18 May 2019, Saturday
The piriton did not work. I still had a runny nose. Had to wake up early, get frozen and burnt in the shower, and prepare breakfast and also pack food for our journey to Luxembourg. I think I have already mentioned that our host is talkative, and today I felt a bit irritated because it was quite obvious that we were rushing to catch our bus but he just went on talking and talking and talking without any full stops or commas or exclamation marks it was bordering on ridiculous but we finally managed to escape and made our way to the bus station where we took the 9.50 a.m. bus. There! I sound just like my host now.
At about 1.00 p.m. we arrived in Luxembourg. Luxembourg is one of the smallest countries in the world with an area of just 1,650 square kilometres, and a population of about 500,000 residents. The center of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Almost the first thing I noticed about this country is how beautifully scenic it is. Of all the countries I’ve been to thus far, I think I’ve taken the most amount of pictures here.
A bit of history. In 963, the Count Siegfried of the Ardennes built his fortified castle which became the cradle of the city of Luxembourg. Over the years, more walls were erected but the Burgundians nevertheless took over the city in 1443. For the next 4 centuries, military engineers from Burgundy, Spain, France, Austria and the German Confederation ended up turning it into one of the most fortified places on earth, hence the adage “Gibraltar of the North”. The forts were carved into the rock which made it not only strong but beautiful now, after centuries of wear and tear. There is a 21 km of underground walkways known as casemates, as well as bomb shelters that sheltered not only thousands of defenders, but also weapon workshops, kitchens, bakeries, etc. The structures were dismantled following the Treaty of London on 11 May 1867 and today only 10% of the structures remain visible.
Almost the first thing we did when we arrived was something stupid. We bought an all day ticket for public transportation without realising that every Saturday all public transportation is free. So there was 4 Euros gone down the drain (equivalent to about 2 glasses of beer). Anyway we checked into our hostel which was quite nice for a dorm. Only 4 people in the dorm but as usual the downstairs beds were all taken so up I go again (sigh).
Then we began exploring the city, which turned out to be very hilly and it took us a long time to go uphill. But luckily the weather was not so cold. It’s also a very interesting and unique city because to me it appeared as of it was made out of 3 or 4 layers with each layer operating as a road with towns of its own. I don’t think I’m explaining this correctly, you will have to see it for yourself to understand it.
I should also mention here that because of these layers in the city, google maps turned out to be not so accurate, and with that and a hard copy of the map, we were hopelessly lost and ended up walking the entire city 3 times over, a total of 13 km!
But anyway, here are some of the highlights of the places we saw.
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