Trier: a Roman feast for the eyes and belly in Germania

Trier, Germany

Known for its surviving Roman ruins, we visited Trier with high hopes. We were truly lovesick for Italy and its great weather, food and history. Trier gave us a little sense of what felt like home (thought the cool air required coats and jeans - not quite as Roman as I would have liked). Our first glimpse was the Porta Nigra, a Roman gatehouse that was converted into a makeshift church by Archbishop Poppo in the eleventh century. Such a great name. 

Three grand floors were still open to the elements, showing moss growth and weathering of the original carved stone decorations. Birds nested in the nooks and crannies, and even a couple of fake pigeons looked out over the halls. 

The Porta Nigra had since been returned to its original Roman state, but not without some elements remaining. In some areas you could see depictions of saints and small shrines. 

The next set of ruins was a large Roman bath complex, with some amazing brick architecture still standing. It was built by Emperor Constantine, and originally a titanic marble statue of him rose above the baths. Now, only one of his feet is left, but you can get a sense of scale as it is larger than me!  

The passageways between bath rooms are now underground, leaving just a little overhead light to navigate by. Sometimes we found ourselves in very narrow corridors that we had been in before. I hope that in Constantine's time they weren't so maze-like, as bathers may have become grumpy trying to find their sauna. 

The last site we visited was a semi-excavated amphitheatre (the seats were still under mounds of dirt), which wasn't so impressive. But a fun part of our afternoon was eating food prepared from a Roman recipe at restaurant Zum Domstein. We ate pork and barley soup, as well as sausages filled with pine nuts - recipes from Emperor Tiberius' cook. The soup wasn't to my liking, but the sausages were delicious and I'm now a firm believer that nuts should be added to sausages more often. To wash it all down, we sipped at a rich concoction of honeyed wine with spices, touted as a Roman cocktail. 

In less ancient history stood the Kurfürstliches Palais, a rococo beacon at the far end of the palace gardens. I was mesmerised by the fountain, which employed a rotating brass piece that looked like four teapot spouts. This made for a dynamic water feature and I resolved that if I own a house in the future (seemingly less and less likely for our generation of lifelong renters), I will have a fountain like this one. 

A little out of town was a popular vineyard walk that provided brilliant views of the surrounding hillside grape vines. We passed a few tourists, as well as locals walking their dogs or going for a run. Some of the paths between the rows were incredibly steep, and I nearly attempted to brave one for a close up shot of some choice looking grape bunches, but Fabienne rightly told me it was too dangerous. In that instance, I was listening to the voice of reason over the voice of Riesling. 

Yet later that day I did listen to the latter, when I ordered a local Riesling at a pub. It came in an adorable little jug for reasons unknown. We certainly enjoyed our time in Trier, especially with an Italian themed interlude from heavy German food. The campsite we stayed at had a herb garden available for campers to use, and we took a considerable amount of fresh basil for our meals. Yannick also saw a fox twice!

On our way to the Rhine Valley, we travelled through the Moselle Valley where we took in some much needed sun. It was clear that lands even a little further south of the Netherlands were experiencing proper summer temperatures. 

Along the Moselle River we bought bread at Traben-Trabach, a quaint town filled with ivy-draped streets. Bakeries seemed to specialise in a gooey cinnamon roll, but when Yannick tried to buy one he was told that they were only sold by cluster, which meant he would have had to eat nearly a dozen! Even we aren't that gluttonous.