To start the second day in Trier we decide on a stroll along the Moselle river bank. We want to see if we can notice any interesting birds and also to explore a few attractions along the path. The first attraction is actually right next to our AirBnB and is even part of the Unesco World Heritage Site, the Roman Bridge. It is the oldest standing bridge in the country, and the oldest Roman bridge north of the Alps. The pillars date from the 2nd century replacing an older wooden structure. And as a bonus we also see pigeons, both normal and wood ones, and a few ducks.
We now start following the Moselle on the foot and bicycle path right next to it, likely this was the where the wall of Trier was placed protecting the city from the river side. And then we get to the second attraction on the riverside, a crane that was used to load and unload merchandise from the river in the early 20th century.
From most of the trail we can see the Mariensäule high up the hill and decide to maybe make a run for it on one of the days here in town to see it close up.
And the we reach the second preserved river crane, both of them are quite impressive and we haven’t seen any anywhere else.
On the river we see one more heron, a few geese and ducks and unfortunately quite a bit of trash including some shopping carts for some reason.
There are some nice views over the Moselle river which is quite scenic, in fact the section between Trier and Koblenz is considered as one of the most beautiful river valleys in Germany with lots of castles and river turns and twists.
We continue on the beautiful trail trying to avoid the sun which is beating down on us and just enjoying the shade and the many birds singing down to us.
And then we decide to move on from the river bank crossing the very busy main road to take a look at Martinskloster, formerly part of a monastery and now a student housing. This is where one of us stayed for some time way back and as such we wanted to re-visit it during this visit. The only other signs from the former monastery are the crosses nearby, likely they were saved when the monastery was demolished.
Funnily only the facade is medieval, behind it actually had a modern expansion, which is good as housing is always needed.
Now we start inland towards the Porta Nigra passing some interesting buildings, some we even wonder what they were intended for. For example one looks like a garrison in the middle of the city but maybe it is just an apartment building in a specific style?
We continue on through another park that quite likely was the site of the wall from the river to the Porta Nigra. How do we know this? We find a huge tower with a section of wall right next to the trail which really settles it. And then we reach Porta Nigra and it is time to move towards the Dom/Cathedral, one of our major goals today.
