Today we opted to take a little jaunt outside the city to a town about 50 km north of Luxembourg City, called Vianden. The trip is only about an hour by train then bus, and the best part was that it was free, because all transportation in Luxembourg is free! Gotta love that! Unfortunately, Irv was feeling under the weather and chose to stay in town instead. 🙁
The train passed through a number of small towns all of which seemed very inviting, and stopped in Diekirch, where we transferred to a small commuter bus for the rest of our journey. The trip passed through more even smaller towns, and wound its way through the lush green countryside with spectacular views of the valleys. It seemed that we followed a rather circuitous route, but finally ended up in Vianden, which is basically a village with one main street. After a quick coffee stop, we headed to the tourist office to suss out how to get to the chairlift that takes you up to the castle, which is Vianden’s claim to fame. Serendipitously, we discovered that if we bought a pass we could get the chairlift ride and entrance to the castle for a much cheaper price. So off we went to the chairlift, or “telesiège”, which is the only one in the entire Grand Duchy! Rising from 220 m up to 440m it provides a panoramic view of the Our Valley. Quite breath-taking, indeed!
Once at the top of the chairlift it’s another 600 m or 1800 m down to the castle depending on whether you want the short, steep narrow route or the longer, less steep wider route. We opted for the latter.
The castle dates back to early Roman times, starting out as a fort, and then being added to and fortified over the centuries by various factions and passed through several hands. It became a residential castle as far back as 1100 and was eventually sold at public auction to a citizen of Vianden in 1820, who sold it off for salvage, even the roof! In 1972 a group called Les Amis du Chateau de Vianden stepped in and oversaw a complete restoration of the castle.
The tour through the castle is well laid out, taking you into the various rooms, each dedicated to some aspect of life in former times. There are displays of artifacts from different time periods, and full on replicas of rooms in a castle as they might have been centuries ago. I particularly enjoyed a special exhibit that they had of the photography of Raymond Clement, who focussed on the landscapes of Luxembourg. His pieces were breath-taking!
A stop for a quick bite of sausage on a bun and Mer’s favourite fruit beer, then we headed back into town to catch the bus, then train back to Luxembourg. A quick stop at the apartment to put on a load of laundry before heading into Ville Haute to catch up with Irv. Met him at the Brasserie du Cercle, a restaurant that specializes in authentic Luxembourgish dishes. Richard and I enjoyed the vol-au-vent, while Mer and Irv tried the potatoes rostis with bacon, cheese, fried egg. It was all very delicious.
Back to the apartment to finish up the laundry and get organized for our departure tomorrow to Saarbruck, where we catch the boat for our boat bike tour.