Life is really a strange thing. I had spent more than a decade living and working in Germany, spoke the language, know its people, culinary traditions and customs very well, but I had visited far fewer places in Germany than I had in countries such as Spain, Greece, and Turkey. Although there are many places in Germany which are worth a visit, it just does not seem to arouse my interest enough to induce me to book that flight or train ticket online and get my suitcase ready. While many overseas visitors spent quite a bit of time and money to visit those places which I could have easily travelled to on any weekend, I simply ignored them unless I was there on a subsidised trip.
That was the case with Trier, the Roman city on the Moselle and arguably one of the oldest cities in Germany. The city is famous for its UNESCO inscribed Roman monuments, its wines and scenic boat tour up the valleys of the Moselle all the way up to the border with Luxembourg, and is known throughout the world as the birthplace of Karl Marx.
Most visitors to Trier make the impressive Porta Nigra, one of the best preserved Roman gate structures in the world, their first port of call. A series of Roman ruins and monuments can be seen all over the centre of Trier, including a Roman bridge, a Roman bath complex, and the remains of a small Roman amphitheatre. During the Roman period, Trier was the capital of the Roman province of Gallia Belgica, as well as the capital of the prefecture of Gaul, and the city also served as the residence of the Western Roman Emperors.
Legend has it that Trier was founded as early as 16th century BC by an Assyrian prince by the name of Trebeta who, after escaping his homeland beyond the banks of the River Euphrates, decided to set up camp in Trier. And if it was to be believed, some of the other achievements on his CV include the founding of several great settlements on the Rhine such as Basel, Strasbourg, Speyer and Worms. That sure sounds pretty impressive for someone on the run.
Besides the Roman heritage, Trier also has several remarkable religious buildings such as the impressive Cathedral of St. Peter, the construction of which began in 4th century AD and is the oldest cathedral in Germany. Its current structure was built upon the foundations laid by the Romans.
Perhaps the city is not so well known outside of Germany, but Trier is a popular destination for German tourists, who swarm to the city to visit its cathedral, the Roman ruins, to sample its wine and food, and to take a scenic boat ride upstreams on the Moselle towards the border with Luxembourg. It is less than an hour by train from Trier to Luxembourg, en route one will see some very scenic views of the upper Moselle and some very picturesque riverside villages in southern Luxembourg.
Trier is also a very youthful city, with a sizeable student population, which means there are a steady supply of cheap and decent bars, cafes and eateries catering to the student scene. Personally I found the food in Trier not as good as the ones available in southern Baden, the other major wine-growing region of Germany, which is a bit of a pity, as I had been anticipating some really thrilling culinary delights from a town located on a tri-border-region. With France (Northern Lorraine) and Luxembourg both just barely an hour away by car or train, one would have thought Trier would be a place where some exciting and innovative fusion cuisines using fresh local ingredients are conjured. Especially when one takes into consideration that Luxembourg has some of the best crossiants I have ever tasted anywhere in the world. Too bad this culinary revolution has not seemed to have caught on with chefs working in Trier just yet.
In spite of the relative absence of great tasting food, the city of Trier is a nice place for a great weekend getaway, in part to due its youthful atmosphere thanks to the presence of a large student population. Although the University of Trier was founded as early as in 1473, the campus itself however is located in some very modern looking buildings in a suburb outside of the old town, which is very different from most medieval university towns in Germany, where large parts of the old town centre are essentially the university itself. Perhaps this has something to do with the turbulent past of the University of Trier; the institution was shut down by the French in 1796 following the French occupation of Rhineland, and was only reopened in 1970. This explains the lack of impressive old university lecture halls and other academic buildings.
Just a short walk away from the Moselle and the colourful Hauptmarkt, a large market suqare with arrays of medival houses and portable market stalls selling fresh produce from nearby farmlands, is the Karl Marx House, the birthplace of the influential socialist philosopher. The house is now a museum whose collections include rare editions of Marx's works, his letters and writings, as well as an exhibit of the history of the development of socialism in the previous centuries. Because of Marx's iconic status as the founder of socialist thinkings, the museum has attracted visitors from all over the world, especially those from the former or current communist countries such the Russia, Cuba, and China.
Trier is conveniently connected by regional train from Koblenz. The journey will pass by some very picturesque stretch of the winding Moselle valley, dotted with vineyards, medieval wine villages, rolling green hills, and fortress-castles. Once you are in Trier, you can spend a leisurely day walking around the old town, take a boat ride up along the red cliffs of Moselle to the border villages of Luxembourg, have a drink at one of the local restaurants which line the embankment of the Moselle, take a local bus and have a few rounds of wine-tasting at one of the local wineries famous for its fruity whites, or board the train to Luxembourg and have a great day shopping in that ridiculously expensive city. One would be surprised to find that Trier, in spite of its inland location, is actually one of the less provincial and amongst one of the more cosmopolitan towns in the whole of Germany.
Copyrights@2012. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment