Today Aachen is a small city in Germany lying on the Belgian and Netherlands borders. But in the late 700’s and early 800’s it was the city from which Charlemagne ruled the Carolingen Empire and for that period may have been the most important city in Europe.
The other thing Aachen is famous for is its thermal baths. The baths here have been famous since the Romans, though you are not encouraged to drink it due to the high sulfur content. Our plan for the day was to visit the Cathedral and then walk to the baths.
The Cathedral is one of the oldest in Europe and was begun during Charlemagne’s reign on the site of an older church in town. Because the formula for Cathedrals was not as established as they became later we found the Cathedral here both more interesting and beautiful.
The entrance way was built in an octagon with arches. This is a style that reminded us more of the great Mosques we have seen. It turns out that one of the influences for the early architect was the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Though at that time it was a Cathedral, not a Mosque.
It was much smaller than we expected which gave it a surprisingly intimate feeling, because while it felt smaller than most Cathedrals, it is still an immense building. Charlemagne is buried here, and the Cathedral still has the throne he was crowned on, the throne must not be that ostentatious as neither one of us noticed it.
We were very impressed with this Cathedral as it didn’t feel like it was built to a formula like so many of the Cathedrals we have seen. Luckily while Aachen was mostly destroyed during WWII, the Cathedral survived with only minor damage.
As in most German cities the Rathouse (city hall in English, but I can’t resist using the German) was opposite the Cathedral on a square. But, like many German cities the city government placed the back of the Rathouse to the Cathedral. The front faces the market square.
We had lunch at an old beer hall. Ton summed up the meal by saying’ “Aachen-beautiful Cathedral, mediocre food and beer.
We next headed over to the bath. We had visions of beautiful 18th and 19th century buildings like we have seen in Vichy France or Karlovy Vary in Czechia. It was a long walk from the city center and when we got there we were greeted by a modern glass fronted building that looked like the entry of an upscale gym in the US. Ton was so disappointed that she didn’t even bother to take a picture.
We debated whether to walk back to the old town, but it would have been another 25 minute walk through an unimpressive part of Aachen, so instead we called an Uber and headed back to François.