GERMAN RIVERS: Tourist Day in Trier

Trier, Germany’s oldest city, lies at the head of the scenic Mosel Valley, near the border with Luxembourg.  An ancient Roman capital, Trier brags that it was inhabited by Celts for 1,300 years before Rome even existed.  A stop here offers you a look at Germany’s oldest Christian church, one of its most enjoyable markets, and it’s best Roman ruins.  We’re going to visit these sites today.

We toured Trier, walking for 6 hours.  This is much more tiring than cycling for 6 hours.  In addition to a guided walking tour we visited Porta Nigra, the cathedral, the basilica, the archeological museum and the Roman baths.

The Roman city of Trier (Augusta Treverorum) acquired its north gate in conjunction with construction of  a city wall, 160-200 ad. The gate has been known since the Middle Ages as Porta Nigra or “Black Gate” after small organisms darkened the surface of the white sandstone.  It was at one time a church but when the French took control 200 years ago, it was transferred to state ownership.

The archeological museum was a surprise.  I believe that only the museum in Athens and the British Museum contain more Roman artifacts.  We had just enough time to quickly peruse but should come back some day and spend time with the audio guide.

The cathedral is impressive from the outside but very plain on the inside. There are no stained glass windows and the alter is also plain.

You may remember one blog in France earlier this month when I told you that, according to our guide, a basilica is a church consecrated by a pope.  The Trier guide said too forget anything you’ve heard about the name “basilica” since this one was not even (or ever) a church.   My on-line dictionary gives an entirely different definition than either of these.  Anyway this basilica is noted for its very large expanse of roof without columns.

The Kaisertherman, “Imperial Baths” were begun in the 4th century but never completed because Constantine The Great shifted his activities to the east. 

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Tomorrow we're taking a chartered bus to the Frankfurt airport. Brenda and I have 2.5 days there. 'Not sure if I'll blog about Frankfurt or not but surely I'll write a final chapter about our month cycling in France and Germany.