Delectable Deluxembourg
While bouncing from Belgian bar to Belgian brewery slurping on craft beer was immensely pleasurable, nothing quite hits like visiting a new micronation. Discovering how they’ve managed to maintain their independence throughout the centuries is always a fascinating lesson in the trading of land as well as savvy leadership and Luxembourg is no different. An autonomous entity from as far back as 963, she has had to endure numerous wars and occupations but in more recent times has become a major economic success story. Despite being the seventh smallest country in Europe, although the largest of the micronations (any nation under one thousand square miles), she has, at the time of writing, the largest GDP per capita anywhere in the world and, more importantly, the most Eurovision wins per citizen.
We entered Luxembourg via its northernmost point of the teardrop-shaped territory and were immediately taken aback by our eminently hilly and forested surroundings that appeared to continue as far as our eyes could see. It was immediately evident that the country was far larger than we had imagined, not merely a city-state akin to a Monaco or a Vatican City, and that we would need to break up our journey to the capital over a couple of days. This was no chore, however, as the endless countryside offered myriad opportunities for a layover and we decided upon the lakeside hamlet of Liefrange, primarily because it comprised a campsite with hot showers, chip shop, and bar.
Unfortunately, the latter two were closed for the season, as was the entire village, although it wasn’t a completely wasted stop as we soon discovered that, although modest in size, the settlement was anything but in terms of historical consequence. A small but significant part of the Battle of the Bulge took place exactly where we stood as the nondescript hamlet of Liefrange was once the frontline of the infamous assault. Not much remains of the conflict today except for several plaques dedicated to fallen American soldiers and the odd anti-tank weaponry strewn by the modern roadside. Given how tranquil the lanes were now, it was almost impossible to imagine the utter carnage that took place there just a few generations ago.
The following morning we continued our amble down the spine of the country stopping for brunch in the much larger settlement of Ettelbruck. The weekly market was in full swing in Patton Square, named after the notable general who halted a Nazi advance through the centre of the town, and the cafes at their bustling busiest best. This afforded us the perfect opportunity to impress the residents with our near-perfect Luxembourgish, the national language. A unique syntax that, rather unsurprisingly, is heavily influenced by both French and German and is still spoken by more than three-quarters of the local population despite several attempts on its linguistic life by its bigger brasher neighbours (the Welsh-English language wrangle springs to mind).
A further thirty-five kilometres directly south along some of the finest roads we had encountered anywhere in Europe takes you to Luxembourg City: the capital and by far the largest municipality in the country. Given how quickly it has grown in recent times, it is now also home to more outsiders than those born within Luxembourg’s borders and shows no sign of slowing down in view of the number of construction sites we drove passed on our way to the centre. Not that that detracted from the beauty and charm of the place, not one jot. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting but a city built amid deep gorges cut by two spectacular rivers with grand buildings perched dramatically on high rock faces and stunning views in every direction was not really it. I think I thought it would be, well, flatter and duller.
I will provide a more thorough account of our travails around the city in my next post as I must mention our first night in the city which happened to be my thirty-something birthday for which Lowri had sourced us a delightful Airbnb. Not only that, but she’d also prepared a beer-tasting session of the like I hadn’t encountered in literally days, in Belgium. While this was extremely enjoyable, and my skill of blind guessing beer remains in peak shape, it may not translate into a successful tour of the capital tomorrow, we shall see.
J
