Paris1972-Versailles2003

Ok so let me bring you back to Germany shall we! Well driving around in my road warriors trips, while at our home base in the Konz Oberemmel south of Trier we had the Bitburger beer and found out the town was not far from us. Therefore  ,we went chasing the gold and instead had a more impressive stop a the Church of Our Lady (Notre Dame) of Bitburg.

Let me tell you a bit more about it ok.  This a meddling of history that I must assume would had been difficult so will just condense it into a paragraph. I have other posts on Bitburg and more history in my blog ok

Bitburg is the capital of the Bitburg-Prüm district in Rhineland-Palatinate State, about 30 km north of Trier in the southern part of the Eifel.Traditional speaking is a local variant of Luxembourgish. It seems to have a very troubled history of many changes such as the dates of their affiliation shows here: From the county of Luxembourg and from 950 to 1443. Later and intertwined the Duchy of Luxembourg from 1353 to 1443. Further from the Burgundian Low Countries from 1443 to 1482. Later the Habsburg Low Countries from 1482 to 1556, and followed by the Spanish Low Countries 1556 to 1713 and the Austrian Low Countries from 1713 to 1797. There was the  Cisrhenian Republic a French revolutionary enclave during the French revolution from 1797 to 1802 , and then the French Republic from 1802 to 1804, and the French empire from 1804 to 1813. And as well the Kingdom of Prussia with the Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine from 1815 to 1822 and then follow by the Kingdom of Prussia with the annex province of the Rhine 1822 to 1918. It became part of the Weimar Republic from 1918 to 1933.   The third Reich of Germany (nazis) from 1933 to 1945, Occupied Germany from 1945 to 1949 and finally Germany from 1949 to the present!

So for the story, we went up on the road B51 from south of Trier to Bitburg, easy. We walk around the town and check out the Church of Our Lady just when a wedding was going on in the city hall across it;we came back for the inside.

The Liebfrauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady (Notre Dame) located on the highest elevation of Bitburg, towers over the city silhouette with its pointed tower hood. It was first mentioned around 1000 and consecrated to Our Lady in 1330. The former single nave, late medieval hall church has been rebuilt and expanded several times in its history. The Gothic building was extended and widened in 1860. In 1922/23 the Liebfrauenkirche received an extension on the south side and thus its current form. This extension, which looks like a baroque extension with a closing chapel from the outside, is stylistically inconsistent on the inside. It is connected to the old Gothic nave by three expressionist arches resting on slender columns, while its side aisles are separated from the main room by short and massive columns without bases. What appears to be the chapel attached to the building from the outside turns out to be a choir-like space for the gallery and organ. The celebration altar is now in the middle of the Gothic nave, opposite the organ. The Gothic east choir was recently converted into a baptistery. In the early 1960s, the extension from 1922/23 was given a dark, multi-fold wooden ceiling with a then modern slatted structure. In the presbytery, the statue of the Virgin Mary decorates the altar. The statue is a representation of the Madonna of Luxembourg.

It is really quant nice church and the area been in city center was full of shops and restos to last a lifetime lol! ok ok but it had its bunch which we enjoy at El Greco hahaha yes like the painter of Toledo Spain, but serving Greek food of course el greco the greek get it.  We had a good inexpensive lunch at El Greco Greek resto with gyros specials for 10€ per person with bitburger beers lol! The picture is from our table a bit sideways! No webpage but is just across the street from the Church of Our Lady.

Some of the webpages to help you enjoy the visit here most in German are

The city of Bitburg on the Church of Our Lady : City of Bitburg on the Church of Our Lady

The parish of Bitburg on the Church of Our Lady: Parish of Bitburg on the Church of Our Lady

The region Bitburg Eifel tourist office in English on the Churcho of Our Lady: Eifel district tourism on the Church

There you go , get up north and see nice monuments, beautify scenary and off the beaten path areas of Germany too; thanks to the Church of Our Lady, Bitburg was a nice trip! Hope you enjoy it

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

Well in our trips in Europe visited many places and one of the most memorable was our trip to the wine country of the Saar south of Trier in Germany. I have several posts on the wine and activities of our family trip there but feel missing telling you about some monuments.

We walk the town all over, and even into the wine fields, lovely, the homes struck us the difference where all the houses were decorated different; the town has an event hall and one Catholic Church St. Briktius.

I like to note the Church of St Briktious there in lively small cute Konz-Oberemmel or exactly in village of Oberemmel. Not to much written on the church at least in English but feel part of the trip and needs credit in my blog. The whole family really enjoyed the trip with wine tastings and beer Bitburg tasting too!

Briefly, Oberemmel is an old small wine town part of the city of Konz in the district of Trier-Saarburg in Rhineland-Palatinate state. We got there by car from France. The place is located southeast of the core city of Konz on the state road L 138. The B 268 runs east, the Saar river flows west. the incorporation into Konz took place on November 7, 1970, and now is known as Konz-Oberemmel.

The district Konz-Oberemmel  in German on the Church of St Britktius is here: District Konz Saarburg on Oberemmel

We chose an apartment in the winemaker’s house in the town of Konz-Oberemmel where we rented for two weeks as our base; the town is lovely, and the stay was good with excellent quality/price ratio. One of the side trips we took was to see the Church of St Briktius. You see in the photos the old section of the Church and the main entrance is very modern.

The region of Konz-Oberemmel on the Church St Briktius in German here: Konz Oberemmel on the Church

The Tourist office of Saar-Obermosel for the Konz-Oberemmel area in German is here: Saar Obermosel on Konz Oberemmel

Hope it helps even if little information on the town I agree. The activity around here is wine but even that is not well shown, many small towns all connected by inner roads, beautiful country and a nice church to boot at Konz-Oberemmel. Enjoy it

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

Oh well lucky to have travel, so much to write and sometimes forget memorable places or just briefly mentioned in my blog. This is the case of the next topic. I have come here several times and eaten and seeing the sights a beautiful square but never a post on it alone. Bear in mind some of the monuments already wrote and show pictures in previous posts.

This post will hopefully change that, on the Praça dos Restauradores or Restoration square in Lisbon. Let me tell you a bit more on it ok. Hope you enjoy it. Easy metro stop here too!

Praça dos Restauradores or Restoration square in Lisbon is located at the south-eastern end of the Avenida da Liberdade, not far from Praça Rossio of the train station. This Restoration square is dedicated to the restoration of Portuguese independence in 1640, after 60 years under Spanish rule. The obelisk in the center of the square, inaugurated in 1886, bears the names and dates of the battles fought during the Portuguese restoration war of 1640, symbolizing Independence and Victory.

The rectangular square is surrounded by buildings from the 19C and the beginning of the 20C. I love the Palácio Foz, a palace built between the 18-19C, which displays a richly decorated interiors, The Lisbon tourist office is located within the Palácio Foz and you can enter to admire its sumptuous interior decoration The Palacio Foz was constructed by the Marquis of Castelo Melhor and later sold to the Marquis de Foz which the name stuck. Its Italianesque appereance is the result of renovations at the end of the 18C.

Further picture on the Lisbon tourist office in English: Tourist office of Lisbon on the Palacio Foz

A wonderful side trip here is to take the Funicular da Gloria located on your left, which will take you straight to Bairro Alto! First if not at the praça dos Restauradores you can take the metro Blue line, get off at Restauradores stop or the Green line and Rossio stop if you want to walk a bit. The Elevador da Gloria departures from the street to the right of the Palacio Foz, the Calçada da Glória.

Further on the Funicular da Gloria from the Lisbon tourist office here: Tourist office of LIsbon on the Funicular da Gloria

Next door, your eyes will certainly be drawn to a huge building with a pinkish facade, on which exotic trees seem to grow. It’s the Eden Theater, now a luxury hotel. There is ,also, the old Cinema Condes, built in 1950 in a modernist style. It now houses the Hard Rock Cafe.

Another highlight of Praça dos Restauradores is its cobblestone and the mosaics there. A fine example of Calçada Portuguesa, (Portuguese sidewalk) where you can admire the silversmithing of craftsmen specializing in this art of paving stone, which you will find in many places, on the ground of the Baixa Chiado district.

You can admire more architecture here even if not staying at the beautiful Avenida Palace Hotel, opened in 1892, was built together with Rossio Station, to serve travelers arriving in Lisbon by train. I stayed in another fine hotel not far from praça dos Restauradores feature in another post, for now more info on the Avenida Palace Hotel here: Official Hotel Avenida Palace Lisbon

Another favorite of mine while at the Praça dos Restauradores is to climb the Elevador of Santa Justa.

Inaugurated on 1902, this all-iron construction, 45 meters high, was a real success from the start of its operation. At the origin of this building,was  the engineer Raoul Mesnier de Ponsard, whose family is of French origin but was born in Porto.  Legend has it that he was one of Gustave Eiffel’s disciples, in view of the resemblance or at least the inspiration of the structure with the work carried out on the famous Eiffel Tower. with its wrought iron architecture worked with perfect thoroughness, in a neo-gothic style. Once you arrive at the top, access to the watchtower and the cafe located on the latter is via a magnificent spiral staircase.  When you arrive at the belvedere, you are simply blown away by the breathtaking view of the city, on the Alfama district and the Tejo river (sp.Tajo).

You can easily get to it from praça dos Restauradores walking or afar take the metro Baixa or Chiado line blue or green or also Rossio green line stop. More info from the Lisbon tourist office here: Tourist office of Lisbon on the Elevador Santa Justa

And there you go folks one simple walk along this wonderful square of Praça dos Restauradores and you will immerge in gorgeous architecture and Portuguese history to boot: my favorite square in Lisbon! Hope you enjoy the tour

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!