Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [493]
RömerMuseum & Grosse Thermen
The extravagant building west of the park shelters the brand-new RömerMuseum ( 9881 7110; Siegfriedstrasse 39; see Archäologischer Park for hr & admission), which takes you on a journey through 400 years of Roman presence in the Lower Rhine region. Modern and interactive, the exhibit kicks off with the arrival of the Roman legions and ends with the colony’s 4th-century demise at the hands of marauding Germanic tribes. Make your way along the floating ramps to learn how the Roman folk earned their money, how they worshipped, educated their kids, played and buried their dead. A highlight among the locally excavated treasures is the Roman ship.
The museum was built on the foundations of the Grosse Thermen thermal baths, which have been partly excavated and can be admired in an adjacent hall.
SLEEPING
DJH hostel ( 985 00; www.xanten.jugendherberge.de; Bankscher Weg 4; dm/s/d incl breakfast & linen €20.40/30.50/51; ) This hugely popular modern hostel has a pretty lakeside setting but is 3km from the Altstadt and often overrun with school kids. Rooms sleep two to five and come with their own bathrooms.
Klever Tor ( 983 00; Klever Strasse; apt €48, 2-night minimum; ) A romantic place to spend the night is inside the most striking of Xanten’s surviving medieval town gates, now converted into holiday flats with small kitchens. Book through the tourist office.
Hotel van Bebber ( 6623; www.hotelvanbebber.de, in German; Klever Strasse 12; s €69-88, d €114-186; ) Queen Victoria and Churchill have slept in this old-school hotel where waiters wear tuxedos and the reception is past a gallery of mounted animal heads.
EATING
Cafe de Fries ( 2068; Kurfürstenstrasse 8; dishes €3.50-8; 8.30am-6.30pm Tue-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & Sun) Newly updated, this cafe has a 180-year pedigree and is famous for its filled pancakes. Kids love the ‘chocolate fountain’ and the Easter-bunny centrifuge in the one-room museum (admission free; open 11am to 5pm).
Gotisches Haus ( 706 400; Markt 6; mains €9-20; 9am-1am) Xanten’s top restaurant offers creative Austrian cuisine and artsy design flourishes within the wood-panelled walls of a centuries-old merchant house. The three-course lunch is a steal at €10 and tots love picking out their favourite dish from a menu designed just for them.
GETTING THERE & AROUND
Getting to Xanten from the Niederrhein airport (opposite) involves taking the bus to the Duisburg main train station (adult/child €12/7, hourly 9.30am to 12.30am), then catching the hourly train (€9.50, 45 minutes). Xanten is on route B57. If travelling on the A57, take the Alpen exit, then route B58 east to B57 north.
Zweirad Reineke ( 1474; Marsstrasse 19; 9am-1pm & 2.30-6.30pm Mon-Fri, 9am-2pm Sat) in the pedestrian zone near the Markt rents bikes for €7.50 per day.
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Kalkar & Around
02824 / pop 11,500
About 15km north of Xanten, Kalkar boasts a pretty medieval core centred on a proud Rathaus and the St Nikolaikirche (Jan-Joest-Strasse 6; 10am-noon & 2-6pm Apr-Oct, 2-5pm Nov-Mar), famous for its nine masterful altars chiselled by members of the Kalkar woodcarving school. Top billing goes to the High Altar, which depicts the Passion of Christ in heart-wrenching detail. For a little comic relief, lift the first seat on the left in the back row of the choir chairs (with you facing the altar) to reveal a monkey on a chamber pot. Another eye-catcher is the Seven Sorrows Altar by Henrik Douvermann at the end of the right aisle. Note the oak-carved Jesse’s root, which wraps around the entire altar.
Bus 44 makes regular trips from Xanten’s Bahnhof to the Markt in Kalkar, but the service is infrequent at weekends.
SCHLOSS MOYLAND
With its Rapunzel towers, Romeo-and-Juliet balcony and creeping ivy, Schloss Moyland ( 02824-951