Europe: Luxembourg

Arrival in Luxembourg and Sightseeing in Castles and Military Museums

Luxembourg is a very small country located between France, Germany and Belgium. One can travel anywhere within the country in about one hour. During the four days we spent there, we concentrated our sightseeing in a small area that featured a combination of nice castles and good hiking. We stayed in Hostel International accommodations throughout the country.

The all-night train that we boarded in Milan arrived in Luxembourg City at 6:25am on Monday morning (26 June). We bought some breakfast at the train station and, as soon as the tourist office opened, we bought passes that allowed us unlimited train, bus and museum admissions for the next four days. Our first stop was the town of Vianden, known for its famous castle. The town was very beautiful and quaint.

We ate lunch at a little cafe and then visited the castle, which is one of the best restored in the country. It dated from pre-1000 AD and was nicely restored inside as well. After finishing up in the castle, we took a chair lift to the stop on a hill and had a marvelous view of the city. We walked around town, bought some groceries and took them back to our hostel, where we cooked dinner in the kitchen.

On Tuesday we left Vianden and rode the bus to Diekirch, where we left our luggage at the tourist office while exploring the city. We came to Diekirch to visit the Luxembourg National Military Museum. Most of it is devoted to the Battle of the Bulge, which took place in the latter part of World War II. The museum had many rooms of exhibits. One of the best parts of the museum was the life-size reproductions of army life and battles which took place during that time.

We had lunch and walked around town before taking a bus to Beaufort, which had another old castle, although not as well restored as Vianden’s. We spent the night at the hostel there.

More Luxembourg Castles and a Hike through “Little Switzerland”

Wednesday took us on the bus to Larochette. We explored the castle there, in which one side was restored and the other side left in ruins. The castle was on top of a hill and we had a nice view of the town below us. We took the bus to Ettelbruck and walked around there before returning to Larochette and the hostel there. Dinner was in a nice restaurant in the center of town.

Our last full day in Luxembourg was Thursday (29 June) and we spent some time hiking in the ‘Little Switzerland’ region of the country. To get there we took a bus to Berdorf and then set off on a two hour hike on the S2 trail to Mullerthal. The trail went through a forest filled with trees and tall rocks. There were many birds chirping too. Once we reached Mullerthal we took a bus to Echternach. After visiting the Abbey Museum we made our way to the hostel there. Dinner was cooked in the kitchen and we watched the European Championship soccer semi-final between Italy and Holland in the common room. Italy won, setting up a final with France on Sunday, when we would be in Paris.

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