Cologne - In the center of football attention

City of the Renaissance
Capital city of Austrian Carinthia many of us only know it as a shopping destination and as the center of the Slovenian minority, but few know the interesting Renaissance side of the city. During the Second World War, 443 buildings were destroyed in 41 bombings of the city, and more than a thousand were damaged, but thanks to the efforts of self-sacrificing restorers, the Renaissance image of the city was renewed and today it can be admired especially while walking through more than 50 arcaded courtyards, where in addition to the historical spirit, it also attracts elegant shops, restaurants and bars. The efforts of the restorers are also recognized internationally, as evidenced by the fact that Cologne has won it three times the Europa-Nostrum award for the careful preservation of the historic core. According to legend, Cologne was founded when a brave man killed a terrible dragon in the surrounding marshes. Even today, the dragon is depicted in the city's coat of arms, and as a central city attraction it is so-called Lindwurm it also stands on Nové trg in front of the town hall and is probably one of the most photographed motifs in the city. The Renaissance image of the old town, the baroque cathedral, galleries and the interesting history of the town, often linked to Slovenian history, and of course Slovenian institutions such as the Mohorjeva družba and the Slovenian high school, also attract visitors who are interested in more than football. Of course, the surroundings of the city with the former Carantan center, today, are also important for Slovenes the village of Our Lady of the World, the ducal throne and other important centers of the first Slovenian state formation. Lovers of castle complexes can also enjoy getting to know more than twenty castle complexes in Klagenfurt and its surroundings, the view of the castle is especially attractive Hochosterwitz. Cologne is a city with more than eight hundred years of history, and centuries of mixing Germanic, Slavic and Romanic influences are still strongly present in it today.

Fun by the warmest alpine lake
The largest lake in Carinthia stretches for about twenty kilometers between Cologne residents and elegant Vrbo on its western side. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the lake and its shores became an exclusive summer resort of the Viennese aristocracy, and even today the pleasant climate, clean and warm water are trump cards that attract crowds of tourists, especially from northern European countries, and the casino in Vrbi brought the lake fame of the Austrian Monte Carlo. The level of the lake, which is considered the warmest alpine lake, reaches 25 degrees in summer, which ensures pleasant swimming, and visitors are also attracted by the fact that Lake Vrb is the sunniest part of Austria. In addition to numerous opportunities for active vacation and free time, music lovers in the summer months also enjoy watching performances on the huge stage at Lake Vrb, which, mainly with musicals, rounds off the Austrian offer of cultural events on the lake shores with an opera stage in Bregenz and operetta performances in Mörbisch. Of course, children are also taken care of. Literally, most Slovenian children took their first steps into the world in the park Minimundus, where you can admire miniatures of 170 world landmarks and get to know all the continents in just a few hours, and walk from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, past St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, to the Sydney Opera House.

Sports for everyone
The city of approximately 90,000 inhabitants has more than 300 sports associations and clubs and also hosts important sporting events every year. So every year on Grand Slam beach volleyball tournament in Klagenfurt the best volleyball players gather, and as many as 100,000 curious people watch their tanned bodies and their rolling on the sand. An equal number of spectators cheer on the extreme athletes in the competition Carinthian Ironman Austria, who compete for tickets to the Iron Man competition in Hawaii on a course that includes a 3.8-kilometer swim, 180-kilometer bike ride, and 42-kilometer run. The Vrb lake itself also offers a lot of sporting pleasures, as it is the warmest alpine lake, as many as 160 kilometers of footpaths lead around the lake and the town, and in winter the surrounding area of the town offers plenty of opportunities for winter sports. Cologne was also one of the candidates for the organization of the Winter Olympic Games in Turin in 2006, when for the first time in history, three countries, Austria, Slovenia and Italy, competed together to organize such an important sporting event under the name Brez meja.

A new beauty by Lake Vrbsk
As one of the eight venues of the European Championship, Cologne will host three matches in which the national teams of Croatia, Germany and Poland will compete for entry into the quarter-finals of the European Championship 2008. The national teams will compete in the brand new stadium by Lake Vrb, which has already become a new city landmark. . Wöerthersee Stadium, which accommodates as many as 32,000 visitors, can also boast of the fact that it is the most modern stadium of the championship, and because of its unusual architecture, the locals have already affectionately called it UFO - unknown flying object. It is not only the stadium's architecture that is beautiful, but also its location in the surroundings. It is only a kilometer and a half as the crow flies from the football arena to the lake, and the breathtaking scenery is represented by Karavanke.

Fan center
Since the World Cup in Germany in 2006, the organizers of the championships have also realized how important mass cheering in public places is for the perfect execution of the competition, so all the cities that will host the European Championship have prepared special programs and meeting places for the crowds of fans, where they can use big screens they follow and support their heroes. Carinthia has turned its resorts into real fan centers, so that we can support our chosen team at venues around Lake Vrb: in Beljak, Bad Kleinkircheim, on Lake Klopin or Lake Milstäter. In Klagenfurt, the fairgrounds and Novi trg in the very center of the city were left to the fans. The Messegelände fan zone, which will be open every day during the match from 2 p.m., and the Neuer Platz fan zone, near the old town, can accommodate a total of 28,000 football fans. In addition to the live broadcast of all matches of the European Championship, popular Austrian and foreign musicians will also perform in the fan zones. On June 28, for example, the popular singer Christina Strümer, who is also the performer of the official Austrian anthem of the football championship, will perform in the fan zone at the fairgrounds. On the eastern shore of Lake Vrb, in Europark, all championship matches will be broadcast on a video wall over 40 square meters in size, through which 15,000 fans will be able to watch the action live. An additional attraction on the shores of Lake Vrb will be the original Munich beer tent with its own huge video wall and 3,000 seats for those who prefer to watch football in the company of beer mugs. In the nine municipalities of Carinthia, a special truck - a stage - will provide additional entertainment, which will circulate between the municipalities and "bring" unforgettable entertainment to each town during the broadcast of the matches.