A Couple Days in Luxembourg City

Luxembourg City is most famous for its fortifications, and they certainly do impress. The city appears to exist on numerous levels, which indeed it does. These fortifications are a testament to the historic importance of this strategic spot in Europe, even if most people have never even heard of Luxembourg or its language, Luxembourgish, which evolved from a dialect of German but is awash with French vocabulary.

There are several ways to appreciate these fortifications. My friend and I caught a glimpse of the great model of the city and its ramparts at the Maquette de la Forteresse. We also walked around the city and looked down into the river valleys, especially in the Place de la Constitution and on Montee de Clausen, the eastern road on which the Casemates du Bock lie. Then we went to explore the casemates, basically man-made passages built into the fortifications. There are two sets of casemates, the Pétrusse Casemates, on the southern edge of Old Town, and the Casemates du Bock, to the east. We were only able to visit the Casemates du Bock, though we were able to see the Pétrusse Casemates when we took the Pétrusse Express, a "mini-train".

Quick Tips:

Do as my friend and I did, and check out the fortifications from the different angles: from the top (the Place de la Constitution and the road out to the Casemates du Bock), the middle (in the casemates themselves) and the bottom (the river valleys). The city model is excellent for seeing the complexity, but you’ll never truly appreciate the scale of the fortifications if you don’t see them from the valleys. You can take the silly and touristy Pétrusse Express mini-train for some really good views and easy transport. Or if you have more time or appreciate a slower pace, you could actually walk around the Pétrusse valley. I wish I had had time to do this.

Best Way To Get Around:

You will not need public transport for getting around within the Old Town as long as you are comfortable walking. However, to get from the train station area to the Old Town, or to the youth hostel or other areas outside the Old Town, you may need a bus or taxi. We managed to find the right bus to the hostel fairly easily, as our guide book said to take the #9. This bus could be useful for getting into town if you are staying near the train station as well, because it goes from the train station, to the bus station on the western side of Old Town, and then down Montee de Clausen, finally terminating at the city’s airport.

This is a very big Hostelling International hostel, with several floors and several different types of rooms available, from private double rooms to gigantic dorm rooms. We stayed in one of the dorms, which had (I believe) 20 beds. Since it’s an HI hostel, the room was single sex. The way our room was set up, and I imagine it’s the same for other rooms, was that we had one door to go through to an area with a big block of lockers, and two other doors. One led to a room with several sinks and a bathroom with a single toilet. The other led into the actual dorm room itself. Both of these doors could be locked.

Breakfast was included in the price, and this was a decent but typical hostel breakfast: a selection of breads, jam, cereal, cold meats and cheese, orange juice and tea or coffee. All of this was served in a gigantic cafeteria-like dining room, with rows and rows of tables, where people from all over the world were conversing in numerous languages. In this room, you doubt the statement that not many people make it to Luxembourg, because it sure seems they’re all here. But I suppose the trick is that everyone who does visit the country visits this city, and if they’re in that certain demographic, they’ll end up staying here rather than in some pricey hotel. This is the only official hostel in the whole country, after all.

There were other meal options. There was a medium-sized bar in the hostel that served food, but they stop serving hot food at about 8 or 9pm. My friend and I went there late one evening, looking for a hot meal, and watched in horror as this obnoxious group of Germans got the last four plates of spaghetti. We sat there and sulkily ate our cold cheese baguettes. One service the hostel offered that we happily used (more successfully than the evening meal) was the packed lunch. With a little notice in the morning, you can have one to take away with you, for less than $5. Our lunches included a sandwich, an apple, a bag of chips and a soda, and they were good.

The biggest negative point I have to make has to do with the showers: a big room with faucets, entirely open. I checked them out in the evening after we had arrived, and since we were only staying one night, I decided to forego the shower. So I don’t know anything about the water temperature and so on. I’m just too shy for semi-public nudity, somehow. Plus there really was nothing to keep men from walking into the shower room, though it was single sex.

I can’t remember what we paid (it was in Luxembourg francs anyway), but currently a bed costs €15.50. And they do accept credit cards. You can book a bed or room if you view the hostel’s description on the International Booking Network website.

We read about this "mini train" in our guidebook and then went to the Place de la Constitution looking for train tracks. We didn’t find them, but we did find a small stand with Pétrusse Express stamped on it. We managed to buy our tickets for a tour about 45 minutes later. I was still looking for train tracks in the Pétrusse valley, where the tour was to take place. As a result, I felt at least a bit cheated (and like a complete idiot) when the "mini train" pulled up — it looks like a train, sure, but its just a glorified, train-shaped bus with three separate "carriages."

The tour itself was okay. In each car on the "train" there were about 6 rows of bench seats for three people each. Above each was a built-in console with a set of headphones hanging down, and buttons with flags of several countries, indicating the relevant languages for the recorded commentary, reenacting various historical events of the city. There was at least English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Luxembourgish, Dutch, I think Swedish, and a couple of others. The journey lasts about an hour and involves riding through the Petrusse valley, where the views of the river and of the city’s fortifications are excellent.

There were several problems, though these were actually a source of great amusement to my friend and me. We got situated in our seats and put our headphones on, and soon the "train" started moving. The commentary began...and so did the problems. First, and this was isolated, my English button didn’t work. All the other languages seemed to, but not English. So I settled on Spanish, as it had only been a couple of months since I’d returned from 5 months studying in Mexico. This was okay, as I could make out the majority if I concentrated really hard. But then the other problem (the funny one) was that every time—and I mean, every single friggin’ time—we rolled over anything resembling a bump, the commentary would revert to what I think was Luxembourgish, though I suppose it could have been another Germanic language (not English, unfortunately). So, after every such bump, you could see every person in the "train" reach up to press the button of their preferred language. It was like synchronized swimming, just without water and in a bus that looks kinda like a train.

In all honesty, I don’t know if this tour was good or bad. It was clearly a quick way to get down and around the valley. But as I never heard the English commentary, I can’t speak for it personally, though my Scottish friend I was traveling with told me she had some difficulty making out everything it was saying, because it was so dramatized. I can vouch for the dramatic touches on the Spanish version, though. Little gems like, "¡¡Dios mio!! Juan, JUAN, ¡fuego fuego! ¡ ¡AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!" stand particularly out in my memory.

The original fort which the Luxembourg City sprouted up around was at this location. In 965AD, Count Siegfried of Lorraine built a castle here, which over time was picked apart and integrated in all the subsequent fortifications. The Dent Creuse ("Hollow Tooth"), a smallish stone tower, is the only part of that original castle to survive.

Visiting the tower wasn’t the most exciting thing I’ve ever done, but it was highly convenient, and there is no admission charge. The Dent Creuse lies on the Montee de Clausen, right across from the Casemates du Bock. It took almost no time to climb the short flight of steps, and there was only one simple plaque with information to read before climbing the stairs, and another on top of the tower. It still is quite nice for the slightly improved views it offers over the Alzette river valley, and of course it is a very important historical site (and it’s a lot older than, say, my parents’ house in Oklahoma).

For me, it was extremely easy to visit the Dent Creuse, as we had to walk past it to get into town. The youth hostel is just off a road not too far past the Casemates du Bock and the Dent Creuse. But instead of seeing it on the way into town, we actually saved it for later, and saw it on the way back out. We stopped and admired the tower. As you can see in the pictures, it really does resemble a broken tooth to a degree, doesn’t it?

A combination of digging and other work between the 15th and 18th centuries created a network of tunnels that were intended to support fortifications on the Rocher du Bock (the large sandstone rock that this road crosses), directly underneath the original castle in the area that was built in 963 by Count Siegfried. The Burgundians, Spanish French, Austrians and Germans all had a hand in constructing the Casemates. The Casemates du Bock are actually simply tunnels and rooms that served various menial purposes, such as kitchens, stables, bedrooms, and of course also rooms devoted to defense, such as cannon chambers.

When we first entered, we paid our entrance fee and were given a map and guide to the Casemates, and then began following the route detailed in the map. This took us past a turnstile, and then were in a long, cool and cave-like room. There was a wooden path built to guide us past an audio-visual show that detailed the history of the casemates. We didn’t spend too much time in this area, and eventually found the path out and a staircase which led down to the heart of the casemates.

At first it seemed like there was no real order to anything, and we just wandered around in what felt like a whole bunch of little caves. But when we both got ourselves organized and actually figured out where we were on the map, it became more interesting. From the audio-visual display room we had descended to the lower cellars of the castle, which offers the first of many really nice panoramic views of the city and the Alzette valley. Moving toward the central passage brought us into the cannon chambers, and directly across was what used to be the castle prison. Turning right and walking to the next little cave yielded the castle well, which is apparently 47 meters deep. Further along the main gallery past this section are the bedroom study and anteroom where a field marshal lived during the siege of 1794-5. We continued in the same direction, and then had to descend down some more stairs, then walk along a short and damp corridor, and then climb more stairs. This area was the demolition chambers, where part of the Bock was blown up.

Then we had to go back the way we came, all the way to where we first entered the casemates after the audio-visual display. We then went past where we first arrived, and saw the other part of the castle cellars. Just to the left was the Ground Battery which was previously used for cannons, but now a small theatre group puts performances on here (I’d like to see that — it looked too small to me). By this point we were basically done with the casemates, and we had to descend another staircase, go through a small and very damp tunnel, and then climb another set of stairs, at which point we were out in the fresh air again.

There were these cows all over the city. It was weird, because you’d be walking around and you’d turn a corner and suddenly you’d be face-to-face with the dreaded Green Cow! Or, there was the one that was divided in half by a wall and different on either side of it. Very strange. I am happy to report that (I have determined by exhaustive methods) that no real animals were harmed in the creation of these displays, or in the taking of the photos. Please do take a look at the photos below.

We never could find anything out about why there were painted plaster cows all over the Old Town, but I have my suspicions, based on an experience we had with a woman working in a booth selling snacks and tourist items in the Place de la Constitution. She was a bit of a cow, you see.

Now, I can’t speak a word of French, but my friend had studied it and could do okay. My problem is that I can’t pronounce the words, as I always want to give them a Spanish twist. So I let her do most of the talking, though English was often sufficient. So we approached the counter at this little booth while we were waiting for the Pétrusse Express. We could see that they sold ice cream bars, as they had a plastic picture mat with all the choices on the wall and then on the counter. My friend pointed to one of the ice creams and the girl mumbled something I did not understand, but the general impression I had was that they didn’t have those. With some more hand motioning and a little bit of French, my friend did manage to obtain an ice cream.

So now it was my turn to deal with the chipper counter girl. They had some packs of assorted Luxembourgish stamps on display, and I picked up one and set it on the counter. The main reason I was there was because I was desperate for a bottle of water, but they didn’t have anything nearby to point to. I tried asking in English, and then I even asked in Spanish just for good measure (I didn’t try my Gaelic—maybe next time). So I was standing there, looking at this girl, who was looking back at me and holding her head up with her elbows on the counter, giving me this look as if she might fall asleep at any moment and it was entirely my fault. So I asked my friend what the French for water was. So I repeated what she said, as best I could, "Oh."

Assuredly this was not the most aesthetically-pleasing sound ever produced, but I thought it just might accomplish the task at hand. Instead, it elicited a very strange reaction: the heaviest sigh ever exhaled on the entire planet, I’m fairly confident. Then, the girl languidly reached for a calculator and punched in some numbers and then turned it around for me to see. I tried saying no, and pointing to the massive pile of water bottles in the corner of the booth, just out of her reach, but she didn’t comprehend. I asked for the water again, and still she stared. Finally my friend came back to the counter and asked for the water, and we both energetically pointed at the water, and finally finally finally the girl turned around to see what we were pointing out. Success!

If you go to the Place de la Constitution in Luxembourg City and try to buy a water or anything else from this booth, you too will know if you have met, the Most Unhappy Counter Clerk Ever to Have Lived on Earth. Cow.