Relaxing by the Mosel River, Trier, Germany

With the campsite in Echternach full for the national holiday on the 9th, it was time to move on. The motorhome aire in the town wasn’t an option as it was undergoing some serious redevelopment. Instead we programmed satnav for a Wohnmobil Stellplatz just across the border in the German city of Trier.

Before we left Luxembourg, Zagan needed some lovely cheap diesel. Fuel prices in the country are capped, so it doesn’t matter which station you go to as they all charge the same. We opted for a Shell garage because it also sold ‘premium’ diesel. Zagan’s been puffing out a bit of black smoke recently, so we figured he was in need of a treat.

Arriving in Trier crossed our fingers as it was a national holiday in Germany too. When these holidays fall on a Thursday, people take the Friday off for a long weekend. Judging by the number of wohnmobils (German motorhomes) we saw in the short drive between the two cities, it looked like everyone was making the most of a long weekend in the sunshine. Yes, sunshine! We’ve finally found it. After around two weeks of rain in France, the sun is shining here in Germany.

The stellplatz holds around 60 vans (according to Park4Night) but as we drove towards it, we saw motorhomes parked up in a bus parking area behind a nearby McDonalds – which handily also has a service point. We carried on, hoping they weren’t all waiting for a spot. Driving up to the gate, I leapt out and held my breath as I pressed the button on the machine. Out popped a card, and up went the barrier – we were in.

After a bit of shuffling, we bagged ourselves a prime space (they aren’t marked out pitches) overlooking the Mosel River. We’re at the opposite end of the stellplatz to the road bridge over the river, so it’s a bit quieter here. We’d also seen reviews said local yoofs like to use the area under the bridge for meeting up and revving their cars of an evening.

With the sun shining and our place for the next few nights secured we headed off into town for a look around. The stellplatz is just over a kilometre walk along the riverside cycle path to the Römerbrücke, Roman Bridge, a UNESCO world heritage site, the oldest bridge in Germany and the gateway to the old part of the city.

We knew nothing about Trier, other than it holds a Parkrun, which is the real reason we’re here. Before we did our parkrun research neither of us had even heard of the place. It turns out Trier is the oldest city in Germany (you might spot a theme developing here), the birthplace of Karl Marx, was once a mahoosive Roman settlement, (possibly) has Christ’s tunic in the cathedral. Oh and it’s only home to eight, yes eight UNESCO world heritage sites.

Since we discovered Karl Marx was born here Jay has been reading up on all things Marxist. Sorry dear readers, but it’s my turn to write the blog post today, so there will be none of his thought-provoking musings (unless he adds some when he edits this). Jay Edit: you’re safe dear reader, my attempts to read Das Kapital failed repeatedly. Instead, I bring you a link to the virtual Karl Marx House, which is all we got to see too as it was shut every time we walked past.

Trier sits in the Mosel Valley, one of the largest wine regions in Germany. As neither of us are big drinkers, we haven’t ventured to any of the surrounding vineyards. Not that we would need to, we spotted loads of folks enjoying a very civilized glass of Riesling in the Hauptmarkt. This main market square is Germany’s oldest market place from 958, and the buildings around its edge are a picture perfect mix of styles and colours.

Following the flow of the crowds we found ourselves in front of the Porta Nigra, the Black Gate. The Porta Nigra, the world’s best preserved Roman city gate, stands firm like a sturdy hunk of rock that has been thrown down on the edge of the city.

A nearby brass relief shows what the city would have looked like back when it was Augusta treverorum. The Porta Nigra was a tiny part of what would become, by the 3rd century AD, one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. It is believed that 100.000 people lived here.

As you might imagine there are Roman ruins everywhere around the city. While digging to put in an underground car park in the 1980s, a thermal baths was uncovered. Now there’s a nice big glass cube over the baths protecting it, and you can go in and see the remains – we just peered in through the window having seen quite a few thermal baths on our travels. What interested us more was the group of people just outside the entrance to the thermal baths who appeared to be on a wine tasting/walking tour of the city.

Even though the old town area of the city is quite compact, while we’ve been here we’ve done some serious walking. So we were very pleased that Trier was kind to our aching feet by having two UNESCO sites next to each other – Trier Cathedral and Liebfrauenkirche.

The Liebfrauenkirche is the oldest Gothic church in Germany, dating back to the 13th century. But this lovely little church is nothing compared to its neighbour.

Trier Cathedral is Germany’s oldest church and has been rebuilt and added to in different styles for almost 1700 years. While its core is still from Roman times, it now boasts pinnacles and towers or different shapes and sizes and looks more like a fairy tale castle than a cathedral from the outside.

Inside we followed the flow of visitors who were looking at a coffin inside a glass box. Jay overheard a tour guide saying that inside a box in the coffin was the Holy Robe – the tunic of Christ.

Before you get carried away and book your flights to Trier though folks, it only gets displayed every seven years or so, and as the Cathedrals own website says ‘The question of the Holy Robe’s authenticity cannot be answered definitely’. However if folks get a buzz out of seeing (or rather not seeing) it, then I’m just happy for them.

Over the three nights we’ve been here the stellplatz has been pretty packed. One evening I had a wander around to count how many motorhomes were in here. There were around thirty in the bus parking area (which is free), around 130 in the stellplatz (€14 a night) and I have no idea how many in the campsite next door (€24.70 for a riverside pitch). We thought we had stumbled on a ‘hidden gem’ in Trier, but it seems everyone already knows about it.

We’ve explored the city, sat and watched huge barges on the river and done a few runs. I decided one morning to run up to a viewpoint above the city. The view was lovely, but I was a sweaty mess by the time I got back.

We’ve also taken part in the local Parkrun (a free weekly 5k run). It was my 100th Parkrun, which is one of the official milestones. So when it was announced I got a lovely cheer from everyone and had the marshals cheering me on saying ‘well done 100!’ as I shuffled my way around the park in the sunshine.

Finally we had an unexpected visitor during our time here – the Northern Lights. We’ve seen them in the past on a snowboarding holiday in Finland and when we toured Norway in our motorhome, but nothing like this. I’d spotted on Facebook that there was a solar storm coming, but when I nipped out before bed I thought I’d missed most of it as the pink hue in the sky slowly faded.

Seeing more pictures on Facebook of it from around Europe, I was like an excited child on Christmas Eve. I couldn’t sleep, so I got up, got dressed and lay on the sofa looking out of the window. Eventually around midnight, I started to see white areas in the clear sky. Pointing my camera at them, it picked up the pinks and greens of the aurora. For the next hour I stood on the cyclepath next to Zagan watching them dance over the city lights. It was a truly magical experience.

We’ve had a great few days here, but we’re ready to move on. We’re hoping to take part in a Parkrun in the Netherlands next Saturday, but are just trying to find one that we can park near the night before with Zagan. There’s another national holiday coming up, so places are already looking full again. In the meantime, we’ll see if we can find a few places to visit while we’ve got some lovely weather.

Ju x