There will be three different types of roads in the game:
- Simple dirt road (middle)
Better than walking across a field, but not a real achievement. - Provincial road (left)
Paved road on which goods can be moved quickly, but which residents don’t like so much because there is no sidewalk. - City street
Citizens love the sidewalks, but freight transport is reduced because the roads are very narrow.
In the game, it plays an important role which type of road is built and where which type is used. It will probably never be possible to please all inhabitants.
Recherche
For the research, I have been to four places in Switzerland. Here I show briefly where I was and what it looks like there.
Langenbruck (Basel-Land / Switzerland)
To find the Römerstrasse, it is best to park here [Google Maps Link]. Then walk back towards the village and cross the road at this point [Google Maps Link]. Now everything is signposted.
In the forest, there is a branching where it is not quite clear which path to take. But here both ways lead to the goal. Then you come directly to the small road section.
You can still see the deep furrows that were driven by wagon wheels into the rock:
When I was back home, I did some more research on this part of the road and found out that you don’t even know if this is a Roman road [Archäologie Baselland hier klicken].
WORTH A VISIT?
Probably not. The area with the nature park Thal offers very good possibilities for excursions, especially with children, but because of this short road section I would not sit in the car for another 2 hours. If you want to visit the nature park, which is worth it, you can find all information here [Website, click here].
Overview
| Location | Google Maps Link |
| Worth a visit | rather not |
| What you see | about 30 meters of channels in the rock |
| Duration of stay | 5 minutes |
| Parking spaces | 15 minutes walk away [Google Maps Link] |
Arch (Bern / Switzerland)
Here you can find a showcase below the bakery, which shows a cross-section of a street. The location can be found here [Google Map Link].
You can’t see more than this showcase. But here you get a good understanding how a roman overland road looked like.
worth a visit?
Since the showcase is located close to the highway, it is worth a short detour if you are driving through anyway. The bakery above offers enough parking space and is also highly recommended. Very tasty desserts and the prices are fair for the quality you get. Here is the website of the bakery [hier klicken].
Overview
| Location | Google Maps Link |
| Worth a visit | yes, for very interested people |
| What you see | cross-section of a street, objects, information boards |
| Duration of stay | 5 minutes |
| Parking spaces | Parking at the bakery built above (worth a visit!) |
Effingen (AARGAU / Switzerland)
The first Roman road I visited for research in 2019 was a very nice trip in an extremely beautiful environment. The Roman road can be found here [Google Map Link]. Google Maps leads you on the way “Spannagel”. You shouldn’t take this path, because contrary to Google it ends in the middle of the forest. The best way is to walk up the hill from the village Effingen.
At about 200 meters you will find smaller and smaller sections of the road, always where the wagon wheels have made furrows in the rock.
Worth a visit?
If you are interested in Roman streets, then yes. The landscape is incredibly beautiful and everything is bright green. An absolute paradise for hiking. You can have a good picnic on the road and discover new sections over and over again over a length of 200 meters.
Overview
| Location | Google Maps Link |
| Worth a visit | yes, for very interested people |
| What you see | about 200 meters of furrows in the rock |
| Duration of stay | 15 minutes |
| Parking spaces | Not really. Possibly here [Google Maps Link]. But then you have to walk about 20-30 minutes |
Windisch (AARGAU / switzerland)
A legion was stationed in Windisch, the former Vindonissa. Therefore you can see an incredible amount of things here. But now it’s all about the Roman streets and Windisch offers a nice exhibition. You can find the section near the ugly reconstructed Roman gate [Google Maps Link]. In the middle of a residential area you find the Römertor:
If you walk through the gate, you will find interesting information boards about the legionary fort. At the very back you will find the original Roman road:
You cannot walk on the street, but you can see very well from the visualizations of how the street was built.
worth a visit?
YES! Windisch offers unbelievably many and good exhibitions on the topic of the Romans. The Römerweg leads you through all of Windisch to the interesting places. Windisch makes an extreme effort to deliver high-quality presentations. However, you should not start at the Amphitheater like me, but at the Römermuseum and rent a key there. With this key, you can also get into the interesting places.
Overview
| Location | Google Maps Link |
| Worth a visit | YES! |
| What you see | Windisch is full of all kinds of things from the Romans. Museum, ruins, replicas, etc. |
| Duration of stay | 240 minutes |
| Parking spaces | Throughout the whole city |
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