Dangling from Europe's most famous sites

Vadim Makhorov, 24, from Russia and Vitaliy Raskalov, 20, from Ukraine give new meaning to the term "off the beaten path." They prefer the route that leads straight to the top of Europe's most impressive buildings - with their cameras in tow. For one month they illegally climbed to the top of famous sights in 12 European cities, including the Cologne Cathedral, pictured here.

When no one was watching, the two extreme tourists snuck away from the official viewing platform of the Cologne Cathedral and waited until sundown to climb the 157-meter landmark, holding on to scaffolding without any safety equipment. "It's not too difficult to climb the scaffolding, although it's quite dangerous - there is nothing beneath but the steel poles," Makhorov told DW.

The Cologne Cathedral, built from1248 to 1880, is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people each day. But none of these tourists are able to look down on the cathedral from the very top of the spiral. "It's difficult to explain the feelings that I had at the top. At one point, I even felt scared, but the sense of excitement was stronger," Makhorov said.

Cologne is Germany's fourth largest city and is split down the middle by the Rhine River. The Cologne Cathedral is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne, and those in charge weren't happy to find out about the illegal climbing activity. But according to Makhorov, it was worth it. "The view from top of the Cologne Cathedral was one of the most fascinating experiences of our entire trip."

Frankfurt lies along the Main River and is known for its skyline, which is why some people refer to the city center as "Mainhattan." It is centrally located in Germany and even marks the geographic center of the European Union. Frankfurt is a major air, rail and highway transport hub and ranks among the world's largest financial centers.

Poland's capital and largest city, Warsaw, is also known as the "phoenix city" because it has survived so many wars. After the extensive damage of World War II destroyed more than 85 percent of the buildings, the city had to be completely rebuilt. This photo of Warsaw's reconstructed Old Town was taken from the city's largest church, which the daredevil duo illegally scaled during daytime.

Together with French urban explorer Vic Lax, Makhorov and Raskalov managed to get on top of one of the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world: Notre-Dame in Paris. While scaling the façade of the Gothic building, Vitaliy almost fell off the church at one point. According to Makhorov, that was the only really dangerous moment during the trip.

Climbing Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral was the biggest flop on the trip, according to Makhorov. Pressed for time, the skywalkers couldn't wait until dark and started their ascent along the scaffolding of Prague's largest and most important cathedral in the middle of the day - only to find police officers waiting for them on the roof. They were detained for just a few hours.

According to architecture critic Paul Goldberger, La Sagrada Familia - The Holy Family - is "the most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages." Designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi from 1852 to 1926, Barcelona's main attraction is still unfinished. The daring duo first climbed the tower and then later the crane 50 meters above the 170-meter church.