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Trier - Augusta Treverorum
Friday morning I took the almost 3 hour train ride from Cologne to Trier. In Trier I stayed at the Mercure Porta Negra which is literally right across the street from the old Roman gate, the Porta Negra. The hotel calls itself 4 stars. That’s probably 1 star too generous. But the rate was reasonable enough, about 104 euros per night including breakfast and internet on a prepaid rate. The check in was very smooth. The room was a good size and had a great view of the gate and the old town. I liked that the window opened which made for some good photos. There was a bit of a bad smell in the room which I think came from the drains in the bathroom. I think I saw this mentioned on TripAdvisor. It was not overpowering though and opening the window helped air out the room. Breakfast was pretty basic. I think they charge about 5 euros if you are buying it on your own which seems reasonable. The TV got like 100 channels.

Trier is fantastic. I totally fell in love with it from the first moment. It oozes history. I understand quite a bit of the city was destroyed in 1945 but was rebuilt. Here’s the wiki about the city’s history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Trier

The Dom here is quite impressive. The site was a palace during Roman times and then several churches were built on the site over the years. Extensive excavations in the last 50 years or so have unearthed plaster ceiling paintings from the Roman palace. The plaster was in little pieces so it had to be reassembled like a jigsaw puzzle. The reassembled paintings are in the Cathedral museum which is around the corner from the cathedral itself (no photos allowed).

The Dom itself is quite nice inside and you can see a lot. It is nice and bright. If you go in the late afternoon you get very good sun. There is a small treasury museum inside the Dom that costs 1,50 euros. It is mainly monstrances and chalices but also some bishop’s rings and some reliquaries. I thought it was worth seeing.













They trace the bishops back to 250 CE




Cathedral Treasury Museum