Eifelstrasse
- Lines 16, 12, 15
Eifelplatz
– Line 12
Ulrepforte
– Lines 16, 15
Chlodwigplatz
– Lines 16, 15
Southern Cologne is quiet, and filled with parks and fantastic
ancient architecture. If you are the kind of person that does not
require constant stimulation to have a great day out, and has
previously enjoyed wandering through the cobbled streets of the Old
Town (Altstadt), then this area is ideal for you.
Architecture
Ulrepforte – Lines 16, 15
Chlodwigplatz – Lines 16, 15
This area of Cologne is littered with ancient remains of city walls
and fort-type constructions. To get the best of this, I would really
recommend abandonning the metro out of town at Ulrepforte and taking
a leisurely walk up to Chlodwigplatz and wandering the surrounding
streets. The last time I was in Cologne the area was, unfortunately,
quite heavily laden with steel barriers and construction zones, but
I'm hoping that these have been cleared by now, as this was over
three years ago (yes, this travel guide is well
overdue).
right-hand photo by ingeline-art
Volksgarten
Eifelstrasse - Lines 16, 12, 15
Eifelplatz – Line 12
The Volksgarten is a beautiful,
large park ; ideal for picnics and general gatherings when the
weather is good enough. It is most easily accessible from
Eifelstrasse (if you don't fancy changing) and takes about 5-10
minutes on foot from here (just follow Eifelstrasse until things
start to look green). You can enter the park from Eifelstrasse, or
at multiple other points along the Volksgarten's perimeter. If you
happen to be travelling there on Line 12, you can stay on an extra
stop (Eifelplatz) and shorten your walk a little.
One way in which the Volksgarten
stands out from the many other parks you will find dotted around
Cologne : The Hellers Kölsch brewery. This charming little
brewery is almost all beer garden – very little sheltered – and
is situated in smack bang in the middle of the Volksgarten,
overlooking a lake. They also serve some simple, yet delicious,
dishes along the lines of 'pasta with pesto and feta cheese', and the
kölsch is the best to be sampled in Cologne. Perhaps the setting
makes my opinion biased here, because on the right day it really is a
lovely spot, and maybe it just tastes exactly like all of the other
variants of kölsch on offer, but it left a lasting impression on me.
For those who are not fans of the local tipple, you can also order
other beverages here such as Weissbier and Weizenbier – both very
interesting and more adventurous varieties of wheat beer.
Tsunami
Club
Chlodwigplatz – Lines 16, 15
I
only managed one evening out in Southern Cologne during my stay,
which consisted of a picnic in the aforementioned Volksgarten,
followed by extended partying (when the night had become too dark to
see very much of anything in the park) at a local club called
Tsunami.
If
your idea of clubbing is sweating buckets and dancing the night away,
don't come here. Tsunami is an indie club, in a very real sense.
This is not the kind of 'indie' club you might find somewhere like
Manchester, playing britpop hits and upbeat modern indie numbers.
Expect to hear lots of The Smiths (naturally, an indie club cannot
claim to be such unless it plays The Smiths), but the neglected
tracks such as 'There is a Light That Never Goes Out', forgotten gems
such as 'Female of the Species' by Spaced, and a ton of other
obscurities that you have never heard, and have fun trying
to
dance to them. This place really is unique and well worth a visit.
You can find it on Severinstrasse, just behind the impressive
Severinstorburg (the big old crumbly fortress thing near
Chlodwigplatz)
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images courtesy of tsunami-club.de
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