Bonn Germany North Rhine-Westphalia

Germany

A piano echoes somewhere along a pedestrian street, students cycle across the square, and the river flows just steps from the cafés: Bonn wears its two thousand years of history lightly. Once the capital of West Germany, birthplace of Beethoven, and a university town for two centuries, it offers river cruise passengers a port call that's both rich and relaxing, with almost everything reachable on foot.

A Dock Right Downtown

Ships tie up at the Brassertufer, directly on the bank of the Rhine, right at the edge of downtown. No shuttle needed: the old town begins just five minutes from the gangway. Just above the dock, the Alter Zoll, a former bastion turned shaded terrace, offers the day's first view. Two Napoleonic-era cannons still point out toward the river, and the benches beneath the trees invite you to watch the barges go by before the visit has even begun.

In Beethoven's Footsteps

About a fifteen-minute walk from the dock, a middle-class townhouse on Bonngasse is where Ludwig van Beethoven was born in 1770. Now a museum, it holds the world's largest collection devoted to the composer: instruments, annotated scores, portraits, and the ear trumpets that speak to the tragedy of his deafness. The visit takes about an hour and moves even those who don't frequent concert halls: you leave hearing even the simplest whistled tune a little differently. Elsewhere in the streets, the composer turns up at every corner, a statue on Münsterplatz, painted façades, record shop windows.

The Market Square and the Basilica

The old centre is built around two squares that face each other. On one stands the old rococo town hall, its golden staircase looking straight out of an opera set; the market still sets up here on weekdays, with fruit, flowers and cheese. On the other rises the Bonn Minster, whose five Romanesque towers have watched over the city for nearly nine hundred years. Its cloister ranks among the best preserved in the Rhineland, and the contrast between the dark stone and the bustle of student life in the surrounding streets gives the place its character.

The University and the Hofgarten Walkways

Just steps away, the former palace of the prince-electors, a long pale-yellow baroque façade, now houses the university. Its great lawn, the Hofgarten, serves as an open-air lounge for students the moment the sun comes out. Crossing it leads to the Poppelsdorfer Allee, a chestnut-lined avenue running straight toward a second palace, Poppelsdorf, surrounded by its botanical garden. The walk offers a fine sample of what Bonn is all about: learned stone, trees and youth.

Planning Your Hours Ashore

• Two hours: the Alter Zoll, the market square and the basilica.
• Three hours: add the composer's birthplace on Bonngasse.
• Four hours or more: cross the Hofgarten to the Poppelsdorfer Allee, or follow the Rhine promenade south.

One Last Look from the Bastion

Before heading back on board, pass by the Alter Zoll once more. As the day winds down, the light settles over the river, the seven hills of the Siebengebirge stand out to the south, and ships glide by below. Beethoven grew up looking out on this very same landscape, and it's hard not to think that some of his music might owe it something. That's the kind of thought you carry with you, long after the gangway has been raised.