Sister Cities:

town twinning, pairing cities or towns from different geographical areas for the purposes of encouraging cultural relations and human contact.

Aachen, the westernmost in Germany and the City of Cape Town are Partner Cities.
One of the key objectives of the partnership is to promote opportunities for exchanges between Aachen and Cape Town to enable support for projects and organizations within the partnership. Since the inception of partnership there have been a lot of people moving both north and south, including exchanges, volunteers, training, conferences and also social visits.

During November 2011, Kapstadt Travel visited the city of Aachen to get a first person view of what this beautiful City has to offer.

48 Hours in Aachen

Aachen, Germany, 250,000 inhabitants, lies on the Dutch-Belgian Border in the western part of North Rhine-Westphalia, an hour’s drive from Cologne. Since Roman times, Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) was noted for its hot springs, which led Charlemagne to build his palace and famous chapel there, making Aachen in the early Middle Ages the centre of the Holy Roman Empire. Subsequently, Aachen became the coronation site for more than 30 German monarchs. Because of its easy access to coal, wood and water, Aachen‘s economy developed rapidly during the industrialisation period. At that time, the foundation was laid to what later evolved into one of the elite universities of technology in modern Germany.

Accommodation:

The 2 days were spent in the domicil Residenz Hotel (Lütticher Straße 27 52064 Aachen, +49.241.70512-00 website)    
The domicil is rated as one of the better hotels in Aachen. Accommodation was not in the hotel but in the apartments next door. Also owned and managed by the same group, these apartments offer the visitor to Aachen a home away from home. Bigger than a standard hotel room, these apartments come with a lounge, separate bathroom as well as kitchen were the guests are able to prepare their own meals.

Day 1: Tour of the old City.

The Tour of the old City was kindly sponsored by the aachen tourist service ( Tourist Info Elisenbrunnen, Friedrich-Wilhelm-Platz, 52062 Aachen
+49.241.180.29.60 website).
Aachen’s historic Old Town is perfect for the city’s visitors to stroll around. You will be lead through narrow lanes and historic squares and be inspired by Aachen’s nearly 2000 years of history. Get to know the various facets of Aachen.
Languages: German / English
Duration: approx. 1,5 hours
Meeting point: Tourist Info Elisenbrunnen
Prices: German: adults Euro 6.00 (children up to 14 years Euro 3.00)
English: adults Euro 8.00 (children up to 14 years Euro 4.00)

The Aachen Cathedral
The church is the oldest cathedral in northern Europe and was known as the "Royal Church of St. Mary at Aachen" during the Middle Ages. For 600 years, from 936 to 1531, the Aachen chapel was the church of coronation for 30 German kings and 12 queens.
Charles the Great (Charlemagne) began the construction of the Palatine Chapel around 792, along with the building of the rest of the palace structures.
It was consecrated in 805 by Pope Leo III in honour of the Virgin Mary. It was extensively renovated in the 10th century and restored in 1881. The core of the cathedral is the Carolingian Palatine Chapel, which is notably small in comparison to the later additions.
In order to sustain the enormous flow of pilgrims in the Gothic period a choir hall was built: a two-part Capella vitrea (glass chapel) which was consecrated on the 600th anniversary of Charlemagne's death. A cupola, several other chapels and a steeple were also constructed at later dates.
In 1978, it was one of the first 12 items to make the entry into the UNESCO list of world heritage sites, as the first German and one of the first three European historical ensembles.

Dinner: Cafe Extrablatt
This cosy little cafe/restaurant was our venue for the evening (Markt 45-47, 52062 Aachen  +49.241.4002447, website)
It was night filled with laughter, good conversation and the reunion of good friends.

Day 2: Dreiländereck
A point where you can stand and see three countries (Germany, Belgium, Netherlands).
The location is on the hill, accessed through small city of Vaals (Netherlands). There's also a tower to see great views of the three countries.