Surroundings of Cologne Cathedral, Pedestrian area at Cologne Cathedral, Germany.
The Surroundings of Cologne Cathedral is a stone-paved pedestrian zone in central Cologne that wraps directly around the cathedral and connects to the main train station. The area is lined with restaurants, cafes, and shops, and opens onto the Rhine River on one side.
Much of this area was heavily damaged during World War II and had to be rebuilt from the ground up in the postwar years. In the 1970s, car traffic was removed from the space, turning it into the pedestrian zone it remains today.
Street musicians and performers gather here at different times of the day, drawing crowds that form and dissolve naturally around them. The mix of people passing through, from commuters to tourists, gives the area a layered and spontaneous quality that is hard to find elsewhere in the city.
The whole area is flat and easy to walk, with no major obstacles, making it straightforward to get around on foot or by wheelchair. Arriving by public transport is the most practical option, as the main train station sits right at the edge of the zone.
Every December, the zone around the cathedral becomes one of the largest Christmas markets in the country, with wooden stalls running from the cathedral steps all the way to the Rhine. Few visitors realize that directly beneath the square lie the remains of a Roman settlement, which can be seen in a nearby underground museum.
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