Trier

We left Münster for Trier after breakfast this morning. About three hours later, we arrived in the oldest city in Germany.

Before any sightseeing we had to buy a new memory card for Glenda's digital camera. The existing one went kaput and all the digital pictures from Münster were lost. Fortunately, Alan-the-dinosaur had been snapping black and white pictures with his film camera; so the memory will not be completely lost.



Our first stop was Porto Nigra, the Roman city gate that was built in the second century, and the Simeonstift, a Catholic Stift that was built on to the Roman gate in the eleventh century. The gate is simply magnificent. The Stift is now the city museum and has a good collection of artifacts from the city. The remains of the old Roman city wall is showcased in the basement of the museum.

After a nice nourishment (spaghettieis - ice cream pressed into noodle shape with strawberry puree as the sauce), we continued our sightseeing in the old town. Wondering around the Hauptmarkt (main market) we happened on Judengasse, which was the alley that led to the Jewish quarter for centuries (middle picture). Well, it is now an alley of pubs.


One interesting building (right picture) is the Dreikönigshaus (the Three Magi House), which was built in the thirteen century. The window on the right was the entrance to the house in those days as people had to defend their houses. There is now a cafe on the ground floor, and of course, customers no longer need to climb into the building with the help of a ladder.

The Trierer Dom, home of the Holy Tunic (which is not on public display), and the neighboring Liebfrauenkirche, which is connected to the Dom by a narrow passage and is one of the first Gothic churches in Germany, were closed because of the new bishop's pontifical mass the next day. We lingered outside the square outside before heading to the Basilika and the Kurfürstliche Palais.









Based on the restaurant reviews on the internet, Sushi Trier is an exceptional sushi restaurant. The restaurant is not too far from our hotel and we decided to give it a try. Glad that we did. The sushi was indeed very good, perhaps the best we have had in Europe so far.