The Cologne picture
The cathedral and the old front on the water in one frame.
Raimond Spekking — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mr. TI. — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Superbass — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Superbass — CC BY-SA 4.0
A bridge across the Rhine in central Cologne, linking the old town with the Deutz district on the eastern bank. The present bridge was built in the 1950s after its predecessor was destroyed in the Second World War, and it is of the box-girder type — a hollow steel structure carrying itself with no visible towers or cables, which gives it a clean horizontal look quite unlike the suspended Hohenzollern bridge to the north. Its value to a visitor is not its structure but what is seen from it: walking across towards the eastern bank gives you the full view of Cologne cathedral and the old town's front on the water. That is the image you know of Cologne, and it is taken from here and from the far bank. The walk is free and always open, and the bridge carries footways and cycle paths on both sides. From the eastern bank you can carry on along the Rhine promenade, and sunset is the best time because the sun lights the cathedral's front from the west.
The cathedral and the old front on the water in one frame.
Steel with no towers or cables — a clean horizontal line.
From the eastern bank the walk continues and gives other angles on the city.
Across the Rhine, central Cologne
From the Rhine's eastern bank in Deutz, where the cathedral shows whole with both towers above the old town's front. Walking this bridge or the Hohenzollern gets you there. The best light is at sunset and just after, when the cathedral is lit.
The Hohenzollern is the railway bridge to the north that trains cross into the main station beside the cathedral, and its footway is covered in thousands of love padlocks. The Deutzer is wider, carries cars and trams, and the cathedral view from it is broader and less crowded.
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