Visit to Trier, Germany 14 July 2007

On Saturday, we traveled with the Marxes to the ancient Roman town of Trier. Trier was the capital of the western portion of the Roman empire and was once ruled by Constantine the Great and claims to be the oldest city in Germany. It took us about 2 hours to drive out and our first stop when we arrived was the Porta Nigra or Black Gate. It is the last remaining of 4 city gates that were part of the original city walls. The sandstone has turned black over time and is held together by large iron staples instead of mortar.

Our next stop was St. Peter's Cathedral and the Church of Our Lady, two adjoining churches and UNESCO world heritage sites. After touring the churches and their gardens, we stopped for traditional German food at an outdoor restaurant just across the plaza.

After lunch, we went into Constantine's Imperial Throne Room, which was built around 310 AD and claims to be the largest surviving room from antiquity (220 ft long x 90 ft wide x 110 ft tall). We visited the remains of the Imperial Baths (Kaiserthermen) and then took quite a long hike to the remains of the Roman Amphitheater where gladiators once battled in combat.

By the end of the day, we were getting pretty tired and hot, but we made one last stop to the house where Karl Marx was born before walking about 2.5km along the beautiful Mosel river back to our car.

When we got home, we wrapped up our day with burgers on the grill and a movie. =)

Click below to see some pictures from the day.

Trier