Itineraries and Public Transportation
From: pf@bilkent.edu.tr (Pierre Flener)
To: Some.One@Some.Where (name withheld)
Subject: Re: Need suggestions on [...] Luxembourg
Date: March 1994
>[...] will be going to [...] Luxembourg [...]. We plan to go by train
>[...]. I've been told that getting around in Luxembourg is done better
>with the buses, and I know about their various passes.
Depends on where you go in Luxembourg: the entire north-south axis is
well-served by trains, and this includes many major destinations.
Otherwise, indeed, you must rely on buses. Careful, though: some
places only run 2 buses a day in each direction: going there in the
early morning, and coming back from there in the late afternoon. This
is because of the centralized form of Luxembourg's economy: the capital
city is its major hub, and many buses just run for commuters. Another
point: going from one village to another one just 20km away might
require an 80km ride, because you first need to get back to the
capital. But all in all, you should have no problems getting around,
and hitching is definitely no problem. Many overland buses are run by
the railway company, so their pass might cover such bus-rides!
>We also want to stay in one place for 3-4 days at a time, so two
>different towns [...] in Luxembourg. What I would like is any
>suggestions on not-to-be-missed castles and/or wineries and/or
>anything else, especially [...] in Lux.
In Luxembourg, you shouldn't miss the capital city. The other
deservedly major tourist magnets are, in decreasing order: Echternach,
Vianden (both on the German border), Clervaux, and Esch-sur-Sure
(center-north), though none is on the Mosel, and only Clervaux is
directly accessible by train. Other ones that are, are less splendid,
but still worth it: Diekirch, Ettelbrueck, or any village along the
railway line north of Ettelbrueck.
The Mosel is pretty unspectacular in Luxembourg (unlike certain spots
along the German Mosel, like, eg. Bernkastel!), and at worst I would
settle down in Remich, because otherwise you'll die of boredom (unless
you want plain village-life?). I recommend you make Echternach your
second locale in Luxembourg.
>Also, we would like any recommendations for inexpensive but good
>bed-and-breakfast/Gasthaus/pension type places. For that matter, how
>do you recommend going about making reservations, or will we need such
>in May (ie, could we just decide a town when we get there, get off the
>train, and be fairly certain to find a place to stay?) We are not
>interested in youth hostels, nor do we want to spend the whole day of
>the day hunting down a place to stay; if it's better to get
>reservations now, I guess I'd rather do that.
I can't help you with addresses, as I have relatives all over my
country. But I'd say that May is very early season, so you should have
no difficulty w/o reservations. I don't have a festival calendar here,
but double-check with one (if you can find one; ask the Luxembourg
Tourism Bureau in New York) because otherwise you might run into
trouble in certain places on certain days.
>Finally, any comments on how easy/hard it is to see the good stuff
>along the Mosel relying only on train, bus, bike, and walking...
It should be very easy, especially if you like biking! Many railway
stations rent out bikes. Walking is a national pastime in both Germany
and Luxembourg, and cycling is one in Luxembourg.
---
From: pf@bilkent.edu.tr (Pierre Flener)
To: Some.One@Some.Where (name withheld)
Subject: Re: Luxembourg
Date: March 1994
>>Another point: going from one village to another one just 20km away
>>might require an 80km ride, because you first need to get
>
>but this may be bike-able, yes?
Sure. I firmly recommend to anybody who is in decent shape and wants
to spend more than 4 days in Luxembourg, to discover it by bike.
Cycling is a national pastime, drivers are experienced, and there are
really superb traffic-free bicycle trails (pamphlet + map available
everywhere).
>Hitching is not illegal? Would you advise renting a car (we really
>don't want to, but if we have to...)
Hitching is not illegal. Renting a car will set you back about $40 a
day for the smallest economy car, and is probably not really necessary
for your plans and travel-style.
>Echternach, Whit Tuesday, the hop-dance for St. Willibrord! I've read
>about it, and a friend from Germany says I shouldn't miss it!
Not to mention the absolutely gorgeous surroundings.
>Do you know of any good wineries or Luxembourger wines?
There are pamphlets at any tourist office, so pick one up as you get
there. Almost any village along the Mosel has a winery, or a co-op
winery, and none really stands out, except maybe the one at Wormeldange
(f), which produces our finest Riesling. Note that Luxembourger wines
are completely different in taste, but not in names, from their German
Mosel counterparts: ours are less sweet, more like the Alsacy [sp?]
wines from France.
>Any good castles besides the one in Vianden?
The restoration of the Vianden fortress is a huge success, and cuts my
breath away whenever I go there (because I remember the times before).
Most fortresses and castles are being restored in these days, and I
especially like Brandenb[o]urg (f,g), Clervaux (f), which has a superb
exhibit with models of most castles, and Robert Steichen's "The Family
of Man" (a Luxembourger B&W photographer who made his career in the
USA), Esch-sur-Sure (f) (not finished), Stolzemb[o]urg (f,g) (?), and
most of the ones in the "Valley of Seven Castles" (along the Eisch
river).
Luxembourg-City
From: dcrowson@amoco.com (Dave Crowson)
To: pf@bilkent.edu.tr (Pierre Flener)
Subject: Re: LUXEMBOURG: An on-line compilation
Date: November 1994
I lived in Luxembourg in 1990. I moved there to work at the European
Parliament, which is situated on the Plateau Kirchberg (along with the
European Commission and Court of Justice).
To my knowledge, 10 years ago Luxembourg had about 10 different banking
institutes, it currently has over 200+, making it one of the leading
financial centres in the world.
The night life is excellent in Lux, as there are a good mix of bars/restaurants/clubs that are run by Italians, English, Irish and
Luxembourgers alike. The social life (amongst the English speakers)
is generally to be found in bars such as "The White Rose",
"The Pygmalion", and "Scott's Pub" in the Grund.
The Grund is a valley that runs though the middle of Luxembourg city,
making it one of the most beautiful cities in Europe (IMO:)
Because Luxembourg is surrounded by Germany, France and Belgium it makes
for a great base for exploring Europe. It is also the central meeting
place in Europe for all travelers, especially in the summer.
Caves
From: pf@bilkent.edu.tr (Pierre Flener)
To: sgoldstien@delphi.com (S. Goldstien)
Subject: Re: Luxembourg Caves?
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Date: April 1994
>I have heard there are caves in Luxembourg. Can someone give me more
>details on where they are located, are they accessible to the general
>public and can they be gotten to by public transportation. Thanks.
I don't think any of our caves are very impressive (there's better
stuff in neighboring Belgium), but here's what I remember: there are
caves in the areas called:
+ "Mamer Layen", along the Mamer river, near Mersch (geographical
center of the country); there are frequent trains from the capital to
Mersch, and it's a nice walk from there; or just hitch from Mersch,
everybody knows where the caves are and will drop you nearby; you can
get maps of the area at the Mersch tourist office;
+ "Nommer Layen", near the village of Nommern (draw a line east of
Mersch, past Larochette); quite similar stuff to the previous one;
there are buses from the capital, or just hitch there from anywhere
(it's a rural area and people are very friendly);
+ "Moellerdall" ("Muellerthal" in German, dubbed "Petite Suisse
Luxembourgeoise" in French and "Little Switzerland" in English), the
area constricted by Echternach (German border), Consdorf, Larochette,
Beaufort, Grundhof. Spectacular hiking. Ask around in Berdorf where
to look for caves. Buses from the capital to Echternach, and hitch a
ride from there.
As far as I remember, there are no access restrictions. Also check out
the underground galleries of the Luxembourg-City fortress. And the
wine caves in any village along the Mosel river... ;-)
---
From: geeta@informix.com (Geeta Karmark)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Re: Luxembourg Caves?
Date: April 1994
Yup there are caves in Luxembourg. The are called the Casemates. Don't
ask me what that means. They have been hewn out of the rock face and
could shelter an army as well as a bunch of cannons. I think they
helped the Luxembourgeois defend the city a number of times. You can
also take an elevator to the Grund (ground) where the rest of the "old
city" is/was (we didn't go there because of time constraints). BTW
they are right "in town" so they are easy to find and get to (if I
remember correctly they are fairly close to a parking garage!).
[Editor's note: "Casemate" is a French word synonymous with fort(ification)
or bunker. Yes, they were part of the defense installations
of the city (Luxembourg was, until 1867, the strongest
European fortress after Gibraltar), and were used as
bomb shelters during both World Wars. With the Cold War
and nuclear disaster paranoia, they were prepped up as
nuclear shelters. The "casemates" are all over, under the
old town, but only two sub-systems are open for visits:
on the "Bock" rock (near Siegfried's Castle) and on the
xxx (oops, I don't remember ;-) (at the other end of the
"Corniche").]
Luxembourg is a delightful city, very fairy-tale like and lots of nice
places to wander through -- for about a day. It is also the only
country that actively commemorates (in my opinion) America's
contribution to the liberation of Europe (by the Allied forces). I
think the Battle of the Bulge was fought on Luxembourg soil, and you
see tanks and other statues and reminders of the war in many small
towns.
[Editor's note: I don't know about Luxembourg being the "only" country
actively commemorating the US contribution to the
liberation of Europe. The vicious "Battle of the Bulge"
("Bataille des Ardennes") followed the "Rundstedt
Offensive", i.e. the last stand of the Germans before
retreating east of the Rhine, and was fought on Belgian,
Luxembourger, and German soil.]
Cycling
From: pf@cs.duke.edu (Pierre Flener)
To: Some.One@Some.Where (name withheld)
Subject: Re: Cycling in Luxembourg
Newsgroup: rec.travel
Date: March 1990 [but still accurate]
Taking a bike on the train is inexpensive: ~$0.50 gets your bike all
over the country, provided you board the bike yourself. But then, the
country is small; and yet, this is by far the cheapest rate, since in
most other countries the fare is proportional to the distance.
The weather can be anything between beautiful sunshine and rain, but it
will (except in winter) be hot enough for cycling and camping. Plan
your journey such that your prospective camping-site is close to a
Youth Hostel, so that you can sleep there in case of lousy weather.
Off-campground camping is forbidden, so be extremely careful to be
well-hidden; but campgrounds are not too expensive.
Interesting cities in Luxembourg are Luxembourg-City, Larochette,
Echternach, Clervaux, Wiltz, Esch-sur-Sure, Vianden, Diekirch, Rosport,
Beaufort, Mondorf. Except for the capital, these are mostly [very]
small towns with medieval castles/fortresses situated in a cyclist's
paradise: the Ardennes (Bulge), the Luxembourger part of which is
called "Eisleck" in our language. You'll indulge in your favorite
sport on lonely roads in a spectacular countryside. Be in good shape,
but the hills are not too high. The only major professional bike-race
in that area will be the "Tour of Luxembourg" (mid-June): traditionally
the last stage is across the Oesling, and the tour usually ends in
Diekirch.
I strongly recommend you buy the Michelin map for Luxembourg (the
yellow one with the scale 1cm = 2km): they are made for drivers, but
very helpful for cyclists as well, in the sense that:
+ everything useful is on them (all villages & roads);
+ scenic roads (usually the yellow ones) are marked by a green border:
use these roads as much as possible, since in addition they are not
heavily used by motor-vehicles; stay clear of the red roads;
+ uphill & downhill parts of roads are shown and expressed in %.
Youth Hostels are all over: something like 9, which is world record
density. They are all equally good I think, and well-situated. I
particularly like those of Vianden and Beaufort.
Staying far away from civilization will be difficult: I don't think
there is any point in Luxembourg, where you are more than 5 miles away
from a village or lonely farm. Camp-grounds are literally everywhere. I
think you can plan on 60-100 miles/day, at least if you plan on riding
in the valleys as much as possible, and only go uphill when you change
valleys. Watch out for rivers on the map: there usually are very
scenic roads along them, and they get you around the whole country.
Luxembourg has special bike trails (often for bikes only) that get you
almost all over the country, and of course to the best places. I
remember the following:
+ Ettelbrueck - Diekirch - Echternach (along the Sure/Sauer river)
+ Echternach - Vianden (along the Our river)
+ Echternach - Luxembourg (on the track of an ancient
railroad: includes tunnels!)
and certainly some more in the meantime...
Other scenic roads in the Ardennes are:
+ Ettelbrueck - Kautenbach - Esch/Sure (along the Sure/Sauer river)
+ Luxembourg - Larochette - Diekirch
+ Junglinster - Muellerthal - Bollendorf (don't miss this area!)
+ Clervaux - Michelau - ... (along the Clervaux/Clerf river)
+ Vianden - Stolzembourg - Dasburg (along the Our river)
+ Schengen - Remich - Wasserbillig (along the Moselle/Mosel river)
+ Wasserbillig - Rosport - Echternach (along the Sure/Sauer river)
and many more...
If you feel like hill-climbing, try the following roads:
+ Luxembourg - Bridel - Saeul - Redange
+ Dasburg - Marnach - Clervaux - Wiltz
or any other across-the-valley-structure itinerary!
Language
From: pf@bilkent.edu.tr (Pierre Flener)
To: Some.One@Some.Where (name withheld)
Subject: Re: Luxembourg
Date: March 1994
>[...] we now have a few towns to look for, and unless noted, we can't
>find it on the maps we currently have: Gastingen/Gostingen/Gohstengen
>(we don't know the spelling), Godbrange (have a map that shows it),
>Greiveldange (one map shows it, and we may have distant relatives named
>Speltz there), Biver, Everlange, Mersch (on map). (I'm not even sure
>all of these are real towns, due to the fact that I can't find all of
>them on the map.)
Spelling depends on the language (and era): most of our villages have
3 names, one in Luxembourgish, one in German, one in French. The first
two are usually quite close, but the third can be arbitrarily
different, and not necessarily a mere translation (I ignore why these
exceptions exist). Maps usually show at least one of the latter two.
When you enter villages, yellow signs will indicate in big black
letters the French name, and below, in smaller characters (italics) the
Luxembourgish name. This is but a recent trend: French (and marginally
German) used to be, until a few years ago, the sole *written* languages
of Luxembourg, even though nobody speaks any of these as a native
language! To solve this paradox (which puzzles visitors, and makes
them assume we are native speakers of one of those languages, which we
are *not*), and to put a plug on the rapid disappearance of original
idioms of our native tongue, Luxembourgish, the latter has become a
full-scale national language a few years ago, and grammar/spelling of
this *spoken* language have finally been decided upon. Linguistically
speaking, Luxembourgish is a Germanic language (*not* dialect) derived
from Mosel-Fraenkisch (an old language that has essentially died out,
except in Luxembourg), but with strong French influence, and thus not
mutually intelligible with either German or French.
The villages of:
+ Gouschtingen (l), Gostingen (g,f)
+ Godber (l), Godbringen (g), Godbrange (f)
+ Greiveldeng (l), Greiveldingen (g), Greiveldange (f)
+ Biver (l,g,f)
+ E'iverleng (l), Everlingen (g), Everlange (f)
+ Miersch (l), Mersch (g,f)
all still exist (I don't think we have ghost-towns), but they are all
very small, except for Mersch (which is in the exact geographic center
of the country).
>We always knew of one of Joel's great-grandfathers as Peter Faber, but
>in some stuff we got recently, he was also called Pierre! (Pierre
>Faber's father was also Peter, and Pierre also has a grandson, cousin
>of Joel's dad, named Peter Faber. It was this fellow Pierre who was
>born in Gastingen (or however it is spelled). Is it common for
>Luxembourgers to be called either Pierre or Peter, or is it a regional
>thing? Did they maybe call him Pierre just to differentiate him from
>his father?
The Peter/Pierre confusion for the same person can be explained as
follows: traditionally (French having been the official *written*
language for such a long time) we all have French first names in our
id's, although Luxembourgish equivalents exist: Pier (pronounced "Peer")
or Pit[t] (pronounced "Pit") in my case, but *never* [the German]
Peter. Everybody calls me one of the former two, and in the case of
that ancestor, I'd reckon that he just anglified his name to [the
English] Peter. Pierre is a rather common name, indeed. Recently, the
French-only "rule" is often broken, especially by the ~30% immigrant
population (soon, we'll be a minority in our own country). Whenever
you meet sb with a French first name and a Germanic-looking surname,
s/he's likely to be a Luxembourger (linguistic crossroads!). Exceptions
to the Germanic-looking surnames are the Latin ones, such as Faber,
which were at some point adopted to point out the differences between
Luxembourg and Germany (the national motto being "Mir woelle bleiwen
waat mir sinn", that is "We want to remain what we are").
http://www.cs.bilkent.edu.tr/~pf/travel/luxembourg.misc.html (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996)