Trying to love Trier

Going to Trier this morning brought home just how remote our harbour is: the walk to the bus stop was about three kilometres, then about 20 minutes in the bus to the centre. It was a cold and grey morning, which didn’t help.

However the centre of town was attractive, starting with the old Roman gate – said to be the biggest surviving example, Porta Nigra:

We strolled down to the old market square, which still has a few fruit stalls, which we patronized later.

It also has a surprisingly discreet Macdonalds, which we did not patronize:

As we consulted our guidebook, we were accosted by an immensely tall local who spoke perfect English and gave us a concise history of the town back to the Viking massacre of 886. He explained about the conflicts between the town's merchants and the bishop, and how this is all reflected in the various buildings. We began to think he must be a professional guide touting for business, but suddenly he said goodbye and disappeared. Very strange. So we moved on.

The Cathedral is massive, but rather bitty, and we did not greatly like it,

preferring the man outside blowing soap bubble for passing children.

We found a good, cheap, Kartoffel Restaurant for lunch, and then a butcher for some shopping, before hiking home. Diana couldn’t resist snapping these blue lions en passant.

Tomorrow we set sail again: maybe stopping in Luxembourg for the night, or possibly pressing on to France. Depends on the traffic and delays at the locks.