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Cologne old town (Aldstadt)

Cologne - Started around 10am and by the time I reach back to the hotel it was already 1.30pm - I walked for a long time.  Cologne is very easy to navigate especially using Google map - it showed me to walk along the esplanade and then take a right turn into the Cologne old town.

The Cologne old town has narrow alley way and cobblestone streets.

old building with cobblestone streets

Great St Martin Church

The Great St Martin Church is a Catholic church in Cologne, Germany. Its foundations (c.960 AD) rest on remnants of a Roman chapel, built on what was then an island in the Rhine. The church was later transformed into a Benedictine monastery. 

Great St Martins


Great St Martins

This is church is undergoing massive renovation with workers everywhere - there was no entrance in sight for me to enter.  It was closed, not opening time.

Segment of Roman Sewer

The sewerage system of Cologne is part of the water infrastructure serving Cologne, Germany. Originally built by the Roman Empire in the 1st century, the city's sewer system was modernised in the late 19th century.


Ostermann Fountain

Martinsbad

Martinsbad is a sea salt Thermal Bath - the Romans introduced in Cologne two thousand years ago is still used today.  In the middle of Cologne's old town, a thermal bath with spring water from the hotel's own well, enriched with sea salt and tempered so that swimming at 32° feels like floating in the water.

Ostermann Fountain

Back of the fountain

The Ostermann Fountain, which was completed in 1939, stands on the Ostermannplatz square in Cologne’s old town. The figures depicted on the fountain are references to the songs of the Cologne lyricist and singer Willi Ostermann (1876 –1936).

Walking around the Cologne old town brings you back to Roman times with the cobble streets.


Old Market square (Alter Markt)

Jan von Werth Fountain

In the middle of the square is a late 19th Century fountain. This was built to commemorate Jan von Werth, a victorious army general who served in the Thirty Years’ War. Its reliefs tell the story of the unrequited love between von Werth and Griet, a woman who rejected him as he wasn’t from a wealthy family.

Private garden

When walking around, it branched off and I walked into a beautiful garden.



Fastnachtsbrunnen fountain

The tall fountain bowl rises from a very low base. On the outside of the fountain bowl, four couples are shown dancing, each standing on a small console. Atop a slender, tall, tapering spindle rising from the center of the fountain bowl is a small drum-beating putto with a pipe in his mouth. The gargoyles in the lower quarter of the spindle take the form of the bodies of fish. The fountain illustrates the enthusiasm for music, which is inextricably linked to the Cologne carnival, with the help of the musical putti at the fountain and the figures beating the drums. The dancing couples at the fountain basin also illustrate the joy of carnival. 

Fastnachtsbrunnen fountain

Old St Alban

During the Second World War the church was badly damaged except for the tower. After that it was only secured but not rebuilt. The pillars and bays of the hall and apses with the window openings are still visible; Windows and roofs are missing. 

Old St Alban


Sculpture of 'morning parents'
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