Trier and Roman Ruins

October 7, 2021

My last destination on the trip was Trier, west of Frankfurt over by the border with France. It's home to the most Roman ruins outside of Rome, and they didn't disappoint.

The Porta Nigra, or Black Gate is one of the most well known places, and is one of the main entrances to the old town. It's made out of sandstone, which has turned black with age.

There's a small model of the gate out in front of the gate.

Also in the old part of town is the Dom, or cathedral. It's just a bit of gorgeous architecture, with parts of it dating back to the 300s.

Inside, the ceilings, walls, and carvings are incredible. Photographs are allowed and the church loses a little of it's holy feeling due to the automatic sliding glass doors that have been installed at the front, but it doesn't take anything away from how beautiful it is. 

Right next to it is the Church of Our Lady, which also has stunning Gothic architecture and a painted ceiling. The sun was just right for me to walk in through the side door and immediately be bathed in colored light coming through the stained glass window on the other side. It was magical.

From the outside the stained glass windows were unassuming, and it was hard to even tell they were colored. All the magic was contained inside.

Next on my tour of Roman places was the bath house. It's now a shell of what it once was, and undergoing restoration so scaffolding all around detracted a little from it. The corner of the area held the tallest structure that once had windows at the corner of the site.

Underground tunnels have been excavated. Workers would use them to maintain all the pipes and stuff that carried the hot and cold water to the baths.

Seeing what's left of the massive bath house made me wish that we could see it so many hundred years ago in it's prime. Also it's amazing what people so long ago managed to build with the technology that existed then.

Last stop on my tour was the amphitheater a short walk outside of town. This one seemed a little more reconstructed to me. There was a sign saying that after the fall of the Roman empire the amphitheater wasn't used any more for gladiator fights, and a lot of the stone was pilfered to use for other construction. At one point the hillside around the arena where the spectators sat was turned into vineyards. So tough to say how much of it was original construction. But it was cool anyway.

There was a space under the main arena that had the remnants of machinery used to lift people or animals through the floor up to the main arena. It's somewhat flooded with water now, but I thought it was really neat down there. 

Walking back through the main square at night was much quieter, the majority of tourists were gone for the night, and the Dom was lit up magnificently.

The Porta Nigra was too.

My last morning in Trier I took a walk along the Moselle River to see the Romerbrucker, the oldest bridge in Germany. While it was cool, it was just sort of another bridge. But the morning stroll along the river was lovely.

As a side note, Trier has the fanciest McDonalds I think I've ever seen. Yes, that's it on the corner.

Hiking in the Black Forest

October 4-5, 2021

After saying goodbye to Sarah and Ave, they went back to Frankfurt and I traveled south, taking two trains and a bus to get me to Triberg, in the heart of the fabled Black Forest. My plans included two days of hiking while I was there.

It was pretty magical the next morning. All different shades of green, with mist hanging around in the trees. It was raining pretty good, but that's what raincoats are for.

I started my day headed to the Triberg waterfall, which claims to be the tallest waterfall in Germany. The area was pretty, with walking paths through the forest. The trees were teeming with birds and pointy-eared red squirrels.

The waterfall was very nice. There were several boardwalk view points arranged for you to enjoy the best parts of the waterfall.

While I have seen taller falls in my life, it was still beautiful. Also the area was largely deserted, probably due to it being October (aka not tourist season) and rainy.

Up the long path past the waterfalls and out the top of the park was the start of my hiking for the day. Although I couldn't figure out which way to go for the trail that I had planned (the next day I realized I was just looking at the wrong part of the sign) I figured I'd just follow the signs for 4km to Schönwald, the next town over, and see what happened.

The trail took me along logging roads through the forest. It was signed pretty well, with little diamond trail markers on trees every so often, and the big sign posts at crossroads. While the hike was different than my brain had imagined, it was beautiful and varied scenery, and a pretty flat walk, and I enjoyed myself very much.

The Black Forest actually has much more green...

I continued through Schönwald and went another 6.5km to Furtwangen, where I found a much needed bathroom and a bratwurst for lunch.

The descent down into Furtwangen started in the trees high above the town, and went down the little winding path all the way there.

I successfully managed to find a bus back to Triberg, so luckily I didn't need to walk the whole thing in reverse. I put my feet up on the couch in my room for a little bit, then found some dinner, and went to bed tired.

The next day I repeated the experiment, but went in a different direction. The waterfall was still lovely, and the sun was out which had a nice effect through the trees.

At the signpost I selected a northward trail, headed towards Shonach instead. The hike was shorter, about 4 km, and took me on some actual trails through the woods rather than all logging roads, as well as across the tops of meadows and across hills.

The meadows often times contained cows.

The sky was feeling extra dramatic that day.

At one point I went right under one of the wind turbines that dot the landscape. It's the closest I've been to one, and was tickled to hear the 'woosh, woosh, woosh' as the blades went around.

The approach to Schonach was picturesque, as per usual, and once again I managed to find a bus back to Triberg. It felt good to get some exercise, fresh air, and sunshine.

Triberg itself is a cute little town nestled into the trees.

Other than the waterfalls, it's got a cultural museum with a bewildering variety of displays, ranging from traditional clothing and hats, to grass weaving, to self-playing musical instruments, to the radio invented in the area, to bobsledding and luge.

There's a bunch of souvenir shops, and every one of them had a dedicated section for the cuckoo clocks the Black Forest is known for. While expensive and not my taste, they all had undeniably beautiful wood carving and decoration. I was glad I was never in one of the shops at the top of the hour. 

Triberg is also known for it's pom-pom hats, which are traditional for the women to wear. They are piled with giant red or black puffballs (signifying single or married) and are all over signs and souvenirs in the area. My favorite thing was the line of giant Easter Island statues along the river in town that got pom-pom hats too.

I was sad to leave the Black Forest after just a couple of days. It really is just a beautiful area, and somehow it's different than other forests I've seen and hiked in before. Maybe it's the colors, maybe it's the fact that there's both trees and fields hanging out together. Either way, 5 stars, I'd totally go back again and explore more of it.

Heidelburg - Another Castle on a River

October 3, 2021

Our time in Heidelburg was not long, but very enjoyable I thought.

The town is right on the Neckar River, and even though it's not totally medieval like Rothenburg was, it still had plenty of picturesque going on.

We got in after dark on Saturday, checked into the hotel and had dinner at the attached bar downstairs. Sunday after breakfast we walked along the river to visit the castle perched on the hill.

A quick 2 minute ride up the hill on the funicular, and we were ready to explore the grounds.

As with other castles so far, it's got beautiful sandstone construction and lots of ornamentation.

In a cellar we saw a giant wine barrel. There were no interpretive signs saying anything about why it was there or what it's purpose was, but it was definitely big.

Sarah and Avery for scale.

Also on the grounds was an apothecary museum, which had some rooms talking about old apothecary shops, and the history of medicine and laboratories. Apparently Robert Bunsen of the Bunsen Burner was working at the university in Heidelburg when he invented it. My favorite part was all the old time medicine jars and containers.

 

The gardens gave a good view of a ruined tower, and of the river below. The reverse of the view we had seen before.

After lunch Sarah and Avery hopped a train back to Frankfurt, and I went south to the Black Forest for a couple days of hiking. We all agreed that Heidelburg was a good stop to make.