Aalen (Limes Germanicus)

At the times when the Roman Empire was still strong and growing, its emperor Augustus decided to build a line of frontier fortifications that would protect Rome from the German tribes. His successors kept on adding new forts and  watchtowers. At the end, the fortification line was 568 km long and run through a large part of Europe.

Another line runs in Africa and the Middle East. The reason for this is simple - the Roman Empire was one of the largest states in history (the largest was the British Empire, which before World War II covered over 20% of Earth's surface and population).

This frontier fortifications line, often referred to by its Latin name limes, is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Today I invite you to take a closer look at what remains from this fantastic idea. We will visit the limes museum in the German town of Aalen.

Aalen was the largest Roman cavalry fort North of the Alps and was built around 160 AD.

Inside the museum you can see some reconstructions that may guide your imagination to this period. Next to a model of a fort with a palisade ...

... you can see what remains of such palisades, built two thousand years ago.

You can see the faces of some of the Roman emperors.

This one was called Caracalla and has a reputation of being one of the nastiest amoungst his peers. Well, he does look like one.

Since the Aalen fort was used by the cavalry, obviously my ancestors are omnipresent. You can see them on sculptures ...

... on reconstructions ...

... and there are even some of the remainings of the previous inhabitants of the place.

I propose that we leave the museum building and go outside. First, we can see a reconstruction of the rooms in which the soldiers spent most of their time relaxing ...

... and working. And yes, in time of peace they were mainly a kind of customs office.

Obviously these are only recent reconstructions, since after two thousand years all that is left from the original Roman fort are the foundations.

The building itself must have been quite large.

Even after all these centuries, the rocks hold on remarkably well.

An information signs in Roman time was much more solid than nowadays. But imagine to make a spelling mistake in the first line and only discover it once you have finished it, three weeks later ...

The gentleman here was one of the leaders of the troops. I can understand than in Italy they were wearing this type of clothes. But I wonder how they were surviving the cold winters of Baden-Württemberg without long johns.

If you are wondering how the Romans were building their forts in time when cranes and bulldozers did not exist you can look here - this is a reconstruction of a typical building machine from Roman times.

I hope that you have liked this little glimpse into the history. Life in the Aallen fort must have been tough. But its inhabitants have really known what it means "living on the edge".

Monte San Giorgio

Monte San Giorgio is a mountain close to the city of Lugano in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, in Switzerland. It is not high, does not have an unusual shape, still, it has a tremendous importance for the history of the Earth. Tremendous enough to be recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

So let's jump on the PostAuto, the famous yellow busses of Switzerland.

The uniqueness of Monte San Giorgio relates to its geological structure that shelters amazing paleontological artefacts. In most places in the world scientists can find one layer of fossils, coming from a distinct period. Monte San Giorgio is composed of seven layers of fossils, coming from consecutive eras, which allows the scientists to study the evolution of species living in this region over millions of years.

In the Middle Triassic geological period, Monte San Giorgio lied on the shores of the huge Thetys Ocean which separated Africa from Eurasia. In the shallow waters many species have quickly evolved.

When the dead animals were sinking they had the best possible conditions for fossilization.

One of the things that I liked best in the Monte San Giorgio museum was that the fossils are paired with models which allows the imagination to work better.

Besides fish-like animals, Monte San Giorgio was also home to shell-like ammonites.

You can also admire there different types of sediment rocks.

Look, they were even smart enough to create the Swiss flag out of Monte San Giorgio rocks.

I must say that I was impressed by the diversity of the marine fauna that has lived around Monte San Giorgio.

Maybe you would like to check on by yourselves if any of them are still around? It seems that we will need to watch out for their descendants at least.

Chillion castle

We will visit today one of the most visited castles in Europe - Château de Chillon. It is located on a little island on Lake Geneva so to get there, we need to take the little wooden bridge.

The castle was rebuilt several times, but it still keeps something medieval in its looks.

Which is quite amazing since just on the other side you can see the highway, having nothing to do with Middle Ages. 

The flag on top of the dungeon is the flag of canton Vaud. 

But the castle changed its owner and country affiliation more than once during the last centuries. Let's enter inside to discover some of this heritage.

The castle was built somewhere towards the end of the tenth century. In the twelfth century it became the summer house of Dukes of Savoy. Or one of many summer houses should I say.

In some of the rooms you can still find the coat of arms of Savoy.

The dukes made sure that they have enough space to eat and party. 

The duke had of course the most special place. Not yet a throne, no longer a chair. 

Though obviously it was not easy to heat large rooms at that time, even with really big chimneys.

The dukes had of course also a private chapel. It used to be covered with frescoes but little of their original beauty has survived.

The bedrooms were more modest. To be honest the bed looked child-sized. As you may remember from our trip to Malbork, people in the Middle Ages were shorter than today.

But this bath tube looks quite comfortable. 

Obviously the Chillion castle was not a place of comfort for all its residence. During religion wars in Europe, it was used as a prison. The most famous prisoner was François Bonivard, a monk from Geneva supporting the reformation. His "residence" in the basement was far from being comfortable.

The windows were high and let in only a limited amount of sunlight.

On top, they did not have glass, only bars.

The view on the Alps might have been splendid but in winter it was really cold. And humid.

Obviously the prisoners had little chance to admire the view since they were chained to pillars.

And they knew that their only way of leaving the place was in a coffin.

The reason why Bonivard is the most famous resident of the place is because he is the main character of a narrative poem written by Lord Byron - "The prisoner of Chillon". Byron visited the castle once and even left a signature on one of the pillars. What a vandal.

Let's leave this horrible prison. On the left you can see the duke's cellars. And yes, just next to the prisoners. The wines signed by Chillion castles are well known and are considered to be part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Lavaux vineyards".

The castle includes several courtyards.

The passages between each other are usually guarded by towers.

They are linked by passages that go also on higher level so that the security guard could keep an eye on the visitors.

Some of them go really high and are covered with wooden roofs.

I must say that Chillion castle proved to be an place both interesting and depressing. Long years of pain seem to be part of the rock on which it was built.