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Published: February 26th 2024
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The city sits atop rocky promontories, surrounded on three sides by ravines cut by the meandering Alzette and Pétrusse rivers; the defensive advantages of the location are clear. Approaching the old city gives great views of the fortifications, grand palaces and government buildings, as well as down to the river and gardens below. The outskirts of the city beyond this deep natural moat are modern glass edifices, often belonging to banks, which dominate Luxembourg’s economy and give it the highest GDP per capita in the world. We visited the Bock Casemates, which are the defensive tunnels below the original castle, the Christmas markets in every square (we were there in December), the cathedral, and otherwise just wandered around enjoying the views. The city is definitely worth a visit, but you don’t need long.
Our radius for weekend explorations has gradually expanded over the last three years, which is a necessity if you live in the Netherlands. The towns here are nice, but they are very similar (canals, windmills, tall narrow houses, great cheese but otherwise bland food) and the national parks are rarely worthy of a second visit (except Zuid-Kennemerland to see the bison). Hence, we are visiting
more and more of Germany and Belgium. Therefore, why not go a little bit further and have a look at Luxembourg.
Luxembourg City is lovely. I had been before, when my one-year round-the-world trip in 2002-2003 (pre-blogging days) finished with a quick two weeks overland across Europe (flight from Peru to Madrid, then trains between Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Luxembourg, Brussels and Bruges, then a ferry to Yorkshire). That occasion was midsummer and I think I spent a night at a hostel plus a day or so to wander around. I remembered thinking Luxembourg City was pretty. This time, being unwilling to stay in a hostel dorm or pay a fortune for a room and parking, we found cheap accommodation by staying out at the airport then left the car there and took advantage of Luxembourg’s free public transport to get into town.
Because we had rented a car for this trip, we were able to explore some more of the country on the way back north to the Netherlands. Luxembourg was surprisingly hilly and agricultural. I had read that the hiking was really good and now I believe it. Everywhere we went we saw
signboards and well-marked trails, some of which are multiday hikes across the country.
Our drive first took us to Beaufort Castle. This ruin was quite spooky-looking; we couldn’t go in because of some renovation works.
We kept going to Vianden, again known for its castle that sits on a rock above town, kind of like a smaller version of Salzburg. This castle was more dramatic, especially the view of it from the roadside on the way into town. We hiked up to the castle through town then down through the woods, always on a hunt for somewhere to get lunch, which we didn’t find (it was a Monday and everywhere was closed).
The subsequent half an hour drive – everywhere we went was almost precisely half an hour apart – took us to Bourscheid Castle. You catch glimpses of it on the way down and up the valley sides, but get the best view if you keep going a few kilometres past the castle. We only went in as far as the café’s rooftop terrace, which enabled us to see most of it without actually entering.
The penultimate stop (half an hour later) was
Clervaux, where finally we could eat because the Christmas market and cafes were open. It was another lovely little town with a castle in the middle and a big old abbey up the hill that we hiked up to through the snowy forest.
After spending the night near Troisvierges, close to the northern tip of the country, we had three final objectives before leaving the country: fuel, booze, and a mountain peak. Despite Luxembourg being very rich and very expensive, for some products taxes are really low. When you drive across the border, it is normal to see a line of petrol station after petrol station (we counted seven in a row) enabling Germans, Belgians and French to buy cheap fuel. We did the same. Between the petrol stations you’ll find supermarkets with huge cheap booze sections catering to the same market. Thus, we stocked up on some interesting gins and rums, and the very agreeable Luxembourgish wine. Then we hit “the mountain”.
For a long time the highest point of Luxembourg was believed to be Buurgplaatz at 559 metres. There is even a specially built tower. More recently with higher accuracy surveying techniques, it was
realised that Kneiff, about a kilometre away, was actually around a metre higher. Neither of these are mountains, the latter being a point in a field about 300 metres from the road by the Belgian border. It was on our way, close to the big supermarkets and petrol stations, thus we obviously had to go there – much to the bewilderment of drivers wondering why we were pulling over on the snowy verge beside a field.
It was a nice long weekend away that included stopping in a few lovely places in Germany on the way down from the Netherlands (Augustusburg Palace near Bonn, and Trier) and a few lovely places in Belgium on the way back up (Parc Naturel Hautes Fagnes, and La Chocolaterie Darcis in Verviers). Luxembourg is definitely more than just Luxembourg City. Driving around ticking off castles was fun. And there are many more. I’d like to return in summer and enjoy hiking between some more of them.
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