Cologne Travel Guide

Cologne Overview

Cologne is the fourth-largest city in Germany after Berlin, Hamburgang and Munich and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than 12 million inhabitants. It is one of the oldest cities in Germany, having been founded by the Romans in the year 30 b .c. Cologne was granted the status of a Roman "city" in the year 50. An overview of Cologne shows that roman culture and art is very much predominantly found in the city's culture and heritage.

The Romans brought Christianity to Cologne, and the city very soon became a seat of a bishopric. In the year 785 Charlemagne founded the Archbishopric of Cologne and also bestowed secular powers upon the church dignitaries.

World War I slowed, but did not interrupt, the surge of development in Cologne. In World War II, the city was badly damaged, but it has been reconstructed now and it speaks of all that it has seen and borne!

- Weather conditions in Cologne (link to Cologne weather):-

Cologne has a pleasant climate. It has warm summers and mild winters and an average rainfall of 760 millimeters (30 inches): between 50 and 75 millimeters (about two and three inches. Cologne has cold winters and rainy summers.

- Economy of Cologne

Banking and trade are important elements in Cologne's economy since the Middle Ages. Engineering, metalworking, chemicals, and the pharmaceutical industry are also important. Other manufactures include engines, chocolate, and eau de cologne.

- Industry inCologne

- For over 300 years the "Kölnisch Wasser 4711" or "Eau de Cologne" was produced by traditional Cologne Company Muelhens.
- Chemical industry, with 80 companies and almost 60.000 employees, is the major industrial sector in Cologne
- Trade and Commerce in Cologne

Back in the Middle Ages Cologne's merchants engaged in trade with Sicily, England, Scandinavia, Flanders and Bohemia. No other German city plays host to such an abundance of trade organizations as Cologne.

- Transportation in Cologne

Cologne is an intersection of several major highways. The Köln-Bonn Konrad Adenauer International Airport (CGN) is located 14 km south-east of Cologne. Together with the access to the Rhine River and a major railway station, Cologne is a central traffic node in western Germany.

- Places to see in Cologne

- Cologne Cathedral ( link to cathedral dom)
- The twelve Romanesque Churches.
- City Hall, Hansasaal :
- City Gates
- Gürzenich hall
- Old Town Houses
- EL-DE Haus
- Cologne Zoo
- Media Park

Cologne offers you a wide variety of places to stay (link to accommodation in Cologne). The choice is all yours, whether you want to accommodate yourself in a five star hotel or a budgeted hotel. One can also stay in the hostels available in the city.

So, come to Cologne and find out for yourself the charm and uniqueness of this city!

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