Exploring Germany: Trier, "The Rome of the North"

In the Spring of this year (2017), the Army moved my family and me to Germany. We absolutely love it here! We are originally from the Northwest US and the climate here reminds us very much of home.

This is great for us because for the last 7 years, we've been moving around the Southwest from one desert to another. I'm so happy to be somewhere that has four seasons again!

Living in Germany has afforded us the opportunity to do some great traveling!

We have taken many day trips to explore the villages and cities close to our home village and so far, my favorite has been the city of Trier in the Southwest corner of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate or as we say here, Das Bundesland Rheinland-Pfalz.

Trier is an ancient city, originally founded by the Celts and later the Romans. You can see this fact all around the city in the form of ancient ruins that have been lovingly restored and protected.

Many of the sites around Trier are UNESCO World Heritage sites.

There are so many things to see and do here that we've actually gone back twice to take it all in. Trier is a city that can appeal to many different kinds of travelers.

Are you a Wine Lover? The city is nestled among picturesque hills along the Mosel River that are just covered in vineyards. There are so many delicious wines in the region and wine in Germany is almost cheaper than water!

Are you a History Buff? We took a Hop-On, Hop-Off bus tour of the city and got to see sights like the Porta Nigra, ancient Roman baths, Emperor Constantine's Basilica, a partially restored, ancient amphitheater that hosted gladiator battles, a 2nd century Roman bridge that crosses the Mosel and is still in use today, Trier Cathedral and the Dome of St. Peter. . . like I said, there was so much to do and see that we had to go back a second time.

Love shopping? Trier is home to a fabulous shopping district with Haute Couture boutiques and affordable shops with everything you can imagine, all nestled among winding, cobbled streets and beautiful, old world buildings.

Our eight year old daughter loved visiting the historical sites and learning about each one along the way.

Her favorites were the Amphitheater and the Barbara Baths. Each place that we stopped had informational plaques that talked about the history, showed pictures of what the location would have looked like in ancient times and were written in English as well as several other languages. We appreciated that very much.

Our visits were day trips, but I've read that an extended stay in Trier is highly recommended, as you can easily jaunt into Luxembourg, Belgium and France from this location and check three more countries off of your European Bucket List!