Tickets to Luxembourg
Buying rail tickets for international connections from Brussels is very easy at the Travel Centre within the Central Station. The staff are very friendly and speak English. For 60 euros, we purchased an open return ticket with a plan to take an early train leaving Brussels at just past 7am.
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| Travel centre in the Central Station for international rail tickets |
A Three Hour Train Rid
The train journey from the Central Station started in complete darkness. This meant that in terms of scenery, there wasn't a lot to keep us interested and we soon drifted off to sleep. When we ventured into our second hour, the sun began to rise and we spotted many pretty villages built around a medieval church and isolated by green rolling countryside. It is hard to imagine that over the past 100 years, the entire area had been decimated by the World Wars when everything looks so pristine and peaceful now.
Gare de Luxembourg
As the train arrived into Luxembourg station, the casual architecture of the building made us believe that we were arriving in a small provincial town rather than the central station of a politically independent country.
Luxem-burger
Walking along the main street, we set out to find some lunch. Walking with the flow of traffic took us towards the internationally recognisable golden arches of McDonalds. We stopped by to eat one of the regional specialties on offer - mayonnaise on french fries, as well as a very tasty juicy burger.
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| The Luxemburger |
Avenue de la Gare
As the Luxembourg City Hop-On-Hop-Off bus was not running during the winter season; we decided to make up our own tourist route. We walked up the Avenue de la Gare from the train station towards the valley that divides the 'modern' city with the historic Old Town. At William Square, we located the tourist information centre and they were very helpful in providing a self-guided map that started off at the Palace of the Grand Dukes.
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| Statue of a Grand Duke |
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| Ducal Palace |
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| One of Luxembourg's national monuments |
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| Monument inside the main square |
Crossroads of Europe
The map provided us with a deeper understanding of Luxembourg's history and how it had been impacted by its geographic position at the crossroads of powerful empires. For hundreds of years, the Duchy had been conquered by the Burgundians, the French, the Spaniards, the Austrians and the German Confederation. All of the conquerors left their mark by building high fortress stone walls that are now UNESCO listed.
Bock Casemates
The Bock Casemates are remains of the underground defence works built during the 1700's rule of the Bourbon Kings and include 23km of tunnels that provided a very scenic view of the surrounding area.
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| Overlooking the valley |
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| Interrupting a pigeon social event |
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| Admiring the fortress built on the cliff face |
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| The medieval stone bridges in Luxembourg |
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| The original foundations of the fortress dates back to 963 AD |
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| Overlooking the bridge in Luxembourg |
For the next couple of hours, we spent most of the time walking up stairs and looking at the different stonework. The tourist signs were not particularly helpful to us as they were all written in French.
Snack time
After tiring ourselves out from walking, we decided to find a pub for a platter of meat and cheese, and a very strong black coffee. Walking back to the train station, we took more photos of the bridges and historic palaces before catching the 3:30pm train back to Brussels.
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| Overlooking the old part of Luxembourg |
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| A platter of local cheese and cured meats |
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| Interesting advice in the pub |
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| Luxembourg train station |
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