Luxembourg; Sunday, 25 June, 2006

After breakfast I wandered over to the station to catch the train North from the city centre to Ettelbruck and from there onto Diekirch. Unfortunately, most of the sights in Diekirch had just closed for lunch when I arrived, so after about 40 minutes of wandering around the town and along the river I wandered back to the station and caught the bus on to Vianden.

The main draw of the town is its Château. Left to fall into ruins over many centuries it has now been fully restored from ruins to what it looked like in its heyday. It sits on a large rocky outcrop over the town dominating the skyline and ensuring a long and exhausting climb to the top…

…Unless you are a lazy git like me, in which case you can catch the chair lift (Télésiège) to the top of the neighbouring hill, which also has stunning views over the town, the Château and the surrounding countryside. It is also then all down hill to the Château!

After looking around the Château and stopping for a brief Ice cream, I walked back down into town following the line of the former fortifications, which are now, also, in ruin.

With the sky darkening rapidly, and rumbles echoing around the valley I walked back to the bus station in time to catch the bus back to Diekirch. The bus arrived in the nick of time as a few minutes later the thunderstorm unleashed all it had with torrential rain, massive bolts of lightning, hail and a fierce wind. It was still going when the bus got to Diekirch so I stayed on the bus to the end of the line at Ettelbruck. Here I waited for the storm, which by now had been going on unabated for nearly an hour, to stop. As it showed on sign of doing so I caught the bus on to Echternach about 50 minutes away on the Luxembourg/German border.

By the time the bus arrive in Echternach the rain had stopped, the storm had passed, the roads had returned to being roads rather than raging torrents, and the sun was out.

I spent a little time wandering around the town before finding myself at the Basilica. The church, and attached abbey dominate the rest of the town. It contains the remains of the founder of the Abbey. The Abbey was founded in 698 by St Willibrord, an Anglo-Saxon missionary who came to the area from the North East of England (no one seams to be able to agree on whether it was Yorkshire or Northumbria he came from!)

After looking around the basilica and the remaining part of town (steadfastly avoiding the "Folk Festival" which was taking place in the grounds of the abbey and appeared to involve Morris dancers! I wandered back towards the bus station, but stopped for some dinner in one of the restaurants that line the pedestrianised main street.

Feeling rather full, I staggered the short distance back to the bus station in time to flop down into a seat on the bus back to Luxembourg, the hotel and my bed.