Trier time

TRIER IS THE Europe I've sought for decades: Roman ruins, meandering medieval streets, baroque churches, and cafés. It's a Europe more suited to Bogart and Bacall than to National Lampoon's European Vacation. It's a cobblestone-streeted, charming-Christmas-marketed, good-beer Europe perched beside the Moselle River.

Trier is Germany's oldest city, founded by the Roman emperor Augustus in 16 B.C. after he ran off a bunch of Celts. It became an important center of early Christianity, always a good deal for tourists: a lengthy Catholic history leaves lots of churches, convents, and monasteries to stroll through.

Arend van Dalen, my English-speaking guide, is passionately knowledgeable about all things Trier: "For 1,000 years of European history the church dominated. But with the fall of the Roman empire came a loss of infrastructure, roads, sewer systems, literacy. The church preserved what remained of civilization." The Catholic church also created the Trier Cathedral, where van Dalen shows me how to tell which stones date back to the Romans and which are repair work and additions done in the Middle Ages. The cathedral is a short walk from the Porta Nigra.

I can see the Porta Nigra, the sole survivor of the five city gates that were part of the Roman wall constructed in the second century, from my room at the Dorint Porta Nigra hotel. The gate was built of sandstone quarried approximately 20 kilometers away. "The quarry is still there in the woods if you know where to look for it," van Dalen explains.

I have no doubt he knows where the quarry is. He also knows, and shows me, the graveyard where Karl Marx's parents are buried (and the house where Marx was born), the location of an odd Moorish-looking house from the 1200s with its entrance on the floor above street level, the Roman imperial baths, and a spot just above the city where I can see it all.

If you've jet-lagged through the capital cities of Europe and had the thrill of surviving crossing six lanes of sociopathic traffic and weaving through a herd of Vespas to stand in the scrum of sweat-suited tourists traipsing through Rome's Coliseum, Trier will come as a shock to your senses. The Roman amphitheater is definitely where the Imperial Idols could have kicked off their European tour; it seated 20,000 when gladiators performed in A.D. 100. If you've been pushed and shoved through the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, hoping the lady from Cincinnati will please stop swinging her camera bag into your stomach, the baroque beauty of the collegiate church of St. Paulin will serve as a balm to your rococo-loving soul. Trier holds the history of Western civilization in a walkable microcosm.

The best way to see the city is to leave your guidebook in your room and trot into the tourist information office. To reach the office, pass beneath the Porta Nigra and you'll see it on your right. There you can hook up with the Saturday English-language walking tour (a modest six euros) or engage the private services of an English-speaking guide like the incredible van Dalen.

"I don't know if you like books or not, but there's a Gutenberg Bible if you'd like to see it," van Dalen offers. Salivating with printed-word lust, I'm soon in the City Library staring at one of the world's first printed books while van Dalen explains how the typesetters maintained the margins in the style of hand-scribed illuminated manuscripts.

The Roman Archaeological Museum holdings range from the Stone Age to the early modern era, but the must-see items are the intact mosaic floors, the Roman funerary sculptures, and the largest hoard of Roman gold coins discovered north of the Alps. The coins are displayed so that you can see the evolution in both imperial hairstyle and minting process.

The Romans brought wine making to Trier. It's more than a thousand miles from Rome, too long to go out for a drink. "You probably had to order the drink in France," van Dalen says. At the George Fritz von Nell Winery, I learn all Rieslings are not created equal. The von Nell family has been in the wine business for seven generations – four of them reside there at the present.

Woman cannot live by wine alone. Near the winery is the Microbrewery Kraft Brau, where lessons in German beer are on tap. It also serves traditional German food suited for soaking up the alcohol. Another option for a superior supper is the Hotel Restaurant Zum Christophel, frequented by locals as often as by travelers.

While all roads may lead to Rome, a few lead to Trier: take them.

If you go

Lufthansa has daily direct flights to Frankfurt Airport. From the rail station in the airport you can take a train to Trier. www.lufthansa.com.

Trier Tourist Information Porta Nigra, www.trier.de/tourismus, 49 (0) 651 978080.

Dorint Porta Nigra Porta Nigra Platz 1, 54292 Trier, www.dorint.com/trier, 49 (0) 651 27010.