By Pauline Webber
. It was here that legendary local hero Siegfried slew the dragon and bathed in its blood. It was just a sleepy little provincial city on the banks of the mighty Rhine when history came calling in 1949. With Berlin split asunder by the Iron Curtain, West Germany needed a replacement capital, and Bonn stepped into the breach.
For 40 years, it took its place on the Cold War's political frontline, but when the big government ministries shuffled off back to Berlin nine years after Germany's 1990 reunification, Bonn resumed its quiet, dignified existence, its moment of glory passed. Though actually, it hasn't passed entirely.
Schloss Drachenburg (“Dragon Castle”), is just south of the city.Credit: Alamy
There's more to Bonn than that one little sidebar in history. It's a prosperous, people-friendly town dotted with superb baroque buildings in gorgeous pastels and surrounded by some of the country's best wine regions.
On a sunny spring day, the city centre is buzzing. Outdoor cafes are packed and crowds wander the pedestrianised precinct between the lovely white-andgold rococo Altes Rathaus (the old town hall) and the Bonn Minster, a 12th-century Romanesque basilica (its interior, especially the cloister, is a gem, at once both intimate and majestic).
Heads of Saint Cassius and Florentius in front of the Bonn Minster.Credit: Peter Unger
In cobbled Münsterplatz, two giant modernist sculpted heads lie on their sides, as if they've tumbled there from the church spire. They're of two saints,
Further east, in a charming pastelpink house at 20 Bonngasse, life began for Bonn's true star attraction, Ludwig van Beethoven. The house is now a museum celebrating the life and work of the composer and, though the man himself bolted for greener pastures as soon as he was able, for music lovers the place is well worth a long visit.Cassius and Florentius, and they make a bold, imaginative piece of civic design.
The museums and galleries along the Museumsmeile cover modern art, natural history, science and technology and have the heft and weight of a capital city's cultural institutions. A standout is the Haus der Geschichte, where Germany tells the story of its struggle to reinvent itself after 1945. It's a brave, honest and emotionally moving museum
motionally moving museum. The myths and legends that are part of a much older national-identity story are set here too, in the region around the city. In 1881, Lord Byron wrote, "The castled crag of Drachenfels/Frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine", but this particular crag had been famous for centuries before Byron started waxing lyrical about it. Drachenfels is part of the Siebengebirge, a chain of hills south-east of Bonn loved by hikers.
Skylights on the roof of the Bonn Arts & Exhibition Hall.Credit: Diane Cook And Len Jenshel
The views of the 12th-century castle ruin atop Drachenfels, and the forested hills that spread beyond it, reward the recreational walker. They're also a fine sight from the river. A day cruise along the romantic Rhine is a must, though my first view of the river valley was from an ordinary passenger train from Frankfurt, surely one of the world's most beautiful commuter journeys.
In the Ahr Valley, 30 kilometres south-west of Bonn, you'll find the Rotweinstrasse, the red wine trail. Bike it or hike it for the great scenery – and to sample some of Europe's finest light reds at wineries where the vines hang in cantilevered drapes down steep slopes. It's a region of spa towns and medieval villages, like the walled Ahrweiler with its beautiful half-timbered houses.
My visit to the area coincides with an ancient ritual still very much alive: on May 1 each year, hopeful suitors tie a bough to the gate of the house of their beloved. It's a delight to see these sturdy saplings at house after house.
Just off the main road near Ahrweiler are the remains of a Roman villa, discovered here in 1980. It's a light and airy space in which to wander and view fragments of a 2000-year-old world. Just beyond the villa, a narrow road winds up to what remains of one of the Cold War's most secret places. There are no signs; I have to stop to ask the way.
In the days when nuclear weapons faced off against each other on German soil, the government in Bonn decided to protect itself against the unthinkable, blasting a vast network of tunnels under the hills to form an emergency seat of government in the event of nuclear attack.
A section of it has been restored and opened as the Government Bunker Documentation Site. It's well worth the walk to visit this unparalleled example of Kafka-esque absurdity. Tours are conducted by former bunker employees, and English-speaking guides can be provided if you book ahead.
Pauline Webber travelled to Bonn at her own expense.