Alcala, Spain Fall 2007: Luxembourg: Vianden, Ettelbruck, Luxembourg City

7 -8 December 2007

Upon leaving Antwerp my friend and I took a 3-connection train route plus 1 bus to Vianden, Luxembourg. Our longest stop on the way there was in Liege, Belgium. We both decided it was Gollum's swamp as there was a large puddle/junk yard area right in front of the train station (see picture below). However, I did eat a Liege Waffle in Liege, so that was cool (not to mention delicious ;).

When we arrived in Vianden around 1500 it was already getting dark and we made the long up hill trek to our hostel, which turned out to be right across the street from the Vianden Castle. The guy working there spoke very little and broken English but he showed us to our "home" (room) and was very friendly. It was a fairly large hostel, at least 3 floors, clean rooms, a large cafeteria area, and hr restrictions on the showers (since normally there would be more customers). The best thing about being there though is that, as we would discover the next morning at breakfast, we were the ONLY people staying there! We also were the only college-aged tourists in town;) Love seeing a place that many miss out on and that isn't swarming with foreigners. I feel you get a more authentic look at it.

We went out to do some aimless exploring as Vianden isn't a big tourist destination so there were not many "must see" specific items we had to visit (except the castle). There were some hiking/biking trails in the wooden/rural area bordering the cobble-stoned city area so that is where we wandered. IT was really pretty to be so high up over the city (see pictures below) and at dusk the lighting was perfect. There were Christmas stars lighted up on the castle and a tower near a panoramic view point we stumbled upon.

The city itself was somewhat empty, in a charming sleepy-town sort of way. There were little shops, cafes, restaurants, and quite a few hotels. We wondered how so many hotels stay open (maybe the summer is more busy?). From the view above we could see the historically-preserved homes and shops, an old bridge (with a statue of Victor Hugo nearby), the surrounding Ardennes mountains, and the river below. The sound of the running water and the sight of smoke coming from the chimneys of the historic architecture below made me feel as if I'd gone back in time (Timeline by Crichton if you will;) and it was very spiritual and peaceful for me.

The next morning (the 8th) we ate breakfast with the two managers of the hostel (since we were the only customers ;)...well we didn't eat exactly with them but we sat nearby because they were speaking German and I, well, don't ;) Then we did some more random hiking around until we could go into the castle at 10am. The castle had a ton of rooms and was a lot bigger than I though. It had images of how it had been re-constructed after it had lay in ruins, photos of famous individuals who had visited in the past, the lineage of rulers over it, armor, catapult balls, and more. Additionally, 3 movies have been filmed there (or at least part of them), which I now have to see ;)

Next we caught our bus back to Ettelbruck, Luxembourg where we walked around for a bit and my friend got a Luxembourg-Bratwurst (red, and more spicy than the German variety) from the little Christmas market that was going on before we got on the train.

Although we were headed back to Brussels, we decided to spend some time in Luxembourg City since we were on an open/non-reservation type ticket and had to switch trains there anyway.

We walked from the station to the city center and saw a monument dedicated to soldiers of WWI (?), the flame of the unknown soldier (I think most European capitals have one of these), and a church along the way. There was a HUGE Christmas market and festival going on so we walked along there for a while checking out the booths. We each got a Liege-waffle that was especially delicious as it was very warm and the weather was colder that day. We then walked to where the fortress/moat/water area was and took A LOT of pictures. Luxembourg City was a very interesting place: tons of richy-rich shopping combined with cobble stoned streets and the ruins of an old fortress village. Something I love about the Benelux region is that they go all out for Christmas: Christmas markets in every town (some accompanied by a children's choir singing carols in German), Christmas trees (both gigantic and small), decorations in nearly every store window, etc. We walked back to the train station and returned to Brussels (see end of Brussels blog now ;)

HIGHLIGHT OF LUXEMBOURG: Being the only customers in a hostel for the first time and walking around a random-off-the-beaten-track town in a country many people miss as well.

1. Gollum's Swamp: "En el fondo de la galería había un lago helado, lejos de toda luz, y en una isla rocosa, en medio de las auas, vivía Gollum. Era una pequeña y aborrecible criatura; impulsaba un botecito con un pie ancho y plano, acechando con ojos pálidos y luminosos; metía los dedos largos en el agua, sacaba un pescado ciego, y se lo devoraba crudo." (started reading "Fellowship of the Ring" in Spanish...found this description fitting for the pic below ;)