Discovering Luxembourg City

Thursday 24/05/2012 -  Well what can I say, Luxembourg City is one of the most amazing places I have ever seen.  It is an absolute mix of the old and the new.  It is the Capitol of the Grand Duchy and has a population of about 90,000 coming from more than 170 countries.

With a history dating back to 963 Luxembourg's medieval roots have been preserved throughout the centuries and many still stand today to enthrall and amaze the many visitors.  Here is what we did in Luxembourg.

We caught the bus from Remich in the morning and enjoyed a very picturesque drive into the city through villages, grapevines and farmland before arriving at Luxembourg Gare.  We walked into the centre of the city from there first stopping at the Tourist information centre to get a map of the area. 

Our fist stop was right outside the door in the Place Guilliame II or William Square where you find the original statue of William II.  The replica of this statue is in The Hague in the Netherlands.  The town hall is here too built in 1830 is a wonderful example of the Neoclassical style of the day.  From there we walked down the road to the Palace of the Grand Dukes.  This very beautiful Palace has a soldier on duty all day marching up and down guarding the entrance.  We stood and watched for a while and wondered how he manages to do this all day.  Maybe they work in shifts!  

The Palace has many different styles having been built in 1572 in Renaissance style,added to in 1741 in Baroque Style and then transformed again into Renaissance  style in 1891.  Finally restored thoroughly in 1992-1995.  An absolute must see when visiting the city.  The Chamber of Deputies adjoins the Palace since 1859 making for very efficient governing of the country.

Leaving the Palace we walked through some of the old streets looking at the different buildings when a tour bus stopped in front of us.  We all decided that this might be the best way to get a good look at Luxembourg and so began the most amazing journey.  The bus takes in much of the old city and then crosses over ' the big red bridge' into the new city where it's passengers get a look at the new Modern Luxembourg.  

These include Europe Square, Musee d'Art, Philharmonie Luxembourg, the European Parliament and the centre for National Sportif et Cultural.  These two very different parts of the city live in complete harmony with each other and both are interesting places to see and visit.  We stayed on the bus for one full circuit before getting off to have lunch and during this time learnt so much about this city we were visiting.

After lunch we began our tour on foot of the old fortress still standing from 963.  Count Siegfried chose the Bock promontory to build his fortress and this together with the first market become the cradle of the city surrounded by a simple fortification.  Over the years a second and third layer were added to the west side while the rock on the Pertrusse Valley created a natural defense.  

This city was fought over many times throughout the centuries and has belonged to Spain, Germany, France and Austria all adding walls, battlements, forts, casemates and tunnels transforming the city into one of the mightiest emplacements in the world, called 'Gibraltar of the North'.  It is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Before we started our walk along the top of wall we stopped and took in the wonderful view over the Petrusse Valley and the Adolphe Bridge before descending to the casemates and the going into the tunnels where we followed many passages and spiral staircases up and down deep within the stone walls of this mighty structure.  To think that we were walking through tunnels made thousands of years ago was rather mind blowing and made us realize how little history we have at home in our young country.  Both inside and out we followed the Wenzel Wall looking at the Goethe Monument and St Michael's Church, home to the oldest shrine in the city.  

After all the stairs and tunnels we decided that it was time to leave the history behind us for the day and jumped back on the bus for a trip around to the new town where we stopped at a newly constructed shopping centre.  Here Marg had seen a supermarket and so we took the opportunity of picking up some shopping before heading home.  In this complex was one of the largest supermarkets I have ever seen but apparently quite normal for here.  Once our shopping trip was done we were back on the bus this time on our way back to Luxembourg Gare where Bill and I had to find out what time trains left for Paris on Monday.  Do not want to leave but we must.  The station here is another lovely building from 1907 and the painted ceiling is another must see when visiting.

We caught our bus back to Remich and I think we all dozed along the way home giving us a much needed rest before aperitifs on the deck at 6.00pm and a quite evening in.  Bill and I are going back tomorrow to see some more......