27.04.-03.05.2025 Germany Trier, Luxembourg, Belgium Walloon Region

04/05/2025

On Sunday, our friend Pit showed us the area on his motorcycle.

The weather was great and the area here on the Moselle is beautiful. After a short drive, we took a break in Bernkastel Kuess. The boys had a coffee and I, no it’s not wine, but a blackcurrant juice 🤭

Afterwards we had a look around the beautiful town.

The route continued between vineyards and along the Moselle.

Pit invited us to the Karlsmühle beer garden in Mertesdorf for a drink at the end.

The next day, we set off on a hike straight after breakfast. Our actual goal was to hike around the lake at the Riveris dam.
It was just under 7 km from the place where we were standing with WENNE. Then another 8km around the lake and about 7km back again. In total it was a very nice 6.5 hours and 22km.

As we didn’t want to walk on the main road, the start of our hike was a bit adventurous. At least until we found the right path 😉

The Riveris dam mainly serves the city of Trier and the surrounding communities. The catchment area of the Riveris dam is approx. 22 km² in size and is designated as a drinking water protection area. The Riveristalsperre dams up the Riveris and Thielenbach rivers, among others, and holds up to 4.7 million cubic meters of water. The reservoir has an annual inflow of around 11 million m³ of water and is up to 42 meters deep. The raw water is extracted using a movable extraction arm and transported to the Trier-Irsch drinking water treatment plant over a distance of around 6 kilometers. There, due to the gradient between the dam and the plant, the water is first used to generate electricity before being treated to produce drinking water.

The Riveristalsperre dam is 178 meters wide and consists primarily of valley and slope gravel. At the two dam roots, there are upstream dams whose structures are 9 m high earth dams.

Source: Wikipedia

Continue around the lake.

Break

Former slate mine Karlstollen Riveris
For centuries, until the 1950s, roofing slate was mined in the Ruwer valley. In 1888, the estate owner Peter Süß founded Ruwerschiefer AG. The factory/company existed until 1931 and employed up to 120 people.

Before Peter Süß founded Ruwer Slate AG, two families usually tried to earn an extra income with small mining tunnels, especially in the winter months, as it was difficult to farm due to the narrowness of the Rive valley.
The job profile of this mountain tunnel indicates that it was most likely the same here.
In the 1960s, the entrance to this tunnel was closed and only reopened when a hiking trail was planned.
The main mining chamber is only 30 meters from the entrance.
In the last days of the Second World War, the tunnel was used as an air-raid shelter.

For the way back, we decided to take a short section of the Äppelkist & Slate path.

The name Apfelkist comes from the variety of apple trees that spread across the orchards in the Riveristal and still grow there today.

A few more impressions

We spent our last day together with Pit in Trier. Pit was basically our guide and showed us around Trier, his home town. He told us what it used to be like in the city and knew a story about everything. It was very interesting. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see the port because a mountain of scrap metal weighing 1500 tons and 20 meters high had caused a major fire during the night. It took 200 firefighters until 4 o’clock in the morning to get the fire under control. The warnings for the population were lifted at 6 am. Unfortunately, the port was therefore closed over a large area.

Trier was founded as early as 16 BC as “Augusta Treverorum”, making it the oldest city in the whole of Germany. Even today, many buildings in the city are reminiscent of Roman times.

The landmark of the city of Trier is the Porta Nigra. The foundation stone was laid by the Romans in the 2nd century. At the time, it was only one of four city gates in Trier and one of many in the entire Roman Empire. Today, around 1850 years later, the “Black Gate” is the best-preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps.The landmark of the city of Trier is the Porta Nigra. The foundation stone was laid by the Romans in the 2nd century. At the time, it was only one of four city gates in Trier and one of many in the entire Roman Empire. Today, around 1850 years later, the “Black Gate” is the best-preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps.

The Imperial Baths were actually intended to be a gift from Constantine to the citizens of Trier. Even before they were completed, the emperor moved his official residence to Constantinople and so construction was halted. It is said that the Imperial Baths were never used as a bathing facility.

The Protestant Basilica of Constantine.
It was built as an audience hall for the Roman emperors who resided in the city in the 4th century.

In the early Middle Ages, the burnt-out ruins came into the possession of the bishops of Trier. They converted it into a castle-like property. In 1614, the south and east walls were demolished and the rest was integrated into the new bishop’s residence, the Electoral Palace. Between 1844 and 1856, the church-like building was restored, consecrated on September 28, 1856 and handed over “in perpetuity” to the Protestant parish, which has used it as a church ever since. On August 14, 1944, the basilica was severely damaged by an American air raid and completely burnt out. It was rebuilt in the 1950s.

Trier Cathedral
The roots of Trier Cathedral go back to the year 270 AD, when a Christian community was founded in the town then known as Augusta Treverorum. The history of the cathedral is closely linked to that of the Roman Empire. Most of today’s cathedral dates back to the 11th and 12th centuries and reflects the Romanesque architectural style. It is the oldest episcopal church in Germany.
You can recognize the various architectural styles of the Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque periods.

The Electoral Palace of the city of Trier was the residence of the prince-bishops of Trier in the 17th and 18th centuries.
After the expropriation of the electors under Napoleon, the Electoral Palace was used as barracks by French and Prussian troops in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Today there are various authorities there. Parts of the north wing are used by the Protestant congregation, while parts of the south wing are used for representative purposes.

The palace garden was made available to the public as a park at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Karl Marx statue that China is donating to the city of Trier, the birthplace of the philosopher, to mark the anniversary year 2018.

Craftsman fountain

A big thank you goes to our dear friend. We were given a perfect tour of the city. Pit had a story to tell about many of the buildings and facilities. Among other things, he showed us where he grew up and told us how things used to be in Trier.

After spending 5 nights with our friend, we moved on to Luxembourg, to Redingen/Attert.

Another new country we were traveling to with our WENNE. When we started our adventure in 2023. We were given a task by our daughter and son-in-law, which we gladly accepted:

May 1st is also a public holiday in Luxembourg and so we went for a May 1st hike in glorious 26° and sunshine.

Passing the old washing fountain, we continued along the huge meadows.

There is a grass society in Luxembourg. These meadows here also belong to the Luxembourg grassland community.
This means that this work is the first nationwide description and typification of grassland plant communities in Luxembourg. The phytosociological classification is based on
own vegetation surveys and surveys by other authors from unpublished works. The phytosociological table analysis of 1,206 vegetation records allows the differentiation of 31 plant communities from nine associations. The description of the grassland communities focuses primarily on the species composition, the diverse
flowering aspects and structural characteristics. In addition, information is provided on the current distribution as well as the syntaxonomic classification and delimitation of the grassland communities. The plant communities are characterized with regard to their general conservation value and degree of endangerment, as well as in the context of the
the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive (FFH Directive). In addition to our own observations and results, knowledge on the ecology, use and significance for nature conservation of the grassland communities was compiled and incorporated on the basis of the literature.

The focus within the vegetation units studied is on the species-rich smooth oat meadows
meadows, wet meadows and nutrient-poor grasslands, in which a large number of rare and endangered species occur. The results show that Luxembourg still has many species-rich, but also endangered grasslands, which contribute significantly to the country’s biodiversity and which need to be preserved.

Source: Schneider Simone 2011 – The grassland communities of Luxembourg. Dissertation University of Trier, FB
VI Ferrantia 66, Musée national d’histoire naturelle, Luxembourg, 303 p.

Our route continues through the beautiful forest and later back to the vehicle.

A beautiful day comes to an end!

We didn’t want to stay another night in Luxembourg, but we still wanted to see some of the country. That’s why we drove a little further north the next morning. That way we could definitely get a picture of little Luxembourg before we crossed the border into Belgium.

We arrived at our free parking space at around 2 pm. Lots of green spaces and right next to the Masablette stream. There is absolutely no internet here in the valley in the middle of the forest.
We spent 2 nights at this site.

In the evening, we took a closer look at the campsite and the surrounding area. Beautifully situated.
There is a restaurant next door and public toilets.

We walked around the lake with thousands of tadpoles.

In the middle of a huge rhododendron bush.

Behind the lake, there was a Musee de Fer that was freely accessible to everyone. The iron museum is dedicated to pre-industrial steel production around a blast furnace. Built at the end of the 18th century by the Abbot of Saint-Hubert on the banks of the Masblette stream.

On day 2, we went to le Musee de la viel rurale en Wallonie – a museum about rural life in Wallonia. An open-air museum that extends over 40 hectares.
The main task of the museum is to preserve the architectural heritage by transplanting buildings from the 19th and 20th centuries. The buildings come from a wide variety of regions. Depending on the region, they are made of stone, wood, slate or other materials.
We experienced grocery stores, schools, churches, bakeries, butchers, printers, blacksmiths and much more and were transported to another era. Thanks to the old collectibles, you get a vivid idea of what everyday life and tradition must have been like back then.

This is how the buildings were described. In which year the building was dismantled at its location. What it looked like back then. In which year it was rebuilt true to the original, which region of Belgium it came from and what it was used for.