6th February 2025

Day 3 of our German odyssey  and today we are off to the westerly town of Aachen, its about an hour away.

We arrived about 11am and  immediately could see just how beautiful and picturesque this town is, but first coffee.

And guess what? We have another recommendation from Tina and again she is spot on.

A hot spring fountain, 

Like money that goes around so does the water at this fountain.




This is an incredibly old town, as in the Middle Ages old and was also a stronghold for the ruler Charlemagne, one reason was the hot springs. 

There are so many sites around the town recognising him.

Once fuelled by our coffee and complimentary brownie where head to explore the Cathedral.

Now this one dates back to AD 796 and this Charlemagne's palace church. 

The Cathedral is also said to be the final resting place of Charlemagne but no one really knows where.

Not surprising tho as bits of him seem to keep popping up in all sorts of artefacts around town.

The only superlative I have is that it is exquisite, i will let the photos speak for themselves.

We also visited the Cathedral Treasury, where we found an impressive array medieval religious artworks.

The most notable of these were the Bust of Charlemagne ( said to contain part of his skull)and the Cross of Lothair, also an arm Reliquary which contains Charlemagnes right radius and ulna ( forearm).

Around the corner is the Aachen Markt, where we find the amazing old Town Hall (Rathaus)

This was founded in 1350!!!

It became the towns administrative centre at this time.

Crazy to see that is still a magnificent building and largely intact.

It certainly has been damaged and repaired over the years.

Exhausted from all this culture, we retreat to a burger shop for lunch, which of course happens to have a few Roman ruins downstairs near the bathrooms.

Refreshed after lunch but feeling a bit cool, so we head off to the Centre Charlemagne, a modern building but still in the Old Town, housing the New City Museum. 

This was a very interesting take on the city’s long history, through very clever videos and displays.

We have a couple more stops to complete our day.

The first of those is a visit to the intact Ponttor Old City Gate ( one of two left out of four originally) 

It was constructed in the 14th Century also and is very impressive, its quite castle like itself and the portcullis is clearly still visible

Last stop before we leave Aachen is a visit to the Lindt factory and outlet shop. 

As you walk from the car, you smell chocolate in the air.

Heavenly. Spent way too much money in the shop on things we didn't really need but so worth it.

Big drive home followed by another fabulous evening.