Mayen
Herz Jesu Kirche |
Luxem
Weiler
Town of Kehrig
Finally it was time to leave and as Chrissy would caption it - The town wasn't big enough to hold all us Kehrigs.
I occasionally get complacent in communicating with friends and family. To battle this, and for giggles when I am old, I am blogging the goings on of my life. Share, comment, enjoy.
Herz Jesu Kirche |
The windy path leading up to the top of the river bank castle is its own highlight |
Considered the oldest City in Germany, a shrine of the Treveri, a Germanic tribe, existed at the site (c. 400 BCE) with inhabitation occurring potentially 1000 years prior. The Roman town was founded by the emperor Augustus aorund 15 BCE. due to its strategic position North of the Alps along the fertile Mosel River. For most of the fourth century, this city of 80,000 had a four-mile-long wall with four great gates to protect its inhabitants from invaders and Emperor Constantine used the town as the capital of his western Roman Empire before settling in the East. Over the years the City served as an important centre within the Holy Roman Empire, the French under Napolean and the Prussian Empire.
We arrived in the evening, checking into Hotel Deutschherrenhof (outstanding service and great breakfast) and then venturing out to get a view of the main square and something to eat before being proper tourists the next day. We were immediately smitten with the lovely pedestrain area.
As a centre of history I arranged for a walking tour for the family on our first full day, but not just any walking tour, a Mosel wine appreciation historical wine tour. It served as a great way to orientate ourself within the core of the City, learn about the major sites, plan out the rest of our time and try some fantastic local wines. Highlights from our tour and wanderings include:
Porta Nigra or the ‘Black Gate’ dates back to ~170 AD. It is the best preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps, and the number one attraction when it comes to Roman structures in modern-day Germany.
The Roman fortification was built without mortar, only iron pegs which are visible in select locations, hold the sandstone blocks together. Porta Nigra survived the middle ages as it became a church. Saint Simeon, a renowned pilgrim and then weird hermit who was both villain and then saint to the locals, lived inside the gate for seven years. After his death in 1035, the Simeon monastery was established and the gate was made into a two-story church and monastary. As a holy place it surviced the metal and stone scavengers that the other gates did not. Eventually in the early 1800s Napoleon dissolved the church in the Porta Nigra and the monastery beside it, along with the vast majority of Trier's numerous churches and monasteries. Napoleon then ordered that the Porta Nigra be converted back to its Roman form.
All that to say - It is cool. The majority of time we were in Trier we viewed the structure in the rain which somehow actually punctuates its permanence. For more than 1800 years this structure has survived multiple invading forces, the rise and fall of multiple emplires, two world wars, the wind, snow, and the rain.
Electoral Palace
The site of the current Electoral Palace was used by Constantine the Great as early as the 4th century. Through the centuries their have been many buildings and additions to the nearby basilica and residences including rococo and baroque influences. During out wine tour we learned that before World War I the current front lawn was used for exercises for German troops. I think it highly likely that Grandpa would have probably paraded the area.