Day 30 Monday, September 29, 2025
Today is a travel day to Frankfurt Germany and we have been travelling for month already. Bob says we have to stop and see another Eiffel Tower along the way but it is not quite as impressive as the one in Paris!
We had no idea that this is wine country. There are vineyards on both sides of the road as far as we can see.
The hills around each town we pass are all growing row after row of grapes. We see the odd group harvesting grapes but the main harvest occurred earlier this month.
We stop in Trier and have our picnic lunch on a bench with this view.
The breeze blew water spray and made a rainbow just as I took this photo.
This foot of Emperor Constantine is a replica of one of the largest marble foots to have survived since antiquity. It was part of a 12 metre high seated statue of Constantine.
The Roman Baths are considered to be the largest Roman baths outside of Rome. 
The ruins are impressive!
We are able to walk through the underground tunnels that would have been used as a service level for the maintenance of the bath’s heating system. This is the entrance to the tunnels.
There was a group of schoolchildren ahead of us…probably the loudest group we have encountered on our travels! We took a side tunnel to avoid walking behind them.
There are a maze of tunnels and we are free to explore as we wish. That is Bob peeking around the bend in the tunnel.
We do get a bit lost down here, but it was a lot of fun exploring these interesting tunnels.
Which way should we go!
This photo shows the size of the original baths, although they were never actually completed. The ruins of today are superimposed on the original baths.
The ruins are impressive, but they are only half the height of the original structure!
We pass this lovely garden on the way to visit Trier’s cathedral.
Photos really do not show how beautiful and enormous the trees are. I wish we were able to grow trees this large back home. These trees wouldn’t survive our colder climate.
Trier Cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the oldest cathedral in Germany. Construction started in the 4th century and it was built upon the foundations of ancient Roman structures.
And yes, the inside of the cathedral is very impressive.
It has one of the most ornate organs we have seen…
and many huge sculptures with multiple figures. We walk up these stairs for a view of the nave.
This beautiful blue and white Baroque stucco work decorates the choir loft of the Cathedral. It is stunning and unusual. This is the first time we have seen anything like this in a cathedral.
We pass this building on the way to the Nigra Gate. There are many ornately decorated buildings in Trier.
I love watching the bubble makers, and the children trying to catch the bubbles. This fellow made huge bubbles…
and lots of smaller bubbles. I would love to know how to do this.
At the end of the street we can see the Nigra Gate, another UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Porta Nigra, or Black Gate, is the largest Roman gate in Northern Europe. It was part of the defensive walls and gates that surrounded Trier in 200AD. It is incredibly well preserved, especially when you consider that it was completed around 200AD, and it almost two thousand years old!
We pay 6€ each to climb inside the gate. This ‘window’ has a pile of coins, perhaps people making a wish?
A view inside the gate.
We can see the Trier Cathedral from the second level of the gate.
Grafiti has been around for a long time. Some of the dates on the walls are hundreds of years old. I do really hate this practice of defacing monuments.
There is Bob, I sent him down to the street so he could take a photo of me in one of the gate arches.
Here I am.
These carved decorations are still in remarkably good condition.
Walking back to our car we stop for a photo of the Electoral Palace. We had our lunch in its beautiful gardens which have many white statues and small ponds.
Another gorgeous tree.
The clouds are moving in on our drive home.
Big black ominous clouds.
We arrive at our Airbnb in Frankfurt. It is smaller than our last place but cozy and has everything we need.
It is a long street lined with mostly modern shops. Not really what we were expecting.
This is the gate that leads onto the shop lined street. I do wonder why the geraniums grow so well here, Everywhere in Germany and Austria there are window boxes spilling over with blossoms. Mine at home don’t do nearly as well!
We wander through the gate, and decide it is time to leave.
I do see these lovely prints in a little window inside the gate.
While we are getting information on how to hike to the castle the clouds get very dark and threatening.
But just as quickly they start to blow over and in less than ten minutes the sky is relatively clear.
On the path towards town from the carpark we pass vineyards with lots of green grapes. They look ready to pick.
We find the path and start our climb…and it is definitely a climb! I am so glad I have our hiking poles, they really help climbing these big uneven steps that seem to go on forever.
A view of the town from a much needed little rest stop.
These little blue bells are the same kind that I have growing at home. My oldest daughter brought me seeds from Dawson City many years ago and they grow quite happily in our flower garden. This gorgeous blue beetle glistened indigo and cobalt with touches of turquoise. He, or perhaps she, was about the size of my thumbnail and paused in its travels long enough to let me take its photo.
It is hard to see, but this old gentleman and his wife (you can just make out her bandaged leg and green skirt), were being helped down the trail by some kind hikers who stopped to help them. We have no idea how they managed to get this far, as they were having difficulty walking here where the ground was fairly flat. Someone at the bottom of the trail had told us to “Look out for two old Brits on the trail…I don’t think they are going to be able to get down and will need to stay up there!” They were very fortunate that kind strangers stopped and came to their aid. I think they will be exhausted by the time they make it down, or maybe they will need even more assistance?
This sign explains what the castle used to look like. We are able to make out a few of the areas but most of the castle has been destroyed.
Some views of the castle.
We see a riverboat cruising by on the Danube far below. It is starting to get very windy up here.
The valley is dotted with village after village as far as we can see.
We wonder if this is where king Richard was kept prisoner?
You can see the castle walls stretching all the way down to the town.
We head down to town on a different path, one which is a bit easier than the one we climbed up. There are displays along the path explaining about the history of the Castle and King Richard the Lionheart.
The path ends back in town.
We see black grapes growing along the road and hanging on houses. They are quite tasty.
The castle walls go through the town all the way down to the river!
Then we see a very large chair!
The sky is quite dramatic and it is getting dark by the time we arrive in Hörsching, our home for the next three days.
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