Founded by the Romans, Cologne is the oldest of the major German cities and still characterized by its 2000 years of history. Cologne has just over one million inhabitants and is the fourth-largest city in Germany. The metropolis on the Rhine with its incomparable identity annually attracts many millions of visitors.

It's dominated by the enormous Dom, or cathedral, which at yuletide, has six separate markets underneath it. Here you'll find the largest Christmas tree in the Rhineland, 150 stalls and over 750,000 visitors every Saturday in the run up to Christmas.

Cologne and its markets are billed as an antidote to the Christmas commercialism which kicks off in the UK from late summer. The Dom is a striking Gothic cathedral and on this trip, provided a timely reminder of why the Christmas markets are here in the first place. Amongst the cathedral treasures is a gold cask said to contain the remains of the Magi, the three wise men.