Tr avel report LUXEMBOURG
upon a rocky promontory protected by a deep canyon.
A warren of secret passageways beneath the ramparts enabled defenders to rain rocks and arrows down upon their attackers during the Middle Ages.
They are called the Bock Casemates and you can explore them and admire the views across the valley.
Despite its neutrality, Luxembourg was invaded by Germany in both the First and Second World Wars.
US General George Patton, who liberated the country at the end of 1944, is commemorated by a statue in Ettelbruck. At his request, the general’s body was buried after the war in a military cemetery near the airport alongside his fallen comrades who died during the Battle of the Bulge.
Shrapnel and discarded weaponry from the conflict are still being unearthed on a regular basis in the picturesque countryside.
I passed Patton’s statue on my journey to Vianden, in the Ardennes region, where a castle and palace were built between the 11th and 14th centuries on the foundations of a Roman fort. It fell into disrepair but was transferred to state ownership in 1977 and restored to its former glory.
The castle, with its distinctive cone-shaped towers, has been visited by the crowned heads of Europe and eminent politicians whose photographs adorn the interior walls.
It was also the setting for Hollywood movies starring Patrick Swayze (George and the Dragon), John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe (Shadow of the Vampire).
Since 1945, Luxembourg has abandoned its neutrality, joined NATO and the UN, and was a founding member of the European Union. It has 143 banks from 27 different countries and is the second largest investment fund centre after the USA. It has flourished to such an extent that in 2011 the International Monetary Fund named Luxembourg as the second richest country in the world.
Yet in the Brooklyn Bar, a lively music and sports pub near the city station, pints of local Bofferding lager cost less than €4. A modest lunch costs about €10 and a restaurant dinner starts at about €20.
The highlight of my trip was a visit to the Mullerthal Trail, in a region known as Little Switzerland.
From my base in Scheidgen, I was led through diverse landscapes along well-marked tracks. As we squeezed through narrow gorges in the sandstone rocks we glimpsed three wild boar piglets before they scurried away.
In the meadows a family of Angus bull, a dozen cows and their calves grazed peacefully beside the river.
You can explore more than 60 miles of hiking trails here with accommodation ranging from luxury hotels to forest campsites.
If you stop at Beaufort to visit a 12th century ruin and a Renaissance castle next door, buy a bottle of cassero – it’s a blackcurrant liqueur – as a locally produced souvenir.
Alternatively, you could head back to the city for a tour of the chic shoes and clothes shops on the Rue Philippe ll, pausing for coffee and cake in one of the charming cafés.
Or you could opt to have the best of both worlds.