Quotes of the Day

For the last 754 years, the twin spires of Cologne's mighty cathedral, the Dom, have been considered a link between heaven and earth. Yet the locals believe that the sandstone Gothic giant is not the only place in this Rhine city of more than 1 million people where the celestial meets the terrestrial. Enter any one of the many Brauhäuser, or brewery pubs, nestling in the shadow of the Dom, try a glass of the delicious pale, top-fermented ale called Kölsch, (meaning from Cologne) and you'll know what the nectar of the gods tastes like.

Cologne's citizens have always been fond of their prized local beer. The first official reference to a registered master brewer, one Ezelin, is from the 1170 land register of Cologne's district of Niedrich, and dozens of large and small breweries have mushroomed here ever since. By the middle of the 19th century — the peak of Cologne's first microbrew craze — the Eigelstein district north of the cathedral alone was home to 44 breweries. Today, more than 25 private and corporate breweries still ply the trade citywide, with many of them running superb on-site pubs.

	STREETWISE
		TASTIEST EXHIBIT Chocolate Museum: Take the Chocolate Express train from the Dom to the Imhoff-Stollwerck-Museum on the banks of the Rhine and learn everything you've always wanted to know about the queen of sweets. A true treat is the chocolate-spewing fountain. Adults pay €5.50 per ticket, children €3. Tel: +49 221 9318 880 SCENT OF SPRING Farina House Buy a sample of the world's first Eau de Cologne at Farina House. Italian perfume maker Giovanni Maria Farina created an "aqua mirabilis"; which reminded him of "an Italian spring morning ... of mountain daffodils and orange blossoms." A 50 ml bottle costs €7. Tel: +49 221 294 1709 GREAT ESCAPES Botanical Garden The 12-hectare Botanical Garden of 1914 boasts some 12,000 different native and exotic plants. The adjacent Flora, founded in 1864 by the royal garden designer Peter Joseph Lenn{a {e}}, presents horticultural styles from French Baroque to Italian Renaissance. Take a No. 15 or 16 tram and get off at the zoo. Tel: +49 221 283 550 GRAND HOTEL Dom Hotel If you can afford to, enjoy the 19th century luxury of the Dom Hotel of 1857, right next to the cathedral. Single rooms cost between €185 and €310, doubles between €260 and €435. Tel: +49 221 20 240

The most original Brauhaus in town must be the Schreckenskammer, or Chamber of Horror, which lies next to the beautiful Romanesque St. Ursula church, just a five-minute walk north from the central station. Not a regular tourist haunt, the brewery pub is so called because, until the 16th century, prisoners on their way from the nearby court building to their execution stopped there for a last meal (and glass of Kölsch). The pub has kept the plain interior once typical of neighborhood alehouses: wood-veneer walls and ceiling, sand-strewn floor, lamps mounted on old cart-wheels, tables with white-scoured tops, colored-glass windows. And its pale-golden Kölsch (€1.30), which was first produced around 1487, is wonderfully mellow — a perfect accompaniment to broad beans with bacon and potatoes (€6.75).

On the other side of the cathedral, in the old town near the shores of the Rhine, you can enjoy your beer under the original domed brick ceilings of the cellar vaults beneath the recently renovated brewery pub Cölner Hofbräu Früh. Founded in 1904, the Früh has gained more than regional fame with its tangy beer which has the heavily-hopped flavor typical of Kölsch. If you're hungry, try some of the hearty local specialty Himmel und Ad met Flüns (€7.50), a sweet-and-salty dish consisting of apple compote with mashed potatoes and black pudding.

If you don't have time for a hot meal, order the famous Halve Hahn, but beware: it's not the seemingly promised "half a rooster," but two halves of a crusty rye roll spread with butter and decorated with Holland cheese (approx. €3.30). Or dig into a Knubbel Mett met Ollig, a wheat roll covered with a generous portion of minced raw salted pork and chopped onions (approx. €2).

Cologne's Kölsch houses can also teach visitors some age-old words and customs. If you want a refill, call for the Köbes (or waiter, from the once-popular Cologne name "Jakob") and an apron-clad server will pick up one of the small, cylindrical tumblers known as Stangen (rods) from the Zappes, or beer "tapper," and bring it over in a Kranz (crown) — a round tray with a central handle and a circle of holes for the glasses. Leave him a tip with a casual "Es joot! (It's okay)" and the regulars, considering you one of the crowd, might call you a "kölsche Jung" or "Mädsche" — the highest praise you'll ever get around here.

• URSULA SAUTTER
• Where the beer tastes just like heaven