We took a road trip up to Luxembourg this past weekend, which was approximately 3.5 hours by car (not bad). The weather was chilly and crisp, fall is here! We had mostly gray skies, but the sun made an appearance in the late afternoon and it was heavenly! After dropping off our luggage we hit the shopping area, which was right around the corner from our centrally located hotel. There's some good shopping here. Matt scored with a stylish winter coat and I convinced him I "needed" a cute little sweater cape as well! Good stuff.
The town's location above the Pétrusse and Alzette valleys provide for some spectacular vistas. The leaves are changing so the burnt oranges, yellows and reds added a colorful touch this time of year. It's an elegant city with a mix of history and old fortresses as well as new contemporary architecture of the EU institutions. Not to miss an opportunity for yet another walking tour, we booked the "Wenzel" with the Tourist Office, which covered the upper and lower towns as well as the famous Casemates.
The Bock is the once mighty fort Count Sigefried built in 963, around which the city of Luxembourg developed, and the Casemates is a honeycomb of damp rock galleries and passages carved underneath it between 1737 and 1746.
After our 2.5 hour walk, we were ready to warm up and have a snack/drink! Unfortunately, most of the bars we checked out were either full or allowed smoking inside?! So disappointing! We finally found a cute [non-smoking] bistro on the main square and enjoyed our red wine and cheese plate! Afterward, we walked across the valleys to the Sofitel, which had a rooftop bar with floor to ceiling windows. The view was nice but would've been better if Luxembourg actually turned its lights on at night! Surprisingly, the churches etc. were kept dark.
During our brisk walk on Sunday morning we encountered the military in formation heading to the main Church (no idea what was going on, but we took some photos)!
Afterward we headed North to Vianden, which boasts a castle and appealing Old Town. When we pulled in there were all sorts of "Detour" signs and a lot more cars/buses than we had anticipated. Much to our surprise and delight, the town was hosting its annual Fall Nut Festival and local nut liquor, nut cakes, nut hamburger (??) etc. were on offer. We stuck with regular grilled sausage, a pork sandwich and tasty Berliners for dessert. It was a festive vibe with a big crowd, food stalls lining the street, a few game booths for the kids (crossbows shooting nuts anyone?) and various types of music (loud hip hop on the radio to live German folk music).
We also visited the restored Castle, perched above the town. It was built between the 11th and 14th centuries in the Gothic style and provided a nice self-guided walking tour through the interior, displaying the armory, chapel, kitchen, main halls, wine cellar and bedrooms. Pretty cool, considering it was just a pile of rubble a few decades ago.
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