Ancient spa Aquisgranum (Aachen)

Celts and Romans had already appreciated the presence of hot thermal springs in today's border triangle of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. In addition, traces of older settlement have been dated back to the Neolithic period (between 3000 and 2500 BC). 

City Hall (14th century)

But the city known as Aachen only became historically important thanks to Charlemagne, who had his palatine chapel built here at the end of the 8th century. Construction lasted less than ten years. The octagon-shaped design was influenced by Byzantine culture, and is considered a masterpiece of Carolingian architecture. The Aachen cathedral became Germany's first and the world's second UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Museum artefacts of Charlemagne

Since the dome opens to visitors at noon, we treat ourselves to breakfast in the cozy Aachen café first.

Then we visit the Cathedral Treasure Museum and the cathedral itself, where, despite crowds of visitors, respectful silence remains. From the 9th to the 15th century, this church became the place of coronation for German kings.

Aachen cathedral

On our city tour we pass the town hall and walk towards the Ponttor, a remnant of the former city fortifications, both dated 14th century. As we continue to the RWTH (Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule), the university where Roland had studied engineering, a special traffic light, Robi, the university's mascot, lets us cross the street.

Ponttor

Robi, the Uni mascot

Back in the pedestrian zone we stroll to the Elisen fountain, from whose taps 52°C warm sulphurous mineral water flows filling the building with the smell of rotten eggs. 

Elisen-Fountain

It stinks!

At the end of our tour, of course, the hunt for the perfect Printe must not be forgotten. Invented in the 15th century as long lasting travel provision for pilgrims it remains a well known specialty pastry in this region to date. After various sample tasting, we buy a good portion of the delicious gingerbread specialty from the traditional Printen Bakery Klein before focussing on the main reason for our visit to the city, a gathering with an ex-colleague and former mentor who we greatly value.

Old city core

Old Printen plate

Aachen is a beautiful city, rich of history and with lots of cultural heritage buildings, but the number of homeless people, some of them aggressively begging, besieging the entrances of shops and tourist attraction and taking over seating areas made us uncomfortable, given that Germany has a social system supporting people in adverse situations. Very sad.

March Recap: Sunshine and Snowstorm

Pear trail

The Ahr region is not only known for its red wine, its sugar-beet syrup and headquarters of the world-famous gummy bear company Haribo. Since many centuries pears are also cultivated in the municipality of Grafschaft. And of course there is a pear-themed hiking trail basically at my doorstep which I took the opportunity to explore.

Barbarossa Trail

Another hike lead me into and around the city of Sinzig.

Sinzig Castle

Rhine valley and mountain range Siebengebirge

Moated castle Ahrenthal

Highest point reached at Koisdorf

Back in Sinzig: Basilica St. Peter

 

A way of St. James

Many ways of St. James lead to Santiago de Compostela, so why not start at my own doorstep and follow the trailmarkers of the Eifel-Camino? I am not the religious kind but I can certainly appreciate the effort and passion that the makers of the Ways of St. James put into the trail maintenance. Also, besides the excellent waymarking, you get great infrastructure plus a good portion of culture and history.

An Abbey and a castle:

The first section takes me to the monastery of Maria Laach by way of the ruin of Olbrück.

Abbey Maria Laach

Three volcanoes:

The second section hike on a beautiful day takes me up and down three mountain peaks and ends in Mayen. 

Sun, snow and everything in between:

The third section has a every kind of weather including a snow storm in store for me and ends in Kaisersesch.

Just another 2125 km to Santiago de Compostela

Permanent changes in weather

Castle Löwenburg

Castle Philippsburg

View on Monreal and Löwenburg castle

 

 

Snowstorm in Kaisersesch

 150+ km hiked in March, not bad given the adverse weather conditions we had this month. T.b.c...

Happy Easter!

February Recap: In quest of cake (or cookies)

I stuck around close to home in order to help my Mom settling into her new surroundings. Thankfully she can count on a supportive family while continuing to process her new reality.

A hike on the Volcanic Panorama Trail (Vulkan-Panorama-Weg)

Priory ruins Buchholz

View on Castle ruin Olbrück

Wolf gorge and caverns

View on Burgbrohl village

A museum train ride with hubby on the "Vulkan-Express" which included catering with mulled wine, pea soup and cake.

The ever present castle ruin Olbrück

The next hike is leading me to one of the highest peaks in the region, with 530+ meters not very impressive but it doesn't get much higher in the area. A nice motivation for this was a hikers' inn on top of the mountain Steinerberg.

Another weekend, another hike: This time starting in Sinzig, a city on the banks of river Rhine. The late start made me walk into the night. (no cake but dinner at home this time)

Another day, another hike, again I am drawn to the hikers' inn on the Steinerberg and found a different trail to get there.

After work I chose a hike along the river Ahr, which turned out to be a bit of a challenge as hiking trails and bridges were still not fully restored or plain missing after the flood that took place in summer 2021, alas the coffee place was closed on Mondays.

no bridge... a.k.a. taking a detour

On the final weekend I encountered what we call "April weather" with temps in the single digits (°C), and a mix of sun, clouds, rain and sleet. The trail had been slicker than Teflon, but I managed without major issues and got rewarded with a local goodie called Printen, some kind of cookie made from gingerbread, and coated with dark chocolate and almonds.

I did put 150 clicks under my belt this month, for this time of the year a new score in my books given that we should have gotten snow and icy temps. But meteorologists say that had been the warmest February since... ever.