Six hundred and thirty-two years. That is how long it took to finish Cologne Cathedral, from the laying of the foundation stone in 1248 to the completion of the spires in 1880, and when you stand at its foot by the main station it feels as though the building is still growing. The twin towers climb to around 157 metres, black with soot and weather, and for a few years after completion they made it the tallest building in the world.
The reason for all this ambition lies inside: a golden shrine said to hold the relics of the Three Kings, brought from Milan in 1164 after Frederick Barbarossa's men sacked the city. The relics turned Cologne into one of the great pilgrimage destinations of medieval Europe, and the cathedral was built as a stone reliquary on a gigantic scale. Work stalled for centuries, a crane stood on the unfinished south tower for so long it became part of the skyline, and only the romantic nationalism of the nineteenth century and Prussian money got it done. In the Second World War it took many bomb hits yet stayed standing while the old town around it burned.
Let's be honest about the riding: this is a city centre stop, not a ride destination in itself. Getting here means Cologne traffic, tram tracks that bite in the wet, one-way systems and a lot of pedestrians who do not look before crossing. Motorcycles do not need an emissions sticker for German low-emission zones, which helps. Come early on a Sunday morning and the streets are surprisingly calm, the square almost empty, and you can climb the south tower's five hundred or so steps for a view over the Rhine before the crowds wake up.
Afterwards, walk across the Hohenzollern Bridge with its thousands of padlocks left by couples, then look back for the best view of the cathedral rising above the river. For food, the old town brewhouses serve Kölsch in small straight glasses that the waiter keeps replacing until you put a beer mat on top; on a riding day, the halve Hahn, a rye roll with cheese, is the safer choice. Fuel is everywhere in the city. When you leave, the Bergisches Land to the east and the Eifel to the south both offer far better roads within an hour.