Monday, October 14th
Got an early start and said farewell to Denise, Bob and Squeaky Marie.
Our goal was the Roman Amphitheater in Trier, not far from Denise’s. Arrived in Trier and used a Parking garage near the Porta Nigra, Latin for black door. It is the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. We continued on past Porta Nigra toward the amphitheater on foot.
Following the google map on the iPhone, we walked right past it and up a very steep hill. Diane was very frustrated. Walking back down the hill, we noticed some old walls in a park like setting, so we walked back to where the app had said, “You have arrived” and peered through a gated fence. There it was. The entrance was on the opposite side, so we had more walking to do.
Finally reached the amphitheater and the size was quite impressive. Built around 160 -200 AD it seated 18,000 and was used for gladiatorial contests, public executions as well as musical and religious events. We were able to visit the underground part of the arena and it was huge. This underground area consisted of cellars, dungeons and a series of tunnels. Sine this area was later mined, the granite seating is gone.
Walked back to the car and tried to leave the parking garage, but wait. You can only pay with Apple Pay and we didn’t have that set up. There was no attendant, but we were able to buzz, phone someone to come and help. It took at least 20 minutes for him to show up. Then we paid him cash, he pushed a button and we could leave.
Heading to see Burg Eltz we came upon a charming castle called, Pyrmonter Muhle, circa 1350. Diane wanted a few pictures of the style of house seen throughout Germany which is a multistory box, so we slowed down as we drove through Pillig to take a few shots. You can see why they add flower Bowes, decorative shutters and paint the timbers to give their houses some individuality which turns out being charming.
Came upon Burg Eltz and took the coach up to the castle. Eltz Castle is a medieval castle located in the hills above the Moselle River and Is still owned by a branch of the same family that lived there in the 12th century. We were allowed to roam most of the outside of the castle. Took a very crowded coach back to parking lot.
Discovered a few castles and ruins along the way. We even found a cluster of them and were able to capture them from the same vantage point on a bridge over the river Rhine.
Found a hotel on the cobble stone streets of Bacharach along the Rhine River. Seventy five euros for a double room, including breakfast and WiFi, and two to choose from. After seeing the first it appeared we’d be looking elsewhere but the second appeared satisfactory. After the innkeeper cooked us a nice dinner we asked if he could make us some decaf coffee later in the evening but he didn’t have decaf but he did give us a night cap. Turns out that the WiFi was useless and since there wasn’t a teapot in the room we set out on foot to find some decaf we could take back to have with our evening snack.
Returned to our room and discovered we had no hot water. The innkeeper said it’s slow. He wasn’t kidding. Had to run the faucet for at least fifteen minutes to reach lukewarm. Now I’m not kidding. Diane said no thank you to a shower.
The streets of Bacharach are cobblestoned from doorstep to doorstep and are quite lovely. We did find a couple of places that had decaf but not for take out. And we so practiced our German version of “decaf coffee for takeout?”. So we settled for sit down decaf and apple strudel. After the coffee was delivered we attempted to clarify that we were served decaf. The proprietor no longer seemed to understand our German.
We were warned that this particular room doesn’t get very warm which was okay with us since we like it cool when we sleep. The next morning we found there was NO heat at all.