LUXEMBOURG
Monday 17th September
Had a great trip this morning passing through western Germany and some magic scenery – rolling green hills dotted with scattered clumps of stately forest trees and pretty villages.
Autumn is really here now and the Autumn shades through the forests are awesome.
Passed through into Luxembourg without any border checks.
Diesel is so cheap here. Best we could get in Germany was around the €1.30+ ltr marked up to around €1.47 on the highway or remote places. Here the standard cost is €1.15 ltr and we were not surprised to see around 10 stations in a row at the border and all with queues waiting to take advantage of the cost. I believe similar huge discounts apply to cigarettes.
Decided to come in through the north of the country and found the scenery spectacular though the roads were narrow and in bad repair.
There are not many CP’s in this country but nearly all are gratis. First two we visited were beside either railway lines and/or skate board parks so moved on.
Our campsite for tonight: Parking, Koerich – GPS N49.670769. E5.942500
Travelled a long distance today and were happy to eventually find a place to stay for the night.
A small CP with only four spots but newly built and a credit to the community. Whilst this was not on top of a railway or skate board park, the traffic was quite noisy. Lovely little town with lots of friendly people.
Tuesday 18th September
Our campsite for tonight: Parking, Dudelange – GPS N49.471619. E6.078460
Selected this place CP as the railway line is so close making the trip into the city of Luxembourg easy.
Takes about 8 Mohos, is gratis with all water and electricity provided. Has a couple of permanents here that take advantage of the free services and CP but they were no bother.
Directions into Luxembourg: take the steps down from the CP which leads to the platform on the left. Go under the railway line to platform 2 and take train to Bettembourg. From here take train to Luxembourg – again down the steps and across to platform 5. Day ticket is €4 with free use of any train or bus for 24 hours.
There is only one station in the city which makes it easy and the information centre at the station has the city map.
This is quite a busy bustling fortress city (sometimes called the Gibraltor of the North). The Old Town is only about 10 easy minutes walk from the station along Avenue de la Gare across the Viaduc onto F.D. Roosevelt into the city centre.
A city with numerous arched stone bridges providing views across the Alzette river with wonderfully designed colourful and picturesque gardens along the way.
The old Town flanks several large squares where the locals and tourists were in their hundreds enjoying the sun, myriads of restaurants and of course the wonderful old buildings here.
Some of the many places of interest we enjoyed included the 17th century Cathedrale Notre Dame which is open to the public at no cost; the Royal Palace (Grand Ducal Palace) built in 1573 where we watched “the changing of the guards” (not as spectacular as Buckingham Palace though) and the place we enjoyed the most was the area around Chemin de la Corniche and Rocher du Bock – Bock Casemates where we wandered across the 17th century walls of the ramparts with views across the river canyon – this is not to be missed and was the highlight to us of Luxembourg city.
We were exhausted after a full day here and ready for a well deserved rest on returning home.
Note: Do not be talked into taking a bus at any time as the train is by far the better option – long story, but call it “experience”.