COLOGNE is not the German city of choice for Brits, but ANDREW EAMES finds its unconventionality exciting and refreshing

ANDRÉ , my guide around the German city of Cologne, wasn't happy. He'd just got a ticket for riding through a red light on his bicycle right in front of a police officer. I muttered something about it being unfortunate, assuming he was not in the habit of riding through red lights, but André harrumphed:
"All the time! I go through them all the time. Everyone here does.

Otherwise, what's the advantage in riding a bicycle?"

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It wasn't the response I was expecting from a typical citizen of a typical German city where, in my experience, jaywalking can earn you a scolding from other pedestrians; but then André wasn't proving all that typical (he could quote whole episodes of Blackadder verbatim).

Cologne also wasn't turning out particularly Teutonic. This urbanisation on the Rhine is host of the world Gay Games, plus home to chess-boxing (a bizarre mix where athletes move between board and ring) and to a most extraordinary carnival season, where the whole city gets riotously drunk and dresses up in costume for days on end. Even André, although not a hardcore carnival supporter, admitted to having a homemade pirate's costume, saying: "In Cologne, everybody's got something in their wardrobe."

At first sight, this is not a particularly beautiful city, but then that's largely our fault. An aerial bombardment in the last phases of the Second World War reduced it to rubble, although by some miracle the 515ft twin towers of the Dom, Cologne's cathedral, managed to survive, including most of the mesmerising waterfall of carvings that cover the outside, where they are mostly visible only to God and passing microlights.

While other cities such as Frankfurt and Düsseldorf took advantage of wartime destruction to come back higher, mightier and shinier, Cologne's city fathers have ensured that their giant cathedral is still unchallenged as the tallest building in town.

Walking down the pedestrian streets from the cathedral, you'd think that little other history remains, but you'd be wrong. It's there, but just not that easy to see.

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Cologne (aka Colonia) was once one of the key forts on the fringes of the Roman Empire. Below the City Hall, for example, you can wander out along the Roman sewer system and admire the layout of the praetorium, or commander's house.

Then there are the traditional Kölsch bars dotted through town with their rambling interiors, rolling barrels and tiled courtyards.

Kölsch is fresh Cologne beer, brewed on the premises and served in tall thin glasses. On the menu are Cologne specialities like "heaven and earth" (mashed potatoes and apple sauce) and Kölsher kaviar (blood sausage with onions). Sitting down for lunch at Peter's Brauhaus on Mühlengasse I was warned by a friendly co-diner not to be fooled by the "half chicken", which was actually just a roll with cheese. On his advice, I went for the hämchen (pig's knuckles) which, despite the unprepossessing name, turned out to be remarkably good.

It seems that names are not to be taken at face value in Cologne.

André took me into the Belgian Quarter, not called that because of a high percentage of Belgians living there but because the streets are all named after Belgian towns. Over the years it has developed into the trendy, arty, Bohemian area with launderettes that also sell skateboards and vintage clothing shops that also sell beer. In the evening, locals gather in Brussels Square, in the lee of St Michael's Church, to sit, talk and drink in a civilised, street gathering that happens virtually every day of the year, provided the weather is kind. Very un-German behaviour.

Of course, Cologne has its museums and galleries, and very good they are too. It also has the mould-breaking Chocolate Museum, commercially self-financing and admirably located out on a river island where you can watch chocolate bunnies and Father Christmases being made - and taste them too.

I came to the conclusion that there's something more to this city than a list of tourist attractions, something that you can't judge from brochures and photographs.

It has a buzz, a liveliness, an unconventionality that is unexpected in a German city.

Beware its cyclists, though: they ride through red lights, you know.

GETTING THERE:

The Chelsea (dialling from the UK: 00 49 221 207 150/ www.hotel-chelsea.de) offers doubles from £80 per night (two sharing), room only.

Rail Europe (0844 848 4064/ www.raileurope.co.uk) offers return rail tickets from London St Pancras to Cologne from £105.

Cologne Tourism: www.cologne-tourism.com

German National Tourist Office: 020 7317 0908/www.germany-tourism.co.uk