Xanten - tourist day

11 June 2019 - Day 6

Distance 10.37 km                                                                               

Total distance on the trip 299.91

46m  moving time

29m  elevation                                                                      

Total elevation 548m

This day was planned to be spent at the Ancient Roman ruins at the Archaeological Park on the site of  the Roman settlement of Colonia Ulpia Traiana. We had passed Xanten and this park in 2014 on our previous Rhein route and I was excited to have the opportunity to revisit and set a day side for the exploration and it was well worth doing. 

If you are interested to find out more - visit the Museum's website. Be sure to translate if you do not read German. 

The town itself is a medieval walled village with towers, gates and windmills and cobbled streets.

We were out early and there was no one else on the streets except for these statues.

The windmill from outside the walls of the town, and a large sculpture of a dragon which has a hero -> "Siegfried of Xanten" that goes with it.

The town has two very strong themes - Medieval and ancient Roman. The medieval village was mostly built from stones pilfered from the Ancient Roman remains. The stones were also sold to the Netherlands and sent on the river in barges. 

All about the Museum and history of the place with a model of what it may have looked liked in its hey day in the photo on the bottom right. Over 10,000 people were estimated to live in  Colonia Ulpia Traiana on about 73 hectares. 

The above photos were from the partially rebuilt Harbor Temple that was on site. 

It was very impressive.

The museum is a very large, open to the elements museum, with a few buildings with exhibits in them. The horses were wooden sculptures of the types of horses in the Roman times (squat with broad shoulders and shortish legs,) and the type of carriages they would have pulled. This was the transport for the rich, and the seats considered first class travel.

The sides of the carriage were made from leather.

Behind us is one of the sentry gates built into the 'wall' which now is constructed of high hedges, but would have previously been stone. 

Top photo shows the roads that are placed on the same location that roads were found to be in the excavation. Then the pipes in the photo under this is the drainage system of the  town which took the waste water out to the river. 

The door is a reconstruction of the door which would have been in the city gates. Quite robust and large.

The photo on the left is a replica of the first known street directory that would have been in scroll form. It was 33cms high and 7m long and showed the way to get to different Roman towns. It was called the Tabula Peutingeriana. The top right photo shows the building that houses the archeological dig of the towns "roman baths', the bottom photo is looking down the street toward a city gate. The trees have been planted to indicate where the buildings would have stood in relation to the road. 
All under the grassed area are ancient ruins. It is pretty cool.

Inside the Roman Bath house. This set up was really impressive in the way the water was circulated, heated and cleaned.

The bottom right photo is of what the columns on the buildings would have looked like when painted. It must have been a very colourful city.

These are some of the exhibits from the museum showing clothing, pieces of art and life from the people who lived in the town. 

 A little way away from the bathhouse was a tent which housed a number of boats that have been remade as the Roman barges would have been using the same techniques.

 Then another building where they actually made the boats in the way the Romans would have. This was the highlight for me. Here they are building a Quintus Tricensimanus - a mighty rowing ship of the Roman Rhine fleet. Very impressive.

 In another building there was an exhibit of the famous people who lived there, and showed the type of lifestyles the politicians would have enjoyed.

 In smaller houses that had been reconstructed in a similar style as the local artisan there were exhibits of local weaving, leather word, and metal work.  

       All Hail Caesar!

This is the reconstructed  amphitheater of Colonia Ulpia Traiana. In the tunnels around the performing area were a number of exhibits explaining how the ampitheatre was used, who gladiators were, and the basic history of the site. The ampitheatre is used for amny cultural events and even a "Swords, Bread and Games" gladiator festival, which I think would be quite fun to attend. (see video in link above).
The next one will be held in 2020. 
https://apx.lvr.de//de/ihr_besuch/veranstaltungen_1/roemerfest/roemerfest.html 

 After having our fill of Roman history and culture we exited the museum and headed back into the town for a late lunch (we chose Italian food) and another wander around the town.  We then jumped on our bikes to go an explore and see if we could get out to the river. 

Interestingly, the river used to come right along where the main road is now, it used to be right outside the walls of the Roman city, but with a flood came silting up and a change and then everything fell apart for the Roman city. We did get out to the river, but we could not ride along it to the north as there was no path due to there being a bit of a swamp area.
we only did about 10 very slow kms as we started at 6pm. 

Wayne at the river, the very full bike lock up shed and a restaurant by the river near Xanten.

 And finally dinner - at the hotel. The Germans have large servings.