Trier

 

Porta Nigra

A week into an amazing river cruise, the ancient Porta Nigra managed to impress all of us touring Trier.  Imagine how this massive structure and the former four mile city wall that was 26 feet high appeared to barbarians who had barely progressed past the hunter-gatherer stage of social evolution.

Built around 180 AD, this Roman north gate became known as Porta Nigra (Black Gate) in the Middle Ages after the grey sandstone had darkened.  It is the oldest defensive structure in Germany as well as the best preserved Roman city gate in the world.  The size of the largest Roman gate north of the Alps as well as the massive sandstone blocks (weighing up to 6 metric tons) from which it is constructed are quite impressive, raising questions of how Roman masons completed this over 1800 years ago.

Roman Ruins

A mile from Porta Nigra is a Roman gladiatorial combat arena that would have seated 18,000 spectators.

Before the Romans built their first military camp there in 30 BC, Trier was already a town for a Celtic tribe, the Treveris.  Its early Roman name, Augustus Treveroram, indicates Caesar Augustus ruled at the time the city was established. 

Trier may be the oldest city in Germany, although there are other contenders including Cologne, which we would visit later in our trip.

Janet, Bruce and Julie Walking Back From the Roman Arena

The first wooden bridge over the Moselle, which indicates the beginning of Trier's uninterupted urban living, has been dated to 17 BC, according to the city's history page.  A newer bridge with stone piers built in 144 AD still has thousands of cars cross over it each day and serves as further testimony to Roman engineering genius.

Many of history's most remarkable leaders passed through Trier, beginning before that bridge was constructed.  Julius Caesar conquered Treveri in about 57 BC. 

Porta Nigra

The Emperor Constantine the Great, whose conversion to Christianity and subsequent laws did more to make Europe and then America Christian than anyone in history except Jesus Himself, ruled in Trier from 306 to 316 AD.  Emperor Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire spent the Christmas of 802 in Trier and upgraded its Bishop to Archbishop.  Napoleon visited Trier and ordered the Porta Nigra restored in 1803.  Adolf Hitler held massive rallies in the streets of Trier in the shadows of Porta Nigra during his reign of terror.



Moorish Sidewalk Cafe

The founder of communism, Karl Marx, was born in Trier in 1818.  He was the son of a wealthy lawyer.  Interestingly, Marx was not his father's last name by birth.  The son of a rabbi, Heinrich Marx was actually born Herschel Mordechai, but he changed from that Jewish name and became a liberal Lutheran.  Heinrich/Herschel voluntarily converted to Christianity, probably to a great extent because he saw it as a rational choice for assimilation, based on his fondness for the writings of Kant and Voltaire.  800 years earlier, however, other Jews were forced to convert when French Crusaders came through the gates of Porta Nigra on their way to the Holy Lands.  Nonetheless, a Jewish Ghetto survived in a little alleyway we visited not far from Porta Nigra.  And, of course, under Hitler, Jews were persecuted, imprisoned, treated like lab rats and even incinerated in ovens.

Cathedral (Dom) and Liebfrauenkirche

The city literally has great Christian churches almost on top of each other.  There's an amazing palace, and charming streets of historic buildings of diverse styes.  

Our guide kept providing more and more historical information and interesting anecdotes, and it became clear why our cruise friend Janet took copious notes everywhere she went on this cruise. 



Electoral Palace

Janet had been on other river cruises and knew that it was hard to keep it all straight without a program, so she was writing one for herself as she went along.  I do the same, but usually not until I get home.  As I write this blog, I confess that I research the fragments of concepts that remain in my memory to verify what I thought I remembered. 

Of course, all the time on vacation, we're not simply storing facts without processing them through our own world views and mental processes. 

 

Hauptmarkt Fountain

Each of us interprets what we experience in existentialy unique ways.  Getting away to foreign lands where our pre-conceived notions are challenged or reinforced is always enlightening and stimulating. 

On a cruise, we return to our floating resort overflowing with new concepts and understanding, and frequently we discuss these breakthroughs with new friends who now have shared experiences that can't help but bond us.

And as we discuss the amazing sites we saw and lessons we learned over a glass of regional wine and delicious meal, the conversations dovetail into other vacations or our personal lives back home. 

After dinner, we enjoy pleasant entertainment and more engaging conversation. 

 

Liebfrauenkirche

By the end of the evening, we are thoroughly relaxed, ready to climb between the sheets and dream serenely as our floating resort takes us to the next amazing destination.

My friend Florence, an avid independent traveler, once told me she thought cruises were for people who wanted other people to tell them where to go.  Admittedly, sometimes I don't understand why a particular city was selected over another port on an itinerary, but by the end of the trip, I have enjoyed an amazing panorama of experiences.

Trier Cathedral (Dom)

In the case of a river cruise, where excursions are included, you can't help but return having experienced a full vacation that leaves you extremely satisfied, which may not always be the case if you just set out on the road with a map hoping for the best.  Can you afford to squandor your precious vacation days?


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