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City Guide: Cologne

Say "Capital of Rhenish joie de vivre".

This is the only city on the planet too free of ego to make you choose between rock and popular music and opera. This is because everything of both styles blends together in this vivid city on the Rhine for joy of living, or as French put it ''joie de vivre'' in Cologne.

City Guide: Cologne

Say "Capital of Rhenish joie de vivre".

This is the only city on the planet too free of ego to make you choose between rock and popular music and opera. This is because everything of both styles blends together in this vivid city on the Rhine for joy of living, or as French put it ''joie de vivre'' in Cologne.

Welcoming and friendly, Cologne is not just a destination to visit, it is a feeling to capture with Booked.net. Whatever hotel in Cologne you prefer we have collected them all with maps, photos and secure forms to make your stay easy. Be it a room in cheap hotel in Cologne or one packed with luxuries all are available at prices below rack rates and exclusive to Booked.net.

In Cologne it may surprise you if name as the French do. Germans shun this and try to show their city - Koln as locals name it - to be essentially German. In fact, this is far from the truth. The city's very name dates back 2000　years to a time of French rule. This history makes Cologne the oldest of German cities and until the 19th century it was also the grandest. However, today the only thing left of its past are some impressive structures. Attractions include;

- Kölner Dom, UNESCO treasured and the first thing you notice when take in the cityscape

- Die Kölner Synagoge, notable for its unique architecture

- Museum Ludwig, a museum of modern art with regular exhibitions

- Kolumba, an architectural wonder with a selection of historical and contemporary religious art inside it

It was the Nazi rule and the hard bombing of Cologne during World War II that changed the face of the city and made reconstruction a long process. Thus during the reconstruction some remnants were found that dated back to a poorly known Christian era. It meant that Cologne was a significant religious center several centuries ago.

This spiritual affect of Cologne once made Heinrich Böll, Nobel laureate in literature, of course Cologne bred, utter that only within this city seems possible to leave the Catholic church ''without falling away from the faith".

Böll was deeply rooted in his hometown of Cologne and after he won the Noble Prize critics would say that his novels and short stories ''made Cologne laugh''. Since that time Cologne is recognized worldwide for its rough sense of humor, especially drastic for tourists.

As Cologne is a city to have a good laugh than you may come there for pleasant experiences and Booked.net will assist you with this.