Trier and Bernkastel

 4/12/2025

The weather is not looking great for our morning tour of Trier, but our guide assures us that it will improve. Nevertheless, it is not raining, but we all take umbrellas with us in case. It turned out the guide was right and it turned into a nice day. 

Our morning is devoted to a tour of Trier, first a panoramic bus tour, followed by an in depth walking tour of this remarkable city.

We were given a few facts as we set out including Trier is the oldest city in Germany and  it was one of the largest cities of the Roman Empire. There are still significant buildings and ruins in Trier dating back to when it was under Roman rule.

Viking Odin alongside in Trier

The panoramic tour on the bus takes us to the highest part of the City giving us a great overview of what we will see on our walking tour, and helps to put everything in perspective with respect to the old Roman City.

The first observation from the lookout is obvious, we are in wine country on the Moselle River

We also see glimpses of what we will see in more detail when we get down into the city, the ruin with the arches in the above photo is the remains of the Roman Baths, in the foreground the green area is part of the old Roman Amphitheatre.

The remnants of the old amphitheatre, the stone seating had been looted to build other structures 

Two old churches side by side

And the large Red building ( centre left) is Constantine’s Basilica. We will much of this in detail during our walking tour.

The sun is starting to find its way through the cloud as we descend into the City to meet out guide for a walking tour of the city.

One our descent into the city we get a good view of the remains of the Roman baths, the structure with the arches was the caldarium, the hottest room in a Roman bath complex.

We drove past the Roman museum ( below) which apparently holds the largest quantity of gold Roman coins ever discovered.

The bus drops us in the middle of the old town and we commence our walking tour near Constantine’s Basilica, the large red building we could see from the lookout.

Constantine’s Basilica

It is an impressive building, very high and with no internal columns. Unfortunately we were unable to go inside but were shown photographs. The building was also heated with wood fired furnaces located around the external periphery that fed hot air into under floor cavities and exhausted through hollow brick cavities in the walls.

The arched brickwork (now filled in) was one of the furnaces

Later added to Constantine’s Palace, was the Electoral Palace, an expression of power by the archbishop after he assumed the position of Prince Elector in 13 th century enabling him to co - elect the King.

St Petersburg Gate, a remaining part of the city wall

Next we head towards the Trier Cathedral, through more backstreets until we emerge into the large square where the cathedral is located.

Entering the square the cathedral is now in full sight

Curiously, there are two Churches side by side in this square, St Peter’s Cathedral in the 

Background, and The Church of Our Lady in the foreground. The two buildings actually share a common wall.

St Peter’s Cathedral

Here are a few photos from inside the cathedral.

Our tour continued on past some interesting buildings including this one that was once owned by a wealthy merchant and was built with security in mind. The low arched doorway on the right hand side above the hanging plaque is the front door of the residence. To gain access, a wooden ladder had to be lowered to allow you to enter.

Trier is also the home of Karl Marx. We are shown the home he was born in (below), now the site of a touristy shop. 

This is not where the irony ends however, because on one side of the house is Burger King and the other, a Mexican  restaurant.

The official walking tour is now complete and we are given some free time to explore the Trier Christmas market. The Christmas markets do not officially open until 11 am each day and is is now about 10.50 am, so our guide shows us where to meet to go back to the ship after our free time. It is in front of one of the historic highlights of Trier, Porta Nigra, a substantial remaining part of the Roman city wall.

We now have free time to explore the Christmas market, which in Trier is quite a big market. The first hazarding entering a Christmas market is the Gluhwein, which along the Moselle is offered as an either red of white wine version of mulled wine. To get in the Christmas spirit, I tried a cup of the red wine version. In this cold weather it certainly warms you up and comes in a commemorative mug which you can keep or return to the vendor for a refund of the cup value, 2 Euro.

The market is a mix of food and alcoholic drinks, with the balance slightly towards the latter. Of course there are many stalls selling local handicrafts and other normal market items, but none of them had the queues we saw in front of the gluhwein, or potato pancake or wurst stalls. I a managed to resist the food this time but suspect I will weaken at subsequent Christmas markets.

We did try the gingerbread

Back on board for lunch, we cast off and proceeded to our next destination, Bernkastel. An hour or so into our cruise the cruise director made an announcement that we have a timing problem with our arrival in Bernkastel, due to a delay at one of the locks along the way. They are working on a solution to get guests to their shore excursions commitments and there will be further announcements.

In the meantime we eventually reach the first lock, have to wait for a while for it to refill before entering. There is no room for error in these huge river ships as we enter the lock with about 400 mm clearance either side.

Approaching the lock

 Entering the lock

Looking over the side at the side clearance

Almost fully in

Fully descended, the lock gates open and we can continue on

We descended about 9m.

The whole process on getting the ship in and out of the lock was controlled from a temporary bridge located on the port side of the vessel.

Soon after we leave the lock we approach a low bridge and other features of this boat become apparent.

The antenna mast and sun canopy on the sun deck fold down

The main bridge is mounted on a scissor lift which allows it to be raised and lowered at will

Next we hear from the cruise director with a solution to our timing problem. At the next lock, we will be met by buses that will take us the short 15 minutes drive to Bernkastel to allow the shore excursions to take place unchanged. The ship will arrive in Bernkastel at about 6.30 pm. The buses pick us up at 4.15 pm, so for those of us who just want to have a look around the town and the Christmas market, we will have plenty of time.

 Bernkastel is yet another very pretty town. This time see it by night and the Christmas market is in full swing.

The castle overlooks the city

While,t a few back streets seem quiet, the main square is busy

One. Of the many gluhwein stalls, very popular in this cold weather

The main square

Advent calendar house

At 6.30pm, we wandered back to the ship after what has been a busy but very enjoyable day. Trier was a real surprise and a lovely city with such a strong Roman history. Bernkastel, a much smaller place with a lovely old town area and plenty of Christmas spirit.

Tonight we head off to Cochem where we will have a guided city tour in the morning.