Cologne; more than just a party city

On the last night of our holiday last week we were kept awake throughout the night by revellers singing along to the strains of Hey Jude and stray beats coming through the windows from some distant night club. We were after all, in a party city. The people who live here are fond of carnivals and month long festivals, lovers of dancing, singing and staying up into the small hours. No, we weren’t in Ibiza. We were in Cologne.

In 2016 there were over 2,500 bars there and now, in 2018, it’s known for its techno scene and Zülpicher Straße or, as it’s more commonly known, ‘the party mile’.  So why on earth am I telling you all this? I write a food blog and it’s no secret that I love nothing more than a decent dinner, glass of wine and early night with my kindle. I’m an old woman in a youngish body.

I’m telling you think because there is way more to the 2,000 year old city of Cologne than its party scene. And its worth staying for more than one weekend to really understand this place. In fact, that noisy weekend was our least favourite part of our recent week long trip, during which we discovered a peaceful, pretty, tasty and culturally exciting city.

What to eat

Obviously there are the usual suspects—currywurst, pretzels and gurkensalat—and I suggest you eat these in BULK. But, be aware that there is also a thriving Turkish and growing Middle-Eastern community in Cologne so keep your eye out for places. We tried Lebanese food at Beirut and it was fantastic.

Wurst Case Szenario

This is a neighbourhood diner which specialises in (you guessed it) wurst or, as we know them, sausages. Everything from hotdogs to currywurst and bratwurst. The space is minimal, clean and bright thanks to a huge window. And we loved the nod to art deco with the mirrors and seating.

The best bit though, was that when our food came out, the waiter stumbled with mine and set my chilli dog tumbling onto its side, spilling it’s prettily arranged contents onto the tray. He was horrified – he’d already seen that I’d taken a few pictures and knew I’d want to photograph it. He was frozen – unable to decide whether to leave it or return it to the kitchen. Dave & I both laughed, told him it was ok and let him go. And, if you look at the pics, you’d never know anyway! Food blogging pro right?

Baked Goods

No one tells you about all the baked goods in Germany – it’s all about the sausage and potatoes. They seriously know what they’re doing when it comes to baked goods – especially pretzels. We ate a good few throughout the week, buying them almost every time we passed one of the many bakeries that line the city streets. For me, it was all about the cheese topped (obvs) but Dave preferred the sweet version with flaked almonds.  Look out for the brown and yellow Bäckerei Merzenich – there are lots of them and they have a huge variety of delicious sweet and savoury baked treats cheap as chips!

Traditional Brauhaus Food

The old town section of Cologne is packed full of traditional beerhalls and some of them date back hundreds of years. They are all full of gothic character and I highly recommend a day spent crawling from one to another for a Kölsch and perhaps a gherkin or two en route for sustenance.

When it comes to food, it’s all about the meat. I honestly think vegetarians might struggle. Prices vary but generally all of them serve a similar and very traditional German menu. We found the best food was at Brauhaus Sunner im Walfisch. There, we ate schweinshaxe (crispy pork knuckle) and Himmel un Ääd (heaven and earth; potato, apple sauce and black pudding). We sat in what can only be described as a confession chamber and enjoyed these two dishes with more than a couple of beers. The food was hearty, hot and delicious. Especially the ‘heaven and earth’ which was a complete surprise; the apple puree really complimented the black pudding!

Another dish worth trying is mettbrütche – raw pork mince and onions on bread. Sounds odd but honestly, delicious. We tried it at a few places but the best example was at Peters Brauhaus on Mühlengasse.

What to drink

Kölsch

Obviously. And plenty of it. This local brew has protected status and can only be made within 30 mile radius of the city. It’s also mighty tasty and very light making it dangerously easy to drink!

And at this point I’m handing over to Wikipedia to explain how Kölsch is served:

Kölsch is traditionally served in a tall, thin, cylindrical 20 cL glass called a Stange (“spike” or “rod”). The server, called a Köbes, carries twelve Stangen in a Kranz, a circular tray resembling a crown or wreath. Instead of waiting for the drinker to order a refill, the Köbes immediately replaces an empty Stange with a full one, marking a tick on the coaster under the Stange. If the drinker does not want another refill, he or she places the coaster on top of the empty Stange and pays for the number of beers marked on the coaster.

I imagine that this is a lot of fun but sadly, and I’m not sure what this says about how fast I drink, the servers didn’t fill our glasses up as quickly as Anthony Bourdain led us to believe in his excellent episode on the city on Parts Unknown.

Non food related things to do!

Cologne isn’t a huge city and you don’t need more than two days tops to see everything on the usual tourist list. But, with excellent, cheap train connections it makes the perfect base for exploring the wider North Rhine-Westphalia region (more on the blog soon!). Within the city itself, there are plenty of tourist spots including the Dom (cathedral) and Lindt chocolate factory as well as museums galore. I’m not going to waffle on about those here as you’ll already find plenty about them on every website and blog about Cologne. These are my suggestions for something different. And yes, before you point out the obvious, they aren’t food related!

Cycle the Rhine

I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed this day. Such a lovely way to see the city and river. We cleared over 25 km without breaking a sweat thanks to Cologne’s plentiful cycle paths and flat landscape. We took a circular route heading off along the side of the Rhine past cruise ships and through parklands before crossing a bridge and doing it all again on the other side.

There are plenty of bikes to hire around the city but we found that the Donkey Republic ones were the best. The app is easy to use and the bikes comfortable to ride. If you book for a whole day you can stop for a beer, come back and off you go too, so no faffing! Highly recommended.

NS Dokumentationszentrum / EL-DL Haus

This historic and imposing building on Appellhofplatz is an important place to spend a couple of hours. The building itself was the city’s Gestapo HQ and prison during WW2 and as well as an exhibition showcasing the stories of the prisoners who’d been kept there, you can also go down into the basement and see the prison cells as they were at the time. On the ground floor, they also have a large exhibition area which changes regularly. During our visit they had a collection of stickers from the 1800’s through to present day. It was interesting to see how something as simple as a sticker can play such an important role in spreading but also fighting hate.

A lot of the exhibitions at the EL-DL Haus are only in German but even you don’t know the language, it’s worth a visit to this thought provoking place.

As you can see, there is plenty to do in Cologne, as well as the usual drinking and partying which make this German city such a popular destination. In fact, Germany is a great country to visit in Autumn, with so many wonderful places to visit. With Cologne, we barely touched the surface. 

For more from this trip, read about our day out in the Ahr Valley wine region.