Today I took a day trip to Luxembourg City and it was absolutely amazing. I had originally planned to stay a couple of nights there as I had been offered a place to stay from some friends of Pierre who I stayed with in Brussels. However I didn't get a reply in time and there was no cheap accommodation so I just took a day trip from Trier. In hindsight this worked out really well because I think a single day was more than enough (when actually acting like a tourist and getting s*** done rather than my usual sleep in til 1pm, do one thing and then grab a beer).

It only took a bit over an hour to get to Luxembourg city, and even just on the way in I knew I was going to like this place. The train kinda came in around behind the city and over a pretty awesome bridge spanning a valley filled with trees, grassland, parks and a river. As it happens, Luxembourg is largely built along the cliffs of a deep valley running right through the middle of it and it looks awesome. The first thing I did when getting there was to head to the tourist information centre and get a map and figure out what there actually was to see. I had only done a very minimal amount of research before going. I knew there were the remains of a fortress and some tourist walking route which you could do with a guide and that was about it. The guy at the tourist office gave me a map and circled just a couple of things; one was the Grand Ducal Palace and the other was the old town/fortress area.

The actual interesting stuff to see was all rather close together so walking around it in a single afternoon was relatively easy. The Grand Ducal Palace turned out to be pretty much a massive disappointment. It really wasn't all that impressive at all. But that was just about the only disappointment of the day because everything else was cool as s***. Actually one other disappointment was the bottle opener I bought. The choice was abysmal, but I couldn't come to this country/city and leave without a single bottle opener from it, so I got what was on offer. But when those are the only two complaints you can come up with, then that's a pretty good sign.

There was also a really awesome bridge. Built at around 1900 it was at the time the largest stone arch bridge in the world. It's really impressive. So impressive in fact that there are now two more exactly like it elsewhere in the world (I can't remember where they are now though). I also have no idea where the largest stone arch bridge in the world now is, but I'm thinking I'd really like to see it. Apparently they are also currently widening the bridge to get a tram line down the middle. I have no idea how they plan on doing that though assuming they want to keep the bridge pretty much how it is.

The old town/fortress area was the real highlight. There was a Count in the 900s who started building the fort there and over the next few hundred years of peace it grew and a town grew out around it. Unfortunately that peace came to an end and then they were attacked by the Spanish, the Dutch, the Prussians and just about everyone else. Over time they conquered and expanded the fortress. A fortress of that size in that location in a relatively central european location was very sought after. Eventually in the 1800s England stepped in and a treaty was made and the fortress was disassembled to stop everyone fighting over it. So what remains is only about 10% of what it was, which is a real shame.

Underneath the city however are the casemates. 23km of tunnels all over the place, several km of which are open to the public, one area by yourself and another with a guided tour. I did both. The guided one is where I learned most of the history of the city. But both sections were awesome. After walking around the old town I walked through the valley. Then as I was thinking about heading home I realised I hadn't yet had a beer in this country and figured that ought to be rectified. Unfortunately for a country wedged between Belgium and Germany they somehow didn't have very good beer. Either that or I just went to a pretty crappy pub.

It kinda felt like Luxembourg was really the first city in a while that I got quite excited about. After a while it's almost like going through the motions sometimes, and you can only see so many cathedrals before they start to look the same. That's not to say I haven't still been enjoying myself or the places I've been, just that they haven't really had the same impact that perhaps they would have had at the start of the trip. But Luxembourg was a really amazing city.