As I mentioned in my last post related to the Europe trip, our final stop was the city of Trier. Hubby had first heard of the city when he was stationed at Spangdahlem in 1975-1976 during his stint in the Army.
He was just a young pup then. And he hadn’t yet gotten the travel bug. So he spent all of his spare time on base, not taking advantage of the many tours/daytrips he would really have enjoyed.
Yes, he is still kicking himself for that.
Anyway… I told myself I wasn’t going to post too many pictures, but narrowing them down was hard. Besides, I think the new layout that I chose will load so much faster that it won’t matter.
Since we left Sinsheim later than usual, we didn’t reach Trier until after dark on Monday. Much to our dismay, Tuesday started off rather dreary.
Trier was founded around 16 B.C. The stone pilings of the Roman Bridge date from A.D. 144-152, which makes it the oldest bridge in Germany. The pilings are deeply embedded in the bedrock underneath the river gravel. The arches and roadway are only from the 18th century. Thankfully, on March 2, 1945, General Patton’s tanks captured the bridge so quickly on March 2, 1945 that it wasn’t blown up.
Our charming hotel sat on the western bank of the Mosel River, which meant we were able to leave our car at the hotel car park and walk into the heart of the old city.
It was a chilly, but relatively short walk. We got to enjoy quite a bit of interesting architecture during our stroll.
Annelies, with her trusty guidebook, led us first to the Imperial Baths.
Construction on the Imperial Baths started around the year 300. The structure was never completed.
Much to my delight, we found big foot near the baths.
Trier has a number of UNESCO world heritage sites. The Porta Nigra (Black Gate) was the thing we most wanted to see. But there we encountered lots of other cool sites as we made our way toward the gate.
That’s the gilded facade of the Electoral Palace, one of the “newer” sites, only dating back to the mid-1700s.
We did not go into the Basilika, Constantine’s throne room. I think it may have been closed. It is the largest surviving single-room structure from Roman times. The guys are dwarfed in that image.
The Church of Our Lady, the oldest Gothic church in Germany, was built in the 13th century.
As you can probably guess, we found the inside of the building amazing.
We probably roamed around that church for a good hour. Annelies and I captured quite a few pics between the two of us. Okay, a ton of pics. But the place was fabulous.
Amazingly enough, our next stop, mere feet away, made the church seem dull by comparison.
Trier Cathedral (Dom St. Peter), a UNESCO world heritage site, is the oldest church in Germany. It has served as a place of worship for 1,700 years.
If you’ve been following my trip posts, you’re probably tired of me talking about brick. But really, how cool is that?
The ceiling was stunning. The wood was amazing. But this sculpture — I have NO idea what it’s called — took my breath away.
It was haunting, really. And amazing.
Sorry, but I’m sorta at a loss for the words to describe it all.
We were in that building for a LONG time, too. But we still had more to see, so off we went to the Porta Nigra.
We gawked for a bit, and then started making our way back to the hotel.
I just love the pedestrian areas in European cities and towns.
We finally stopped for a bite to eat on our way back to the car.
And drinks. We HAD to have drinks to toast our adventures.
Cosmos for Annelies and me, and beer for the guys.
Trier was definitely memorable. We saw so much amazing stuff during our brief trip, which seems much longer that it actually was. We were only actually in Europe for a full 12 days. We sure packed a lot in, didn’t we?
If you’d like to see all of the pictures Annelies and I captured in Trier, visit my Trier FLICKR album.
Thank you for putting Germany into such a bright light. Looks like you thoroughly enjoyed your visit. As a remigrant I do appreciate the regional sights much more now than in my previous life as a German 😉 Actually I often feel like a tourist in my own country.
Sonja, it was short but very sweet. Hopefully, next time we will get to meet you. I’m pretty sure next time will just be the two of us on two wheels, so it’s far more likely.
I’m glad you appreciate it more now. From what little I’ve seen of Germany, there’s much to like.
Wonderful photos. Really impressive buildings. One of these days…
Thanks, Richard.
Wow, you weren’t kidding: All the sculpture and inlay in the Trier Cathedral looks incredible. You know, when I see religious art from centuries back, I often think that there’s just not enough imagery of death and reminders about mortality in contemporary religious art… Really, what was up with those people? Oh, and though your “Big Foot Sighting” was corny, it still made me giggle.
By the way, the new theme works just fine on my iPad 2. Thank you.
Ryan, as I was looking at those pics earlier, I actually thought something along those lines. All most people knew of religion was what the church preached, stories shared by telling, superstition, and the imagery they saw on the buildings. There’s some really scary stuff! No wonder people followed religious beliefs. There is something to be said for the fear of God, I guess.
I couldn’t resist the big foot, especially since we all toured the Pacific Northwest last year and there was Bigfoot/Sasquatch stuff in abundance.
Oh, and I’m glad the new theme works better. It’s not perfect, but at least it’s fast and everything loads.
Do you often just sit and marvel at the intricate detail of architecture and interior design from that long ago? It really does baffle the mind how it was all accomplished with the tools they had available.
Brandy, absolutely! I think that’s why all of the details like intricately painted ceilings, carvings/sculpture at crazy heights, tall structures made completely of brick, etc. all without the benefit of power tools, man lifts, cranes, etc. some of that carved stone was so delicate, like the skeleton. And that white and blue ceiling? It’s simply amazing.
I wanna know what the heck Dad is laughing about in the mid-bridge photo, looks like a good belly laugh. 😀
You guys should check out Prague if you ever have a chance. I can’t really comment on much of Europe because you guys have seen WAY more of it than I have (and I continue to have a raging jealousy over it lol), but I thought of it when you mentioned the “new” buildings that dated back to the 1700s. Prague has Old Town and New Town (among other areas, of course). New Town? Oh, um, yeah, it dates back to the 1300s!
Shan, sorry but I have no idea what was going on. That’s what makes delayed blogging bad.
We just might go to Prague on our next trip. We actually talked about meeting Tammi and Martin there, along with Annelies and Yves. It would be really interesting to see the CR with a former Czech in the traveling party.
Seeing a lot of lesser-known places in Europe has been fun. There’s so much cool stuff out there.