Friday 13 December 2019

I can’t believe I’ve never been to Luxembourg. It’s so close. Only an hours flight.

We landed about 7pm and got the bus into the city – which was only about half an hour away.

We are staying right on one of the main squares – Place d’Armes and there is a Christmas market right here.

So after dropping bags, straight into the market. The usual – mulled wine, roasted sweet nuts, lots of different food (not a lot of vegan though) and some random crafts.

There’s a few different markets across Luxembourg, and we accidentally visited 3 of them, just wandering around. They weren’t too busy, which was good.

Then had a very late dinner at the vegan falafel restaurant (Beet) – which had amazing kombucha.

Saturday 14 December 2019

There’s not loads to do in Luxembourg. So why not head to Germany for the day!

We caught the bus down to the train station. Buses are free on weekends (and soon to be free every day of the week!).

There is a train once per hour which crosses over into Germany. It was a double decker and surprisingly busy. It seems that everyone has the same idea – to go to Trier for the day.

It took about an hour to get to Trier. The border crossing was fairly unexciting. Just a river. With German flags on one side and Luxembourg flags on the other. No announcement.

Trier is one of the oldest Germany cities, and has a very old Christmas market. It was very busy! But pretty cool – lots of food, we got vegan churros (!), lieberkuchen, gluwein (mulled wine).

The market is set in the main square, surrounded by ornate old buildings.

There was a second market in front of the cathedral. And the cathedral itself was quiet, with large stained glass windows.

We spent a couple of hours wandering around, before getting the train back.

We were back in Luxembourg about 3pm. We got the bus back into the old town. Probably could have walked, but it was raining and the busses were free!

Then for the rest of the afternoon and evening we wandered around the markets again – this evening was a lot busier than yesterday. Seemingly lots of bus loads of tourists!

Sunday 15 December 2019

Spending today in Luxembourg City.

The main Old Quarter of the city became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. The city is built on a hill and still has various bits of turret and old city wall poking out between the buildings.

We went to see the Adolphe bridge and wandered around a few viewpoints – the traditional view of the old lower part of Luxembourg. Really pretty.

Then got the lift (!) down to the lower part.

We got a bit lost between all the old buildings, along the river and between the old ramparts.

Through a few streets and we came up to the Royal Palace. This was built in 1573 and covered in pointy turrets. There were police blockades all around. Something was going on…

So we went off down some other old streets. During 1867 the majority of the fortifications around the city were removed as part of a treaty to reduce tensions between France and Germany. However, on the eastern side many of these remain. You can walk along some of them, with some watch points still in place.

We got a bus back to the airport around 3pm. And a big surprise that they were free. I had thought they were only free on Saturday. Strange! All the buses will be free in Luxembourg every day from March next year.

Ready for our flight home at 6pm.