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Published: April 30th 2017
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When I mentioned to people that I was going on a solo trip to Luxembourg city, the resounding response from everyone was 'Why...what's there', which made me all the more curious to explore this interesting city. Ever since I saw a clip of Luxembourg on
The Hungry Bikers, I was quite interested in visiting and suggested it as a weekend break to my husband who also replied 'Why, What's there?'...Oh well so a solo trip it was. I was a little apprehensive about visiting somewhere alone after years of having my husband as my travel budddy- my last solo trip was a few cities in the states when I was 26 and a lot has changed since then! Anyway, off I went and after a short 55 minutes plane journey I made it into the teeny tiny airport of Luxembourg city. I arrived late so hopped in a taxi and arrived very quickly at my city centre hotel. After several warnings from my husband not to go off exploring late at night I went straight to bed as it was gone 11, and figured Id save all my adventures for the following day.
The following day I got up and
after a very basic breakfast (read grim) I ventured out into the cold- it was surprisingly cold for the end of april. The entire city was covered in a mist and almost deserted aside from a few workmen. The first thing that struck me is how quiet and peaceful Luxembourg was, how it was very untouristy, and how utterly confusing the hilly the city centre is- it truely is a labyrinth of winding streets but thankfully it is impossible to get lost- as I found. For a teeny tiny city, Luxembourg packs a powerful punch, and I was concerned that I wouldnt have enough to do to fill my time there, but how wrong I was!
Luxembourg is an old old walled fortress city which is spread over a series of huge cliffs and down steep 'gorges', intersected with a number of colossal viaducts which boasts a number of fantastic view out across the city. I would not recommend a trip to Luxembourg if one have bad knees or does not enjoy a lot of walking uphill- I love walking and am relatively fit and I found it exhausting! I will be honest- I set out and had no
idea where I was going, there were no signposts and few signs saying street names so I just winged it! My first stop brought me up a cliff through the pont de Chateaux archway to the old part of the city to walk along looking down upon the city below- the Chemin de la Corniche- it was beautiful. While up here, I enjoyed the royal grand Ducal palace, the notre dame cathedral and the library, and carried on back along the corniche and I walked as far as I possibly could, then crossed a huge viaduct to another newer part of the city and walked down by the old clock tower and adolphe bridge, however I didnt get to see much of this amazing bridge as they were performing work on it and it was covered in scaffolding!
Following a trail down by one of the viaducts, I wandered through one of the cities many green parks and then found myself following the walls of a city and found myself back up high again- looking over at a view of the old town which I had only visited a short time ago! I ventured back to lover ground again,
but yet again, found I was going uphill again! No matter where I went, I seemed to be walking uphill! Following through a number of pretty winding streets and around another viaduct I found myself back at my hotel! A blessed relief! I took this opportunity to grab some lunch- a gorgeous dish of pork in a creamy sauce with rice, and gave my phone a good charge- normally my husband and I would carry an arsenal of cameras with us but as I was solo it was me and my S7!
After this, I walked across the city and back uphill... up up up again to fort Thungen. This is a bit of a monster hike if you have been walking all day, but well worth it! The view from up here were spectacular and there are a number of other forts as well as the reconstructed Fort Thungen. There isn't a massive amount to do up here aside from enjoying the panoramic view of the old town across the 'Grund'. From here it was back down again- please ensure to go down the way you go up as I made the mistake of taking 'other routes' and
they all lead to dead ends! On reaching the bottom I went on the explore the Bock- these are the ancient fortifications of the city which are set up into the cliffs surrounding the city. These are old and crumbling and not pretty but utterly fascinating and exploring the casemates is an absolute must do!
From here, it was back into the old part of the city to see the centre in more detail, again, I got lost but came across the Place de Armies, the place where the american army liberated luxembourg from Germany in 1944. This square is gorgeous and lined with lovely restaurants and so it was rude not to sit and enjoy a coffee outside and take in the sights! There are a number of gorgeous buildings to look at, and a number of monuments. From here, I wandered around the lovely pretty streets and came upon The Golden Lady- a huge war memorial overlooking the city- as well as the clock tower and adolphe bridge I had visited earlier (as I was saying- it is impossible to get lost here!, as well as the other side- and the more beautiful side- of the notre
dame cathedral. Gorgeous! This then brought my day almost to a close, so a little wandering around some of the gorgeous designer shops (window shopping haha) and eating delicious snacks from the number of delis closed the day.
An early flight back the following day meant little time for much more sigh seeing, however, I decided to explore the walls and the gorgeous church down in the 'Grund' part of the city- this was so so pretty! Following along the river was truely magical and so beautiful. More views up to the old city gave the prefect end to a lovely trip to Luxembourg. If I had another full day I would loved to have seen more of this country, and had I some company I would have liked to have enjoyed the cities nightlife- I came upon a fabulous street in the Grund area full of bars and restuarants and it looked fantastic fun! As I say with all my blog posts- next time! 😉
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