My Xanten - Vacationing with a Tourist from El Salvador

10-year-old Fabian Schulz, lives in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. Last year his parents moved from Tenerife, where Fabian was born, to El Salvador. During his summer holidays, Fabian visits his grandparents in Xanten. That's why he chose to take us to the archaeological park in Xanten.

On the site where the Roman settlement of Colonia Ulpia Traiana once stood, Germany's largest open-air archaeological museum invites people to take a trip to the distant past. In the first century BC, the lower Rhine came to the notice of the ancient Romans. They erected a military camp on the hill now known as the Fürstenberg, in order to be able to advance into Germania, on the right bank of the Rhine. North of the legion's camp, a harbor with a settlement developed: later called Colonia Ulpia Traina and finally Xanten.

A grid of streets with a sewer system, a town wall, a forum, a temple, baths and an amphitheatre were built. In Xanten's archaeological park, replicas of some of these buildings have been constructed, but there are also still a few of the original Roman facilities, which can be viewed as well.