A Quick Second Visit to Trier – Germany’s Oldest City

Trier is known as the oldest city located in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the west of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and within the important Moselle wine region.

Trier has 9 World Heritage sites and one Memory of the World (Codex Egberti) in its vicinity.

Trier was Founded as Augusta Treverorum in 16 BC during the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar. It is Germany’s oldest city, and it contains several well-preserved Roman structures.

The city is often referred to as the Rome of the North because it served as the key city of the Roman northern territories. They renamed it as Augusta Treverorum, The City of Augustus among the Treveri 

According to its record, Tried has an approximate population of 105,000. Trier is the fourth-largest city in its state.

The nearest major cities are Luxembourg (50 km or 31 mi to the southwest), Saarbrücken (80 kilometers or 50 miles southeast), and Koblenz (100 km or 62 mi northeast).

Nowadays, the city is also internationally known because it is the birthplace of Karl Marx, the father of modern socialism and communism.

Before our visit to Trier

Before getting into the conclusion of visiting Trier for the second time around, My hubby and I stayed in Treis-Karden where our hotel located. We stayed here since it’s an only 15-minute drive to Burg Eltz.

Check out my previous post about Burg Eltz Germany – Guide to one of the Rhine Medieval Castles.

After the visit to Burg Eltz, it was still early to wrap up the day. So we thought of visiting another city nearby. But before that, we went for a quick lunch first in the city of Treis-Karden.

We found a restaurant on the road and took a stop to see if they are open to serve lunch. Luckily, they are so we installed ourselves and checked the menu of the day.

For our entrée or appetizer, we ordered squash soup and salad. It was quite sunny, and hot that day, it wasn’t ideal to order soup but, anyhow we’d love to try German’s squash soup.

On the other hand, the Salad looks pretty fresh, that was a great way to start a meal. Trying all these appetizers was super good, the soup especially was delicious. Hubby and I didn’t expect that the squash soup would come out that well.

The Main Dish

Both of us are fascinated by the entrée, and now it’s time to try the main dish. We ordered a schnitzel dish with cheese and tomatoes. On my side, I ordered a half fried chicken with some fried potatoes.

Believe or not we ate everything (lol), the meal was satisfying. For drinks, we ordered water and a non-alcoholic beer.

The best thing about this lunch is that we didn’t pay that expensive. As you know, in Germany food costs a bit cheaper than in Belgium. After our lunch, we wanted to get some desserts as well, so we went to Trier to get our dessert.

Arriving at Trier

Trier wasn’t that far from Treis-Karden, it was an hour drive from the restaurant. We’ve arrived around 4’oclock in the afternoon, parked at the nearest parking area in the center.

Walking on, I first saw Karl Marx statue that stands on Simeonstiftplatz directly behind the City Museum. According to its description, the statue of Karl Marx was given to Trier by the People’s Republic of China on the occasion of the anniversary year 2018.

The sculpture was created in bronze by the well-known Chinese sculptor Wu Weishan. On the occasion of Karl Marx’s 200th birthday, the statue was ceremoniously unveiled on May 5, 2018, followed by a large festival.

The Dessert

Walking a bit further in the area and started to do a stroll in the center’s boutiques. We even entered a Canon shop to see if they have some Canon accessories available. Unfortunately, we didn’t find anything interesting for us.

I found a shop that has 70% off and bought some products there. After the stroll, we went to buy desserts (Ice cream). Each of us got one scoop of ice cream vanilla flavor.

We then proceeded to see the famous Hauptmarkt (main market) of the city. Among other popular square and monuments of Trier are; Simeonstift, Cathedral Square/Cathedral City, Kornmarkt Square, Viehmarkt Square and

Some other places are must-visit like St. Maximin, Jews’ Alley (Judengasse), Old Harbour Cranes, St. Mary’s Column and Pfalzel.

Porta Nigra

Our dessert moment has ended, and it’s now time to visit some of Trier’s most exceptional landmarks. We started at the Porta Nigra (Latin for black gate)

It is a large 2nd-century Roman city gate in Trier, Germany. It is designated as part of the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s the world’s best-preserved Roman city gate and Trier’s landmark.

The name Porta Nigra originated in the Middle Ages due to the darkened color of its stone. Today, Locals commonly refer to the Porta Nigra simply as Porta.

Main Market (Hauptmarkt)

Looking at the other side of the road from Porta Nigra is the central market square. A captivating town square surrounded by striking buildings constructed over the centuries, showing you the rich history of Trier.

Germany’s oldest market dating back to the year 958, can be found on this square.

Around the square, there’s the Steipe, the city council’s banqueting house, with immediate access to the city church St. Gangolf, the official city yardstick (reconstruction) at the Steipe, the pillary (reconstructed on the south end of the market), Cathedral, and the Jewish Quarter.

The fountain, just like the Cathedral and the parish and guild church St. Gangolf as well the Steipe, are all rooted in the 300-year struggle for supremacy in the city.

Between the 10th and 12th centuries, the Trier archbishops became both the ecclesiastical as well as the secular rulers. As bishop’s church, the Cathedral was the ecclesiastical center of the city.

The bishop, of course, had to react to this symbolic provocation. He had only enough money, however, to heighten just one of the two towers on the Cathedral, the south tower, by an additional Gothic story.

The Market Fountain from 1595 shows St. Peter, the patron saint of the Cathedral as well as the city, standing on top, surrounded by the four cardinal virtues of good city government, Justice, Strength, Temperance, and Wisdom (originals in the Municipal Museum), but also by monsters and frolicking monkeys.

Other Places to visit

Marching around the Tier’s center was pretty fun to do. We enjoyed the time of our quick visit though it wasn’t that enough to visit every inch of this wonderful city.

It was already 5:00 pm, and we thought it’s time to say goodbye to Trier. If you guys are planning to visit this charming city, I’d like to recommend you to visit some of the incredible Roman structures: Cathedral (Dom), Roman Imperial Throne Room (Konstantin-Basilika), Amphitheater, Imperial Baths, Forum Baths, Barbara Baths, and Roman Bridge.

For those who love to visit museums, don’t ever miss to go to the Archaeological Museum (Rheinisches Landesmuseum), Cathedral Museum (Museum am Dom), City Museum (Stadtmuseum Simeonstift), Karl Marx House, Treasury, Cathedral Treasury, Toy Museum (Spielzeugmuseum), and Public Transportation Museum (Verkehrsmuseum)

To know more about Trier, visit its Official Website.

Quick Second Visit to Trier, Germany