day trip city, but I would suggest making Cologne your hub if you want to visit the Upper Middle Rhine Valley and Aachen (all UNESCO Sites).

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