Luxembourg City – May 3rd

Luxembourg City is a short drive from Trier (about 45 min), so I figured if we were that close we should go check it out. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has three official languages (Luxembourgish, French and German) so I thought we’d be able to get by knowing German.. but turns out most things were in French (menus, signs, etc). The city is quite hilly, with part of the city up on the hills/cliffs and part down in the Alzette and Pétrusse valleys- so we definitely go a workout walking up and down the steep streets for the day. The geography did make for some beautiful views though! We started out walking out on the Pont Adolphe (Adolphe Bridge) and then by the Place de la Constitution and the Gelle Fra (Monument of Remembrance).  I was pretty surprised by some of the street names – ie. Avenue John F. Kennedy and Boulevard Franklin Delano Roosevelt- which were mixed in with all the French names.

After a short (and expensive – purchase required to use bathroom and a bottle of water was $3!) detour to use a bathroom in town, we walked through Place Guillaume II (one of the main squares in town) where they had a farmers market on the way to the Cathédrale Notre-Dame. The organ gallery and stained glass windows were really beautiful here (are you sensing a theme here?.. I’m a sucker for stained glass windows!). When we left we walked along Le Chemin de la Corniche (also called “the most beautiful balcony in Europe”), a path that borders the old ramparts along the edge of the Alzette which overlooks the Grund in the valley down below. From here we were able to enter the Casemates – a huge network of under-ground defensive galleries (from the 17th century) that were part of the fortifications around the old castle. The Casemates not only provided shelter for thousands of soldiers, but also housed workshops, kitchens, bakeries, etc. I’m usually not claustrophobic, but I’ll admit some of the pathways and staircases were pretty narrow and dark.. I can’t imagine having to live in there for long periods of time if the town was being attacked! During the two world wars the Bock Casemates served as a shelter with the capacity to hold 35,000 people in the event of a bombardment .

We wandered around town a little bit before stopping by the Palais Grand Ducal, the official royal residence. It is right in town with a fairly narrow pedestrian street in front of it so it was just about impossible to get a picture of the entire thing at once. There was no big fence around it.. the only way you’d know it is something special are the armed guards out front! By this point we were getting pretty hungry so we had a panini and a salad at a café nearby. It was so nice to sit down and have some coffee while people watching from the second floor. This time when we headed out of town we headed down to the Grund (the part of town down in the Alzette valley). After walking along the river and taking in the views of the casements from below we sat outside and had a glass of a local beer. When we were leaving we cheated and took the elevator up instead of walking up the steep streets.. my legs were so tired by this point.

For dinner we settled on a tex-mex place called Chi-Chi’s that was right on the Place d’Armes – a very pretty (and Parisian) looking square in town. It might sound crazy to have Mexican for dinner while in Luxembourg but given that 1. The town is expensive in general – restaurant food included (especially the nicer, Luxembourgish and French restaurants) and 2. Mexican is just about impossible to find in Europe.. so we decided to go for it. It was so delicious and affordable- a great end to the day. There were so many stately and beautiful buildings in Luxembourg City. It reminded me of Paris, but cleaner and less crowded!