Trier Day 1

We spent two days in Trier a couple of weeks ago to explore the ancient Roman city. Founded in 16 BC during the reign of Roman Emperor Augustus, Trier is the oldest city in Germany and known for the number and quality of the Roman ruins and heritage preserved outside of Rome. We arrived at the city around 9am. We parked our car at the hotel and walked towards the old town. The Porta Nigra (Latin for Black Gate) welcomed us! The large Roman city gate in Trier was built in the 2nd century using approximately 7,200 sandstone blocks. It's one of four gates in the ancient Roman city wall and the only surviving one.

You can climb the gate. There was not much inside but it was nice to feel the robust structure directly.

We walked down to Hauptmarkt, or Trier's main market square. It was built in the 10th century after the Vikings destroyed the previous one. The Market Cross at the center was erected in 958 to commemorate the event although the pillar is a replica and the original is stored in the City Museum.

There was also the Petrusbrunnen, or Fountain of St. Peter, built in 1595. St. Peter who stands on the top is Trier's patron saint.

A late breakfast time. At a restaurant called 'Im Roten Haus' (In the Red House), I had a set of healthy breakfast, which was lovely. I think J had a set of American breakfast.  

The Red House was originally built in 1684 for the master baker and cathedral secretary Johann Wilhelm Polch. The inscription on the front means that Trier is 1,300 years older than Rome. There is a legend that Trier was founded 1300 years before Rome by the Assyrian prince Trebeta, which a few people in the 17th century believed. Everyone likes a story.

We were heading to the cathedral but must have taken a wrong way. We arrived at the Basilica of Constantine. 

The building is currently a protestant church but was originally an ancient throne room, built by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great around 310, then called “Aula Palatina.” He demonstrated his power with the giant pillar-less hall building. The interior was gorgeously decorated with marble, mosaics and statues at that time. The room was luxuriously heated of course.

On the right next to the basilica was the Electoral Palace. Originally built in the 17th century, the Rococo-style palace was the residence of the Trier Electoral Princes until 1794 when French revolutionary forces captured the palace and used it as a barracks. Today the palace houses government administration offices and we just looked at the exterior. Actually I was more interested in the garden in front of the palace. It was lovely. 

We passed through the garden, stepped outside the center of the old town, walked through residential areas for a while, and finally arrived at the Trier Amphitheater. Built in the 2nd century, the 10th largest surviving Roman amphitheater in the world today used to entertain up to 22,000 spectators with various events such as performances of music and dance as well as gladiator fights and animal baiting.

You can walk though the cellar beneath the arena, where Roman prisoners sentenced to death as well as wild animals like lions and tigers were kept. A sort of stage lift machinery was also once installed in the cellar.

Next we visited Kaiserthermen, or the Imperial Baths. We arrived at the back of the ruins and looked for the entrance...

When we were searching the entrance, we passed by a pond and found the palace over there. The green area was a part of the Palace Garden. 

Eventually we found the entrance. Construction of the Imperial Baths began in the 3rd century. The huge public bath complex was supposed to be a gift from the Emperor to the Trier citizens, but there is a question whether it really served for the original purpose because in the 4th century there were new plans to use the building instead for military purposes. We walked through the underground corridors, which was a nice escape from the heat outside.   

Next we visited the High Cathedral of Saint Peter in Trier. Actually there were two churches since the Liebfrauenkirche, or the Church of Our Lady was attached to the Cathedral.

Built in the 13th century, the Church of Our Lady is the oldest Gothic church in Germany. We couldn't see the inside because it was a mass time.

The Cathedral along with the Church of Our Lady stand on where the largest Early Christian church complex in the Roman Empire was built in the 4th century on a palace complex from the reign of the Emperor Constantine the Great. The Cathedral is considered as the oldest church in Germany and it still serves its original purpose to be a bishop's church today.

It was around noon. The inside of the Cathedral was very busy with a lot of visitors. We briefly walked around, took some pictures and left for lunch.

J chose Krämerei, a family-run French bistro for lunch. Many of the outside tables were taken but the inside was almost empty.  

We shared an Antipasto plate. Simple and nice.

We both had pan-fried (?) fish filet (a white light fish, but I forgot what kind of fish it was) with tagliatelle, parmesan cheese and fresh herbs. It was pretty good.   

We also tried their dessert. I chose a fruit salad tart with sorbet. It was just ok.

After the lunch break, we headed another Roman ruin. The Barbarathermen, or the Barbara Baths were located outside of the center of the old town, near the river Moselle. Built in the 2nd century, the public bath complex was the largest thermal baths in the entire Roman Empire, outside of Rome. The ruin was open for free. You can't enter the excavation site, but there was a platform that we could walk on and look at the part of the ancient bathing temple exposed on the surface.

Since we were very close to the river Moselle, we walked a little more to the river to see Roman Bridge, originally built in the 2nd century. The stone pilings of the ancient bridge date from the 2nd century and still securely hold the relatively new upper part. We didn't cross the bridge but headed back to the center of the old town to visit one more Roman ruin.

The Forum Baths were another Roman bath complex in Trier. Located in the middle of the city center, the ruins were accidentally found in 1987 while workers were digging a pit for an underground car park. Today the site of the Forum Baths is neatly displayed inside of the modern glass cube building. 

We have already covered all major Roman ruins in Trier on the arrival day. We walked around the old town a bit more before going back to the hotel. We passed by Kornmarkt, or the grain market, created in 1746. 

The bronze statue of Karl Marx stands near the Porta Nigra. The famous and controversial philosopher, economist, journalist and author of "Capital", the criticism of capitalist society in the 19th century was born in Trier, which I knew on this trip. 

We came back to the Porta Nigra, our starting point of the day. The weather forecast told us that we would have thunder storms in the afternoon, but fortunately we didn't. Instead we had a plenty of sunshine. It was very hot and muggy in the daytime. 

To be continued...